Panasonic video surveillance now in use at West Herts College

Students and staff at the new West Herts College campus in Watford town centre are now under the protection of a comprehensive security package specified and supplied by Panasonic Premier Integrator (PPI) AIS, that includes a Panasonic end-to-end IP CCTV solution.

The brand new campus, which opened in September 2010, serves some 2,000 students and 450 staff on a daily basis. With state-of-the-art facilities throughout, staff and student security were both primary considerations for its design, construction and operation. The college features leisure and social spaces alongside fully equipped working areas and classrooms that include the latest teaching tools and technology - covering a wide variety of subjects.

CCTV a priority

To complement and protect the cutting-edge building and its high-value contents, college managers were eager to employ the latest CCTV technology as part of an overall security plan at the site. Chris Brown of AIS explains: "We were given the opportunity to tender for the project via the construction company BAM, who were responsible for the build. Initially they had specified a traditional analogue installation, however, as a PPI and able to take advantage of close manufacturer support and demonstration equipment, we were able to display the key advantages of an end-to-end IP solution from the instantly recognisable Panasonic brand name.

"On winning the tender, we specified a dedicated fibre backbone that was installed by the building contractors, to our specification. Along with fibre links to each camera location and PoE network switches, this formed the basis of image transmission from the cameras, to an on-site equipment room that was also included in the construction.

"Here we installed two Panasonic WJ-ND400 network video recorders that supply images to be transferred to the college's Wide Area Network (WAN), giving key members of staff and the security team the ability to remotely monitor live, and recorded images."