Sandwich shop franchisee Nabeed Ramzan operates four fast-food stores in Scotland, located in Glasgow, Motherwell, and Stenhousemuir. Recognising the need to upgrade the dated analogue CCTV surveillance systems at each of the stores and monitor them centrally, Ramzan approached integrator 1080 Solutions Ltd., which undertook a comprehensive site survey and recommended the installation of a powerful new system from Hikvision.
A legacy system past its ‘Sell By Date’
With aging technology in the existing discrete CCTV surveillance solutions in each of the branches involved in the project, the time was certainly ripe to investigate the advantages an upgrade to a centrally monitored digital IP system could provide. “However, it would not be without its challenges, especially the need for our team of engineers to decommission the old CCTV system and install its replacement during peak business hours,” says Asim Arshad, managing director at 1080 Solutions. “The upgrade also called for the replacement of all the existing cabling with BT grade Cat-6 infrastructure to allow on-site NVRs to relay signals directly to Ramzan’s main office.
“The new system was required to function as both a replacement to the previous solution and a future-proof upgrade, capable of assimilating further upgrades in the form of additional cameras or NVRs if desired. Not only that, but wherever possible the new Hikvision solution should take full advantage of the existing wall and ceiling mounts used by the previous CCTV cameras to minimize disruption and the need for redecoration. This meant careful consideration of which cameras to place in order to maximise coverage and efficiency.”
According to Arshad, the site survey had identified the key areas for surveillance and highlighted camera technology that would be especially useful. “The areas behind and in front of the serving counters, especially the area surrounding any cash register, were mandated to receive the highest level of surveillance to detect theft and/or mishandling of food or beverages by both staff and customers, and vandalism,” he says. “Even during the site survey, we had in mind that the Smart Hikvision network dome cameras, with their IR sensors, Smart Line Detection, Region of Interest selection, and Entering and Loitering Detection technologies, would play an important role in allowing the security team to anticipate such activities and providing maximum security for both customers and staff.
“Finally, with the installation of 50 cameras and five NVRs across the four stores, we were challenged to design and implement a solution that maximized cost-effectiveness while allowing easy future expansion should the circumstances dictate,” says Arshad.
Central monitoring
1080 Solutions’ newly installed CCTV surveillance solution functions as both a replacement to the previous solution and a future-proof upgrade, capable of assimilating further upgrades in the form of additional cameras or NVRs. It consists of forty Hikvision 4 MP vandal-resistant network dome cameras to monitor interiors, with the external areas at all the stores covered by ten 4 MP bullet cameras. Five 4K 16 channel NVRs, capable of storing up to 24 terabytes of footage from the cameras, lie at the heart of the CCTV system and offer the possibility of easily adding a further 30 cameras to the 50-camera system. The store NVRs also relay information to a dedicated workstation and 47-inch monitor at head office running Hikvision’s video management software. As a result, the security team can now monitor activity in real-time across all the stores, with instant playback across a wide range of devices, from a desktop to a tablet or smartphone. All cameras also use Power-over-Ethernet technology, in order to maximise efficiency and ease of installation.
Arshad says the internal dome cameras benefit not only from a high-performance 30m IR range for crystal-clear night time surveillance but also from their Smart Feature set. “The specific Smart features that have proven really useful for this project are Line Crossing and Intrusion Detection. Used together they enable the triggering of an alarm on the detection of the crossing of a virtual line, and upon entering and loitering in a pre-defined virtual region. This helps to alert the security team to possible incidents and allows them to investigate either at the time or for evidential purposes later.”
Providing external CCTV coverage across all four branches involved in the project is Hikvision’s 4 MP Wide Dynamic Range Mini Bullet Network Camera. Like the internal dome cameras, these units benefit from a 30m IR range and an extensive Smart Feature set. “The ten bullet cameras have proven to be the ideal choice for external coverage at all the branches,” says Arshad. “The specific Smart features which really proved to be invaluable for the project are Motion detection, Dynamic analysis, Tampering alarm, and Storage Exception. The Dynamic analysis feature in particular enables Ramzan’s security team to actively anticipate potential incidents, thereby allowing them to stand by in preparation for any incidents to occur.”
In the bag
“We are extremely satisfied with the new CCTV surveillance solution from Hikvision UK,” franchise owner Nabeed Ramzan says. “The combination of the high-performance images from the internal and external cameras alongside the quality of the installation is very impressive. What’s more, the Hikvision NVRs allow us to make further enhancements to the solution quickly and easily if desired. Another great benefit of the upgrade is the ability to view footage from all four branches from one central location on a single monitor, or from either a smartphone or tablet at any time.”
For Arshad and his installation team, the evident satisfaction of Nabeed Ramzan with the quality of the equipment and images is vitally important, as is the potential for expansion offered by the new system if or when circumstances dictate. However, he notes that it is equally crucial that the installation work itself did not compromise the stores’ operations. “The installation of the CCTV upgrade to a centrally-monitored 50-camera Smart surveillance solution delivers maximum efficiency and functionality and was seamlessly completed during peak business hours with no down-time,” he says.