Christie’s Auction House Centralizes Security Operations

  • Aug 09, 2010

Diebold Inc. recently lent its security expertise as a consultant and integrator for a security infrastructure upgrade at the North American headquarters of world-renowned Christie's Auction House. The project enabled Christie's to centralize its security operations, reduce risk and improve event response times across multiple sites.

Diebold designed a new command and control center for Christie's Rockefeller Center headquarters in New York City.

The location houses extremely valuable collections of fine art, jewelry and collectibles for storage, display and sale at auction. Diebold's design integrated new video surveillance technologies with legacy systems, replacing Christie's original analog-linked video system with a video display wall that's digitally connected to cameras, DVRs and a custom-programmed touch-screen control system. The new layout puts any camera feed in an operator's field of view with the click of a mouse.

The redesign has reduced event response times by improving the visibility of areas throughout the facility and at remote sites. Furthermore, it helped Christie's reduce risk for its business and clientele. The redesign resonates with the company's insurers, which have used Christie's new security operations as a case study platform for other clients.

Diebold assisted Christie's in connecting additional North American sites to the new control center. Operators in New York are now able to retrieve real-time video and assess alarm events at seven remote Christie's sites. This centralized capability allows Christie's to confirm security breaches or false alarms, without dispatching a local responder, ultimately decreasing false alarm fees.

"We have an extremely complex and unique business, and Diebold understands that," said Steve Wrightson, vice president and director of security, Americas for Christie's. "We knew Diebold was going to come in with the knowledge, expertise, passion and dedication for what we needed to do with this project."

To provide control center operators with immediate visual confirmation of alarm events, Diebold helped Christie's tie new access control and motion detection systems into the video surveillance system. When a card reader or motion detector alarm activates, audible alerts sound and video feeds for the affected areas display automatically on the control center video wall. These capabilities enable faster deployment of security personnel and also improve flexibility as the automated technology allows security guards to patrol floors rather than dedicate themselves to a single post.

"Christie's handles some of the world's most prized artifacts," said Bradley J. Stephenson, vice president, security solutions, Diebold. "The infrastructure upgrades we designed and deployed enable centralized security operations that will help the company better secure priceless works of art. To play a role in this process has been an honor for Diebold, and it represents our continued commitment to protecting our customers from criminal activity and critical loss."

 

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