BridgeWave Technology Powers Wireless Video Surveillance During Inauguration

  • Feb 18, 2009

BridgeWave Communications recently announced that its gigabit wireless products provided the network backbone to support mission-critical video surveillance traffic run by local and national security agencies during the 2009 U.S. presidential inauguration.

BridgeWave’s AR80 and AR80X products were chosen due to effectiveness and reliability, as well as the ability to handle demanding video bandwidth requirements.

In January, more than 1 million people witnessed President Barack Obama's historic inauguration in Washington, D.C. With such crowds, it was imperative for local, national and international security agencies such as the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, FBI, CIA, Secret Service and National Guard to use video surveillance to monitor and track suspicious activity in the crowds surrounding the newly elected president.

Connectivity Solutions Inc, a VAR specializing in the design and deployment of wired and wireless solutions, was tasked with implementing the mission critical video surveillance project. CSI looked to BridgeWave to provide high capacity, high performance radios for the backhaul network, supporting video traffic from surveillance cameras.

The network required ultra-high capacity Gigabit Ethernet to handle the copious volume of video traffic, not to mention a solution that could be installed in a short amount of time. CSI had 10 days to build out the network before the inauguration activities began, so relying on easy to deploy equipment was essential.

Although several wireless vendors were evaluated, BridgeWave was selected over competing products due to high-capacity links offering superior reliability and flexibility. Moreover, BridgeWave was also easy to deploy and manage for CSI’s eight-person team. The locations for installing the radios were in highly protected government areas with limited access, making complex product installations too difficult, costly and time-consuming.

CSI set up two AR80X links and two AR80 links on various roof top locations spanning a range of one to three miles. Despite having to install the radios in rain, snow and six-degree weather, CSI had the entire solution up and running in five days. When the inauguration activities were underway, the cameras operated flawlessly garnering high praise from law enforcement officials.

“Our team provided the city with an advanced video surveillance network for this momentous occasion in large part due to BridgeWave’s robust products,” said Andy Mortenson, president at Connectivity Solutions Inc. “Their gigabit wireless links never experienced a hiccup while easily handling the real-time demands of video surveillance traffic. We are extremely impressed with the effectiveness and flexibility of BridgeWave’s radios as well as with the technical expertise of BridgeWave’s support team. BridgeWave and its products went well beyond the call of duty to make this deployment a success.”

“We are pleased to be a part of the 44th presidential inauguration success,” said Amir Makleff, CEO of BridgeWave. “This historical event requiring quick deployment, high capacity, and reliable operation was a perfect match with our products that were designed to perform in such demanding circumstances. Video surveillance requires a dependable, high-performance backbone network to backhaul high-resolution traffic from digital IP-based cameras to law enforcement monitoring stations, ultimately empowering security agencies to be more vigilant than ever.”

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