Timothy jewellers are firm believers in the adage that ‘you can't have too much security' |
The family run business is one of the most respected in the region and famous for its computer aided design and rapid prototyping capability to produce unique one-off pieces. Its three-storey premises in Chichester also has retail space, workshops and a foundry and is protected by multiple alarm systems, smoke cloak, CCTV, active and passive sensors.
However, the firm's old analogue CCTV system offered poor quality and limited functionality, "We wanted something discrete that could offer better quality and allow us to view the premises from another location," explains Timothy Roe, Founder and Managing Director. Remote viewing is useful when Tim or a member of staff is required to attend the premises in the event of a false alarm triggering. The fear is that somebody could be waiting on or near the site to intercept him.
A useful feature of the CCTV solution is the ability to remotely connect to any camera on the site via a simple broadband connection |
After consulting David Cawkell, a family friend and a Director of SeSys Ltd who provide solutions in the CCTV business, Tim was encouraged to examine a MOBOTIX solution. "We had a demonstration and the quality blew us away, especially as we could cover an entire double shop front area with just two hemispheric cameras," explains Tim. The installation of several MOBOTIX hemispheric cameras took a day including the integrated MxControlCenter software and alongside enhanced quality, the MOBOTIX technology has provided Tim with a host of useful features.
One of the most useful is the ability to remotely connect to any MOBOTIX camera on the site via a simple broadband connection and receive a remote video and audio feed. "Now if we have an alarm trigger, we can remotely check the premises and the surrounding area prior to arrival," explains Tim. The system also allows Tim to remotely skip back through any incidents to potentially ascertain the cause of alarm trigger or to see if anybody has concealed themselves within the premises before he arrives.
The 3 megapixel MOBOTIX cameras use no moving parts and feature a unique hemispheric lens to cover a wider area than traditional fixed cameras with technology to digitally flatten, pan, tilt and zoom any image. With network convergence in mind, the MOBOTIX cameras can run entirely over Power over Ethernet (PoE) with internal storage buffer to provide localised recording in the event of network outage and to help deliver better quality of service, especially across wireless or low bandwidth networks.
Another feature is the built-in Audio which has proved useful in clarifying customer requests, especially during busy periods and the ability to quickly pan and zoom inside recorded footage has also helped Tim find misplaced items inside his busy workshop area.
"The MOBOTIX cameras are really useful and we will be upgrading cameras in other parts of the business to these units as they give us much more functionality than our old analogue systems," explains Tim. "We are firm believers in the adage that ‘you can't have too much security' and our new CCTV systems also gives us so much more," he concludes.