A case study of a security installation at an independent girl’s school outside London, The Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton.
Kent CCTV & Data Limited was called in by the school’s head of technical support services, at the start of a three-year multi-million pound building expansion.
The school sought to prevent unauthorised access to the school’s construction area, in case of theft of building materials; and to cover the new building’s entrances, fire exits, ICT suites and access gates. A total of 22 new Axis cameras were installed and networked by Kent CCTV.
P3365-V dome cameras from the manufacturer Axis Communications were deployed inside, while that firm’s P3365-VE cameras were positioned outside the new building’s entrances covering car parks to the front and playing fields to the rear. Cameras were also installed on the gate post and atop a ten-foot CCTV pole to cover the vehicle and foot gate nearest to the new building. The P3365-VE outdoor cameras provide 24-hour coverage using the company’s in-built Lightfinder technology which delivers full HDTV 1080p quality colour images during the day and in near-dark, the makers claim.
All new cameras provide full HDTV resolution quality images, at least 25 frames per second on-motion and are powered via Power over Ethernet, which reduced installation costs the installer says. A total of 42 Axis cameras have previously been deployed by Kent CCTV to cover all other buildings and another gate in use. P3346-VE network cameras cover external entrances, exits, driveways and side car parks. A P1347-E 5 megapixel camera covers the school’s main car park; and P3346 and P3304 cameras cover the corridors, entrances and exits of the original buildings.
Gate-fitted cameras were enhanced by uploading Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) software into them and then integrating this with the gate controller and client software to enable pre-registered vehicles to pass through both gates without other verification.
Some 64 Axis cameras are now deployed site-wide. All are Power over Ethernet, hence minimal cabling around the site. All cameras are networked with two virtual servers which together hold 31 days of recorded images, and require a maximum of 16 Terabytes (TB) of storage space.
Milestone XProtect Enterprise 2014 manages images which the school receptionist can view on a desktop PC and the head of technical support services on a workstation, pictured. Milestone Mobile extends access to images from cameras to the school’s caretaker who monitors the school outside teaching hours. The school’s head of technical support services is also able to access live and recorded images remotely, if a problem is reported.
Gates are served with 1 Gigabit/s fibre cabling. Kent laid a total of 1750 metres of fibre optic cabling linking to a number of switch cabinets creating a 10 Gigabit fibre backbone school-wide and providing 1 Gigabit internet connections to all 650 desktop computers, 120 laptops and 290 iPads. A wireless mesh network was also rolled out for consistent wireless internet access across the 24-acre site, extending to the school’s boat house on the Thames, some 1.4 kilometres away.
Umesh Chapaneri, head of technical support services at the school said: “The truth is the system is so simple you just don’t think about it anymore. If authorised members of staff want to review a reported security incident we know we can find the relevant recording sequence swiftly now … and when we do (find it), we know that it will be of sufficient quality to identify the individuals involved. Before we went to 100pc perimeter security we would get occasional trespassing incidents. Now, thanks to Kent CCTV, we know we have the means to stop them at the gate.”
And Jason Crichlow, managing director of Kent CCTV, said:“Lady Eleanor Holles School now has 100pc perimeter protection having deployed a total of 64 Axis cameras and ANPR analytics covering all gates. Cameras cover public areas and corridors within buildings – both inside and out. By linking all cameras to Milestone XProtect 2014 video management software we’ve made it possible for the school’s receptionist to view all vehicles and pedestrians requesting access during school hours. Gates can also be released by clicking on digital buttons located on-screen. Cameras are also now viewable remotely outside normal school hours, by both the school’s caretaker and its head of technical support services using Milestone Mobile software.
“It’s great to see that this school now feel completely secure. We’ve built them an IP video management platform which is future-proof, capable of being expanded by linking with new devices and systems. This means we can facilitate the introduction of new security functionality like biometric access control as budgets open up. The use of an open-architected IP video platform give the school the peace of mind of knowing they have full security today and tomorrow.”
The school can now distribute multiple video inputs thanks to HDMI over IP, as developed by Just Add Power. The school can take feeds from six video-format sources including 1080P and pass these images in the right format for display on ten fixed digital monitors, around the school. This enables live streaming of drama productions onto screens in the foyer of the new theatre. Other possibilities include display of matches on the playing fields, and, during open days, promotional videos.
About the installer
Kent CCTV & Data Limited, based in West Malling, offers High Definition CCTV and Video Management Systems. It also installs and integrates access control systems enabling controlled entry through a range of identification technologies including ANPR (for vehicles) and biometrics. Video and audio analytics can be used by security and facilities management with alerts if certain sounds have been detected or perimeters crossed. Visit http://www.kentcctvdata.co.uk/.
