Rolling Out Successful Security

Russian National Library tests intelligent platform

• By Evgenia Ostrovskaya
• May 01, 2012

The Russian National Library celebrated its 215th anniversary in 2010. Located in the historic center of Saint Petersburg, the library is a cultural bastion of the northern capital along with the Hermitage Museum, the Russian Museum, the Alexandrinsky and Mariinsky theaters and other cultural centers.

The buildings that make up the library are architectural monuments. The Russian president has ordered that the library be recognized as an especially valuable part of national heritage and as part of the historical and cultural legacy of the peoples of the Russian Federation.

The Russian National Library had planned to develop its infrastructure and security system as part of its general reconstruction plan. The buildings’ facilities and rooms were paid particular attention to and were to be outfitted with modern technological security networks. The plan also envisioned creating an integrated security system for staff and library stock. In July 2010, experts from NEVISS Complex and VIZZARA installed a digital video surveillance system powered by AxxonSoft Intellect software in the library for a trial run.

“The system works without any problems. The video footage is stored for the required period of time; you can watch the video archive from the video server itself or from a remote computer workstation. It takes only a couple of seconds to retrieve particular records, which shows how convenient the Intellect system is,” said Mikhail Gubarev, head of the library’s security service. “I can say with confidence that the video surveillance system based on Intellect software is suitable for creating a technological monitoring system in the Russian National Library.”

The system includes cameras located at the entrance and in all reading rooms, and on the perimeter of the building a high-performance video server, ViServer from VIZZARA, and two remote workstations are arranged for video surveillance operators.

This article originally appeared in the May 2012 issue of Security Today.