A Secure Selection
Video solution cuts down on university's costly thefts
- By Courtney Pedersen
- Sep 09, 2008
The University of Buffalo has a
widely distributed multicampus
environment with varied security
needs in different departments. A video
solution was critical at the university.
Both theft and vandalism can incur
huge costs, and security for widespread
locations has been costly to manage with
DVRs. These challenges were met with
Milestone’s AProtect Enterprise IP video
management sysem. The surveillance
hardware is a best-of-breed mix of Axis
216 and Sony DFN-40 network cameras,
with Pelco analog cameras that are converted
to digital through Axis 240Q video
servers into the IP software.
Bring all this technology together, and
the University of Buffalo has gained flexibility
and scalability, centralized administration
with decentralized access for use of
the system, wide geographic distribution,
PoE hardware and cost efficiencies of
using the standard IT resources—equipment
and network infrastructure—as well
as the IT department’s expertise and maintenance
routines for keeping the system up
and running or expanding as needed.
Food, Vending Thefts
The campus dining and food shops serve
5,000 faculty members and 25,000 students.
In addition to serving up to
60,000 meals a day, there are hundreds
of vending machines, some in remote
locations—all of which accept cash and
campus cards. The University of Buffalo
campuses handle more than $2.5 million
a year in vending.
“Because we operate as a business,
we’ve always had more money available
than any other department,” said Keith
Curtachio, Faculty Student Association
director of IT. “We’re spread out across
multiple campuses with 21 operations,
and the amount of goods stocked for
these, for which we have to transport
cash, gives us a greater risk for theft. For
years, we were the only ones with alarms
for security. We also were the first department
to put in surveillance.”
Drawbacks to VCRs, DVRs
“When we first put the VCRs into the convenience
stores back in the 1990s, it was
such a time-consuming job to look back
through the tapes,” Curtachio said. “Their
value is so low for the work required and
the poor quality of the results. We moved to
DVRs after that, but their cost is extreme.”
Now, as the university’s DVRs die, they
switch to the IP network approach with
Milestone software managing Axis network
cameras or by converting the Pelco analog
cameras to digital with Axis video servers.
Curtachio immediately understood the
scalability advantages of going with an IP
approach when he saw a 2004 presentation
on a Milestone/Axis installation in
the South Campus Medical department.
The installation, completed by Mike
Blumenson, was then done by Digital
Surveillance Systems. Blumenson has
been helping the University of Buffalo
slowly roll out IP video since then.
Leap of Faith
Curtachio was asked to install numerous
cameras all at once. By doing the math,
he quickly surmised it was worth taking a
leap to IP. More important, it was the
back-up procedure routine. DVRs would
be lost, and drives would get fried.
Once a DVR failed, it was taken out of
service and shipped back to the manufacturer.
But the system would lose up to 30
days of data because there is no redundancy
or back-up of data. Curtachio said
it happened a few times, and, when they
were asked for evidence and could not
provide it, there was a problem.
Vandalism makes up the majority of
the university’s problems with crimes like
theft occurring primarily at night.
“At one particular set of machines
where we had just installed the new system,
we could see someone in action,”
Curtachio said. “These pros were known
to the university police, who shared the
evidence with the Buffalo city police.”
Curtachio said there have been many
arrests and convictions over the past several
years thanks to this system.
Most of the cameras at the
University of Buffalo are Axis 216
models that are PoE—a technology that
enables power to be provided to the network
device, such as an IP phone or a
network camera, using the same cable
used for network connections. This
eliminates the need for power outlets at
the camera locations.
Curtachio said he really enjoys the Axis
PoE camera because of the ease of install
and its reliability. PoE also has found a permanent
home, because the university uses
it for everything. All vending machines on
campus also are switching to Ethernet
technology for the card readers.
An install is easily and quickly completed
with a patch cable, and power is
received from the back of the vending
machines using a power injector. The
cameras run whenever needed. A power
take-off cable works with a native power
supply in the machines.
Catching the Culprits
Curtachio said the university also has
installed inexpensive, disposable analog
infrared cameras inside the vending
machines. The video is digitalized
through the axis video servers, which
can be viewed and archived in the
XProtect software.
If someone opens the machines
by breaking the door, the motion triggers
video recording. It also sends
an alert to the campus
police.