The client
Euroma2, the biggest shopping centre in Europe, was opened to the public on the 23rd of June 2008. Situated in Eur, a neighbourhood in the outskirts of Rome called Castellaccio, it has five floors, two of which are underground parking. The interior architecture has many domes and columns which imitate historical monuments and are made of marble, stucco and gold finished materials. Euroma2 counts more than 220 shops and 20 restaurants. The shopping mall has four thousand parking spaces available for it's customers.
The shopping mall is owned by the group L.S.G.I. and is managed by the company S.C.C. Italia. The group L.S.G.I. has built more than four million square meters of real estate properties introducing a strong added value. The company S.C.C.I (Société des Centres Commerciaux Italia S.r.l) is part of the L.S.G.I group and is a leader in the management and promotion of shopping centres.
The situation
During the summer of 2007, SCCI launched the project tender and asked a number of security installers to design a complete security system for the centre. The property owners had a key requirement - a digital platform with the very latest technology based on a sole brand that could provide an integrated security system including video, access and intrusion detection. The specialist security installer Vailati S.a.S. di Vailati Claudio&C won the project and continues to manage Euroma2's security and maintenance services. Vailati SaS has extensive expertise and experience in the design and installation of security systems for large shopping centres.
Shopping centres are regarded as high risk security environments due to the size of the sites, the vast crowds, the numerous entrances and exits, and the fact that there are many retail outlets within them. An effective digital video management system is essential to ensure that the site, including all its different areas such as restaurants, retail outlets and visitors, is kept safe and secure. All the entrances and exists of the parking areas are also monitored. In this way, the security guards in charge of surveillance can monitor all the areas where cars are moving around without additional cost and making efficient use of the security resources.
The solution
More than 280 Honeywell interior and exterior cameras and domes have been installed in the shopping centre, implementing innovative video solutions in terms of technology and resolution. Vailati SaS selected the following Honeywell cameras - PTZ ACUIX with Day/Night technology and Wide Dynamic Range, rugged domes to prevent exterior vandalism and vandal-proof mini-domes for interior applications with a discrete design to match the interior decoration and style of the shopping centre. The cameras are linked by an unshielded twisted pair (UTP) to 16 channel Fusion digital video recorders (DVRs), 20 of which have been installed in different technical rooms. The technical rooms and the control room are connected via a 1Gbps ethernet network over optical fibre. In the control room there are two PC work stations which enable the technicians to monitor, reproduce or save any video source from the system by means of the Honeywell Fusion Video Management System (HFVMS) software. A Honeywell
WIN-PAK™ SE/PE access control solution manages access to the entrances of the shopping centre linked with two Galaxy® intruder alarm panels creating an integrated system to protect the buildings.
Claudio Vailati, the Installation Manager at Vailati SaS approached Honeywell, as his first port of call due to the fact that Honeywell has a comprehensive DVR product range.
The Honeywell Fusion DVR Series was chosen for recording purposes because it offers much more than a traditional analogue DVR |
"Honeywell presented us with the Fusion multi-channel DVR showing all its capabilities and features," said Claudio Vailati, Installations Manager Vailati SaS. "The solution satisfied all our needs. We had previously used Honeywell products on several large projects and have always found the products to be easy to use and manage."
Euroma2 has many meeting points as well as retail outlets and restaurants. There is a relatively high incidence of theft and attempted theft due to the crowds that flock to the shopping centre especially at weekends. The shopping centre security team relies heavily on the video systems to capture incidents and the video footage also helps trace and monitor anti-social behaviour. It is also extremely important to monitor all the exterior and parking areas to identify suspicious or antisocial behaviour.
At the initial design stages of the CCTV security system Vailati and Honeywell had to consider whether to continue along the path of analogue systems, which require the installation of a video matrix and the centralization of all the video signals to the control room, or to opt instead for a digital solution which would allow a decentralized installation of the equipment by means of a simple and scalable Ethernet TCP IP network. The digital solution was adopted enabling Euroma2 to connect new IP cameras to the system as required. In this way the security system is always up to date and aligned with the latest technology.
The Honeywell Fusion DVR Series was chosen for recording purposes because it offers much more than a traditional analogue DVR. It is a full featured hybrid digital recording system which bridges the gap between digital video recorders and network video recorders, achieving an extremely high rate of network distribution of the video and audio signals. The Honeywell digital DVR Fusion system includes a software platform that can share and process video signals for other Honeywell solutions such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and intelligent video analytics, Active Alert®, which can be used to track people, objects and vehicles.
"We needed to start with an effective and up to date monitoring system right from the opening of the shopping centre which would also ensure a technologically future-ready platform," added Claudio Vailati. "Honeywell has enabled us to do this."
The benefits
Since the Honeywell Fusion DVRs have been installed, Euroma2 has reported savings in time and resources. The security operators are now able to instantly review a recording of an incident and high resolution images can be produced enabling security staff to locate and apprehend a suspected thief or vandal.
The RAID storage units allow the team to store more footage over a longer period of time. The information is more easily accessible than using VHS tapes. Ultimately this helps police and the legal process if charges are pressed. Overall, the operation has become more effective and efficient. "The level of service and technical support we received from Honeywell, especially from the Italian sales and technical support team, has been excellent," continued Caludio Vailati. "They are always available to assist and advise us when required."
"We are very satisfied with the new Honeywell Fusion DVR," said Attilio de Micheli, Security Manager Euroma2. "We are much better equipped to handle video incidents. The management of the shopping centre security systems is a lot easier and efficient. The new Fusion DVR system has enabled us to act more quickly to deal with incidents of theft, vandalism or anti-social behaviour."
