Introduction
La Praille, adjoining the Stade de Genève stadium, is Geneva's second largest shopping mall - with 80 shops, 550 staff and an excess of 3.7 million customer visits a year. The shopping mall occupies 33,300 square metres of floor space, with an additional 25,000 square metres allocated for parking. When La Praille's doors opened in mid-November 2002 it immediately housed name brands such as Coop (a large food market), Zara, Oysho and Massimo Dutti.
The well-balanced tenant mix attracts affluent shoppers and covers a variety of sectors including an attractive array of restaurants catering for all tastes, such as a Molino restaurant. An emphasis was placed on shopper's accessibility to the mall by public and private transport. The basement floor holds approximately 950 parking bays, with no less than four different bus services and tram lines either stopping directly at the main entrance or connecting with a shuttle bus.
Mission
Axis partner STVS SA was briefed by La Praille to deliver a video surveillance solution to proactively prevent events such as vandalism, pick-pocketing, property damage and theft. The mall also required monitoring of all access points and parking lots. However of greatest importance, the system needed to be integrated into the centre's existing Ethernet system. IP (Internet Protocol) network cameras met the mall's integration requirements and vendors offering CCTV solutions were not selected.
Solution
The installation of over 100 surveillance network cameras throughout La Praille, is comprised of both AXIS 212 PTZ and AXIS 225FD Network Cameras used for parking lot surveillance. All surveillance cameras are linked to a central control room, which is monitored by the mall's security team.
In addition, all cameras are managed by STVS's ProVision 5.1 software application using three NVR 3200 recording servers with 4 Terabytes of storage capacity each. In a short space of time, La Praille management is able to view a complete snapshot of the mall's security either by physically standing in the control room or by using the remote accessibility options offered by the surveillance system.
Result
La Praille has experienced a significant decrease in theft, disorderly behaviour and acts of vandalism since the installation of the IP-Surveillance system. The sense of security afforded to both management and shoppers has been created by increasing the security personnel' s reaction to incidents. The system is now able to retrieve high quality video from specific incidents.
Deploying the video surveillance system
Jelmoli, the real estate concern behind La Praille, contracted STVS SA for the complete implementation of an IP-Surveillance system, from drafting the system's specifications to installation of cameras and servers and the integration into the centre's existing Ethernet system. STVS SA are responsible for approximately 70 of Switzerland's installations in a year, and camera sales in excess of 150 000 Euro.
Axis cameras were chosen because of the quality offered as well as the features offered by the AXIS 212 PTZ Network Camera. The first point of business was upgrading the centre's Ethernet infrastructure by increasing its bandwidth to a Gigabit. The network cameras and servers were then installed and configured. The servers were installed in a day and the camera installations were completed within the month.
Achieving security objectives
According to La Praille's technical director and head of security, the implementation of this system has attained all of the malls security objectives. The solution has improved a variety of aspects including the quality of transmitted images, ease of use and the relative stability of the recorded data. The ProVision 5.1 software has eased the process of seeking and locating footage from past events.
Future perspective
The primary requirement to integrate a state-of-the-art surveillance system into Le Praille's existing IP infrastructure, to proactively counter security threats, was met by Axis Communications and its partners. An extension to the surveillance system is now planned for early 2008 to increase the external surveillance of the building in preparation for the Euro 2008 football cup. This extension is of vital importance as the Stade de Genève stadium is a mere 200 meters from the La Praille shopping mall.
