VideoIQ Intelligent Guarding at Avianto Estate

The Challenge

As a 5-star country estate Avianto plays host to hundreds of conferences and wedding as one of the most recognised venues in SA. Set in the countryside outside Johannesburg on the banks of the Crocodile river the owners see security as a fundamental element to their business and needed to find a solution that was flexible, effective and simple to install and maintain.

At the same time, Avianto strives to create an exceptional experience for guests and residents and core to this is to keep the rural and rustic setting and ambiance so putting in walls, electric fences and a complex set of security infrastructure was not an option. However, Avianto still sought the best technology to alert them to threats before they happened while also providing a means of visually monitoring their perimeter and guest areas, especially after hours and at night.

avianto

The Solution

After considering several options Avianto decided to go with VideoIQ’s SmartGuard iCVR devices. Trevor D’Oliviera, CEO and owner is pleased with his decision and sums it up;

With so few false alarms, I can honestly say it’s been the easiest installation ever of a high tech solution. The self calibrating analytics are more than amazing, don’t discount the value of not having to call out technicians every time a camera’s setting go out. These things just work, making our controllers job a breeze which in turn is great. They can get desensitised so quickly when they are bombarded with false alarms.

The resulting system provides the hotel with a virtual fence, warning their control room of any threats and
dramatically reduces the dependency on guards on the perimeter… or even the need for high walls, beams or
sensors!

Reasons for Selecting VideoIQ

Cost & ROI – As VideoIQ requires no servers or other hardware infrastructure the cost of installation and implementation has not just saved overall system costs (such as storage, software licenses & expensive networking hardware) but also reduced the indirect costs of extra guards, beams, fences or control room staff to monitor screens. Also, being fully scaleable means that as Avianto grows they can simply add more devices without modifying or upgrading existing infrastructure – they can simply add iCVR’s as needed!

Detection – minimising false alarms often caused by rain, animals, vegetation or anything moving that is not a human or vehicle was key for an effective system. Responding to actual events using true intelligent analytics that have proven to be the best available means that guards and controllers have a real tool to ensure proactive surveillance. Also running all the technology inside a single device ensures that the control room is not bombarded by video streams or false alarms.

Network – as each VideoIQ iCVR acts as an independent device with it’s own rules and storage, there is no need for an over robust network or constant streaming. The solution at Avianto simply involved adding the VideoIQ units to a partition on the existing hotel’s wireless network with minimal engineering work or messy trenching & cabling.

Installation & Training – VideoIQ iCVR’s install just like any PC on a network so the technicians were able to quickly configure and install them over the existing network. All that is required for the control room is a Windows PC. The system manager also attended VideoIQ’s on-line training course and easily then trained control room staff on VideoIQ’s simple and intuitive interface.

Storage and Retrieval – as each device manages it’s own storage there is no requirement for DVR’s, NVR’s or any special hardware or software licenses at the control room, making Avianto’s design simple and easy to maintain. At any stage a controller can quickly interrogate the system to retrieve video or specific events.