DVTel NVMS provides video surveillance to the North Carolina State University campus

(15/10/2007)

DVTel, Inc., has announced that North Carolina State University (NC State) has deployed the DVTel Latitude Network Video Management System (NVMS) to provide video surveillance throughout the entire campus. SigNet Technologies is the integrator on the project and is involved in the on-going project expansion.

The NC State installation has over 350 cameras located in multiple departments on campus, and the university network has ample capacity for the project to scale substantially as demand dictates. The project is unique and innovative in that one department, the AllCampus Network, manages the servers, storage, and technology while offering each campus department the opportunity to purchase and integrate the cameras they need into the campus standard.

As new buildings are built or when a department expresses security concerns, the AllCampus Network serves as security consultant, with University Police, providing the standards and criteria new users need to address. The parties agree on a security template for the building and the AllCampus Network provides the “customer” with budgets, project management, and technical support.

“NC State is the size of a small town,” said Scott McInturf, Project Manager, AllCampus Network, “with 35,000 students, 8000 faculty and staff, more than 2000 acres, and 500 buildings, including critical infrastructure installations such as a nuclear reactor and many other sensitive material sites. Our job is to provide the technology to efficiently and effectively protect all these assets in an urban environment with a dynamic population.”

NC State spent a year evaluating network video management systems. Key selection criteria included scalability, capability to fully utilize and sit atop the existing campus network, and integration with future security management systems. The DVTel system was chosen because it met these criteria, but it also provides a user friendly interface and, importantly, it easily partitions so that each individual “customer” department accesses only their video data while University Police and other university staff have access to all video. “The DVTel system met our criteria: we didn’t need a separate, dedicated security network and it has been growing with our needs as we rapidly add users and cameras,” said McInturf.

Video is used for live monitoring and extensive incident review. All video is maintained in a central secure location, so departments don’t have this responsibility and the university knows that data is safe stored. Each department has access to only their camera data, and they can maintain their systems with autonomy while still being part of a larger campus-wide system that offers uniformity and economies of scale.

McInturf commented that the campus access control system currently has over 40 separate administrative groups and he sees video growing to that level and beyond. “With the expansion of campus and other State agencies using our system, this system could grow to thousands of cameras,” he asserted.

The DVTel system has proven highly flexible. For example, for special needs such as a cash counting room and in the rare books section of the library, individual cameras are programmed at higher frame rates and to store video for longer periods of time. The system has also proven highly effective with video data used not only to solve crimes but also as a training tool and to improve operations in university convenience stores and dining halls.

DVTel President and CEO Eli Gorovici is enthusiastic about the NC State project, “When we first developed our NVMS, this is how we conceived of the system be fully utilized: a single, central managing organization “sells” the transmission, storage, and management of the video to different customers who have the cameras. The departments get in-house expertise and service, and superior video, and the university knows the campus is safer, costs are managed effectively, and there is uniformity in quality and operations. This is a model project for other universities and multi-site installations.”

Related topics:  CCTV recording, DVR, VCR, Multiplexers   CCTV system and accessories   Digital CCTV   IP monitoring   Surveillance 

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