Texas Agency Installs More Than 3,200 H.264 Megapixel Cameras

  • Mar 04, 2011

IQinVision recently announced the completion of a major video surveillance project with the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS).

The installation comprises more than 3,200 H.264 HD megapixel cameras installed in 336 buildings on 12 separate campuses located throughout the state. Knight Security Systems has been instrumental in the success of the project proposing, designing, and installing the surveillance system over a 17-month time period.

The project includes IQeye Alliance-pro and 4-Series dome cameras, servers, operating software, and an end-to-end network infrastructure with 35 miles of fiber optic cable to connect all the buildings together on each campus. Knight and IQinVision won this important contract by offering a scalable solution using new technology that achieved DADS’ security goals while saving the state money.

“The timing of the project allowed us to do a couple of interesting things that benefited the state,” said Chris Hugman VP/executive project manager for Knight Security Systems. “We used IQeye megapixel resolution cameras throughout. Secondly, we were able to incorporate the latest H.264 video encoding which gives better bandwidth and storage efficiency. The result has been superior quality images with manageable network and storage requirements -- the customer has been very pleased with the clarity and performance.”

Image quality is critical to this customer. Early in 2009, the Texas State Legislature mandated that DADS install a video surveillance system to document and ensure that residents on the 12 campuses, many with physical, mental and emotional handicaps, were being well treated.

The installation utilizes IQinVision cameras, OnSSI video management software, Zyxel network switches and Dell Servers to provide the interactive video-monitoring interface. By installing IQeye HD megapixel cameras, DADS was able to use fewer cameras when compared to Standard Definition cameras, and still cover more area. By using H.264 compression, Knight was able to put more cameras on a single gigabit link and the state is able to maintain an extended video archive without paying for exorbitant storage capacity.

The 12 DADS campuses have between 6 and 62 buildings, and the number of cameras in each building ranges from one to more than 70. Each campus has its own independent system with a central monitoring room, necessitating an architecture that was very scalable to meet the requirements of each campus.

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