Riverside Military School Case Study
Advanced, cost effective video surveillance solution.
Chosen for providing the most advanced, cost effective solution, EMC Security designed and installed a video surveillance solution for Riverside Military Academy with artificial intelligence video analytics search capabilities that can save valuable time and effort, ultimately making the campus a safer place for cadets and staff.
Riverside Military Academy (RMA), located in Gainesville, GA, is a leading private, military college preparatory and boarding school for boys in grades 7-12. Founded in 1907, the beautiful campus sprawls over 200 acres and is home to over 500 cadets from 30 nations and 30 states. Every aspect of life as a cadet at RMA is designed to encourage exceptional academic achievement and personal growth. With increased safety risks to the cadets that not only go to school but live on campus, quality video surveillance is a vital part of the overall security posture.
Awarded the project with the most advanced, cost effective solution, EMC Security provided a complete video surveillance solution with self-learning video analytics, network video recorders, and video management software with appearance search technology. Installed across 8 buildings including fields and dormitories, the school has future plans to integrate access control systems to secure physical access points, providing an integrated security solution campus-wide.
The Challenge:
RMA had a legacy analog surveillance system in place, but it had no intelligent or proactive capabilities. As such, trying to locate incident footage was a time-consuming process that involved scrutinizing hours of video footage.
The older system also had gaps in coverage and offered little reliability.
The Process:
EMC Security was one of six integrators considered during the open, Public RFP, selected as the providing the best equipment, best sound design, and best value. Once EMC Security introduced AI capabilities, RMA realized they’d save money and time with our solution.
- References and reputation. As a trusted security provider for many schools in Georgia, including Gwinnett, Forsyth and Hall County schools, EMC Security’s reputation was solid.
- More coverage with less cameras. EMC Security engineers designed an efficient and cost- effective solution that provided more field of vision and higher resolution with less cameras than other companies.
- Artificial Intelligence capabilities. Sorts through hours of video in minutes to identify specific people or vehicles.
- Non-proprietary equipment. No annual license fees.
- Future-proof. The solution allows for expansion of the AI capabilities and integration with access control.
The EMC Security Solution:
EMC Security was able to replace the system’s 62 analog cameras with 168 non-proprietary Avigilon AI cameras and integrate across one network with video management software. The Avigilon cameras offered much higher image quality, better coverage and video analytics than the legacy system.
With video from the large network of security cameras, the system leverages advanced artificial intelligence and video analytic capabilities to sort through hours of video with ease, to quickly locate a specific person or vehicle of interest across school grounds, in near real-time. The advanced video pattern detection technology can accurately recognize the movements of people and vehicles while ignoring motion not relevant to a scene. Embedded into cameras, the system’s ability to constantly learn what typical activity in a scene looks like, the camera can then detect and flag unusual motion, revealing events that may have otherwise been missed.
The installation also included a video wall where two 50-inch screens provided security personnel with an interactive visual matrix. Utilizing intuitive software, a School Security Officer can operate and manage the system, access the video real-time, and view the new campus wide analytic cameras locally or remotely. This native and browser-based software has evolving advanced upgrades without the on-going licensing fees. The software can be pushed to all servers in the site and upgraded automatically.
The Future:
By integrating an access control system, RMA will have a fully integrated security solution with real-time event management. When the access control system is activated, a camera will record video footage of the event. If someone is falsely entering, you can easily view who it is real-time. By quickly and easily identifying an incident, a campus-wide lock down can be accomplished as needed.
Conclusion:
- EMC Security proposed a solution for 20% less cost than the competition.
- The competition presented 30% more cameras for the similar coverage resulting in higher installation and equipment costs – without analytics or expansion for access control.
- EMC Security completed the project in two months, over a month ahead of schedule.
- RMA has experienced an enormous amount of time savings. In reviewing a recent incident, it took 1/8 of the time to find the video footage with the new system vs old system. As a result, RMA now employs a more effective incident prevention and risk mitigation strategy.
“I have been impressed with EMC Security’s quickness and professional assistance throughout the process.” Bill O’Brien; Safety and Security Director
Learn more about EMC Security’s enterprise security solutions here.