UK City Migrates Analog Camera System To Gentec IP Platform

  • May 08, 2008

Genetec announced recently that the City of Manchester, United Kingdom, selected Omnicast 4.1 for a major system upgrade project. With approximately 700 analog cameras spread throughout the city, the City of Manchester is gradually migrating to IP, and all cameras will eventually be managed by the IP platform.

Working with C-ways Limited, a UK-based IT Integrator, the City of Manchester selected Omnicast for the flexibility and benefits offered by its new Federation feature.

“Where before we could only use either unicast or multicast functions, the Federation will allow us to use both those functionalities simultaneously, offering better management of bandwidth,” said David Walsh, technical installations manager from the City of Manchester’s Command and Control Center.

With five control centers located throughout the city to manage video from their older fixed analog systems, the Federation also has given the City of Manchester the ability to reroute all video back to one central monitoring station through IP. As each system is progressively migrated and rerouted back to the central monitoring station, there will no longer be a need for the other control centers, thus contributing to significantly reduced operation costs.

Additionally, total flexibility of the system has given them the freedom to work with their existing infrastructure and any hardware providers they deem fit. According to Walsh “this is very important when spending public money.”

One month into the implementation of the Omnicast system, the City of Manchester has already migrated 30 cameras from the Greater Manchester Police and 20 cameras from the city’s largest municipal park over to the Omnicast platform.

“Unlike an analog installation, the systems were up and running within hours and our partners could not be happier with the new system and its many benefits,” Walsh said.

Although in initial installation stages, the City of Manchester has plans to continue populating the Omnicast platform with existing cameras and is also looking into third-party integration with video and audio analytics partners.

Featured

  • The Evolution of IP Camera Intelligence

    As the 30th anniversary of the IP camera approaches in 2026, it is worth reflecting on how far we have come. The first network camera, launched in 1996, delivered one frame every 17 seconds—not impressive by today’s standards, but groundbreaking at the time. It did something that no analog system could: transmit video over a standard IP network. Read Now

  • From Surveillance to Intelligence

    Years ago, it would have been significantly more expensive to run an analytic like that — requiring a custom-built solution with burdensome infrastructure demands — but modern edge devices have made it accessible to everyone. It also saves time, which is a critical factor if a missing child is involved. Video compression technology has played a critical role as well. Over the years, significant advancements have been made in video coding standards — including H.263, MPEG formats, and H.264—alongside compression optimization technologies developed by IP video manufacturers to improve efficiency without sacrificing quality. The open-source AV1 codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media—a consortium including Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Amazon and others — is already the preferred decoder for cloud-based applications, and is quickly becoming the standard for video compression of all types. Read Now

  • Cost: Reactive vs. Proactive Security

    Security breaches often happen despite the availability of tools to prevent them. To combat this problem, the industry is shifting from reactive correction to proactive protection. This article will examine why so many security leaders have realized they must “lead before the breach” – not after. Read Now

  • Achieving Clear Audio

    In today’s ever-changing world of security and risk management, effective communication via an intercom and door entry communication system is a critical communication tool to keep a facility’s staff, visitors and vendors safe. Read Now

  • Beyond Apps: Access Control for Today’s Residents

    The modern resident lives in an app-saturated world. From banking to grocery delivery, fitness tracking to ridesharing, nearly every service demands another download. But when it comes to accessing the place you live, most people do not want to clutter their phone with yet another app, especially if its only purpose is to open a door. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions.