IP network solutions for schools

A School District in New York City operates around fifteen schools with an enrollment of well over ten thousand pupils. This middle school is a district school that accommodates more than eight hundred students, over seventy instructors, five administrators, four counselors, a psychologist and over twenty five supporting staff workers.

In order to protect and defend its students and workers, the school adheres to a zero-tolerance rule to gangs, violence, and drugs, and it has made a serious attempt to establish itself as a safe port for education. As an attempt to carryout this mission, the school recently deployed a surveillance system of IP network video (which in reality is the first in the history of School District to be installed. Through enhancing its already established network infrastructure and deploying IP Video Corp's Enterprise Surveillance System, along with the network cameras of Toshiba, the school managed to literally put away thousands of dollars while enjoying the advantages of the IP networked video's adaptability, PoE features and remote administration. Furthermore, as expected, the need for complex coaxial runs, extra Ethernet cable pulls, obsolete analog equipment and costly electrical rework were all eliminated.

The main objective of the school's security project was an incorporated, full-featured video security interface for real-time monitoring both outside and inside the school's perimeters. In addition to that, the administrators also wanted a system that can be easily accessed and operated by the authorized users and offers the greatest benefit for the dollars spent and that can be built upon to attain the security demands of the future.

As a result, the school district asked the help of A+ Technology Solutions Inc. in order to integrate and deploy the IP network surveillance solution.

According to the president of A+ Technology Solutions, the central mission of this project can be summarized in no more than three words; adaptability accessibility, and cost. They were able to instantly see the cost savings and performance which are improving the prospect of the school's network system. The IT team of the school district was certainly excited about an IP network-based security system.

Executing the task
The IT department of the district established a detached VLAN infrastructure for the IP video system to better administer the network operations. The network's capacity was tapped into by an IP Video Corporation Visual Sentry NVR, furnishing a massive 4 terabytes of storage. On top of that, the Visual Patrol NVR application makes it possible for any workstation on the network to be utilized as a viewing client for surveying live video or recovering records. A surveillance panel with close to eight rack-mounted, 19-inch LCD screens is located in the Surveillance Operations Center deep inside the Middle School's property. Close to sixty four security cameras can be viewed all at the same time on each screen at that security console. Not to mention that live footage and stored records can be observed through the Internet with remote viewing client application.

Adding on, the NVR device is actually found in the server room of the facility, which is essentially a centralized secure location to capture and store footages and pictures. Extra image storage and viewing modules can be added to the system if needed to do so in the future. As an example, the A+ Technology Solutions is currently undergoing discussions to bring video access to local police headquarters via the Internet or a wireless interface from a police vehicle.

The A+ Technology Solutions instantly chose Toshiba when it came to choosing a supplier for the 104 IP network cameras to deploy. Their choice was based on performance, value and, most significantly, the cameras' capacity to incorporate into IP Video Corporations Visual Patrol NVR system.

Furthermore, more than eighty Toshiba IK-WR01A vandal-resistant surveillance domes were installed inside the school in the classrooms, cafeterias, and hallways. On the other hand, about 10 PTZ-style network cameras were deployed within heated shelters outside the school's parameter to survey the schoolyards and parking lots.

These cameras were so efficient due the fact that they combined a sturdy vandal-resistant design with hybrid network/analog features, a 30 fps frame rate as well as 640 x 480 resolution. However what actually made the camera stick out to A+ Technology Solutions was its 802.3af PoE support, demanding only a single Ethernet cable to convey both power and communications. This ultimately resulted in better placement flexibility and decreased deployment prices while simplifying the utilization of uninterruptible power supply with the security camera, so that video surveillance can proceed if a power shortage happens to occur.

According to the president of A+ Technology Solutions, the Toshiba camera's PoE assistance literally helped the School District put away thousands of dollars that could have been spent on in electrical hardwiring fees.

Well Equipped Cameras

The A+ Technology Solutions company was similarly excited when it found out about the cameras that offer rapid PTZ abilities with 22x optical zoom, sharp SXVGA resolution as well as a place for a removable SD memory stick, allowing for an added at-the-camera recording ability that works in combination with an alarm notification.

In addition to that the cameras can be operated and programmed through the utilization of the Visual Sentry NVR with features such as resolution, motion verification or frame rate being selectively configured for each specific security camera in use.

The manager of the security company expressed his happiness that this advanced technology is allowing them to protect children while they get the education they require to enhance their futures.

IP network Video PoE networked real-time monitoring IT security system VLAN Visual Sentry NVR LCD screen live footage Internet remote device PTZ cameras frame rate Technology SD memory alarm