The integration of two security solutions, CCTV and access control, has met the needs of the new building of the Legislature of the City of Neuquén in Argentina.
By Ana María Restrepo
In the city of Neuquén, located northwest of Patagonia in Argentina, which has a population of 201,868 inhabitants and 438,079 throughout the provincial territory (according to data from the Directorate of Statistics and Censuses of the year 2001), the new headquarters of the Legislature building was officially inaugurated last November. which coincided with the 50th anniversary of the sanction of the Constitution of the province.
Modern and functional building
The new building whose cost reached 50 million Argentine pesos, is listed as one of the most imposing in Patagonia due to its area of 18,000m2, also because the construction takes advantage of visual perspectives and mitigates the environmental impact.
This property, which consists of two floors, has a strategic distribution that allows connecting the different dependencies of the Legislative and Administrative Prosecretariats, which are ordered and connected horizontally and vertically throughout the surface of the building. Likewise, the entrance to the Sessions Enclosure is made through the access hall , to which the ends of the circulations corresponding to all areas converge.
On the ground floor there is the entrance of people, vehicles and parking, as well as access to the main hall . On this floor and on the upper floor are located the dependencies of the Presidency and Secretariat of the Chamber and the offices of the deputies.
This central building is connected by means of a covered air bridge with the Library, which is equipped with modern technologies; It has two levels and a terrace-viewpoint, an area with braile library service, talking book and digitized book for the blind.
Laws secured
Just as the laws give the guidelines to live in society and ensure a good coexistence, the new building of the Legislative Power of Neuquén needed a security solution that would help protect the nearly 1000 people who are on the ground and the 300 daily visitors, which is why Xiden S.A.C.I. installed an electronic security system consisting of two subsystems: a Closed Circuit Television and an access control system.
The implemented system has a central operational area that allows the management and control of all systems from the security bunker (CCTV, access control, alarms, fire detection and BMS (Building Automation)).
"The chosen manufacturers, Pelco and Honeywell, establish a very solid and robust platform which minimizes failure. An important differential that has been established as the main point of the system is the possibility of recording in 4CIF quality and the download of events immediately to external media for the back up of the test" explains Gabriel Apel, commercial manager of Xiden.
In order to visualize all the operational areas inside and outside the building, a CCTV was installed that is based on 48 Nova fixed cameras and 10 mobile cameras of the Pelco dome type.
In the central bunker , Pelco CM6800 dies and KBD300A joystick with PMC21A monitors will be used for the management and control of all cameras; on the other hand, the recording is made in DVR DX8116 of the firm Pelco. All equipment is housed in standard 19" racks .
The cameras installed are of high resolution 480TVL, with built-in varifocal lenses, as well as the Pelco Spectra SE series domes, of rotation and control by the Coaxitron communication protocol, being the cameras stored in DVR series DX8000 with 250Gb of memory expandable to 1000Gb.
On the other hand, access control is based on Honeywell's ProWatch platform, which establishes the vehicle control barrier when entering the property, as well as visitors through the entrance windlasses, in addition in the interior areas there are some readers for those sectors of restricted access.
"In the Access Control system the differential was established in the panels, which when working in the PW5000 series allow all of them to work in networks and link to the central server by IP, reducing the wiring lines and not having restrictions of the distances of the panels to the central software" says Apel.
As for the control of visitors, the Lobby Works platform was managed; this platform is fully integrated into the access control structure. It should be noted that both the central server and the management of the base are carried out from the central bunker in conjunction with the video.
Surveillance above and below ground
The monitoring process of the Honorable Building of the Legislative Branch is carried out from the central bunker , where the digital recorders, the video matrix and the access control server are located.
Gabriel explains that in the bunker the recorders are responsible for storing the information that the video images are generated for later analysis and visualization. The video matrix manages the operation of the situations that occur at the moment so that the operator acts with different monitors and visualizes early the actions that he preventively detects or that are being generated. The access control server with its monitor, allows you to manage the income and the public that is interacting in the building and control the sensitive areas of it.
The security solution implemented for the legislative branch building, which consists of the integration of CCTV and access control, allows validating the actions that each system detects, seeking to give greater security to the building, but also seeks greater control of exclusive areas, as well as the possibility of viewing different sectors immediately and safely.
Precise solutions
Unlike other government facilities in Argentina, the new building that houses the Legislative Branch is a purely new construction, which implies that this is the first security system installed, which was analyzed from the beginning of the project in order to prevent inconveniences.
Both solutions (CCTV and access control) were chosen after a painstaking study that determined the needs of the facility and its inhabitants and visitors.
For the access control solution, the ProWatch platform was chosen because it offers a system that allows working autonomously or centrally with an important movement of transactions, being, as Apel describes, a stable and reliable system; In addition, it allows interaction with the visit platform in a built-in way, having a transferability of visitors and a permanent plant fully integrated and recorded in history.
"On the side of the CCTV system, a system was sought that would allow a high level of storage, robust and stable, with a low failure rate as presented by the Pelco system, with continuous advances in its software platform allowing up grade easily and without additional costs," explains the Commercial Manager of Xiden.
However, when implementing the systems, difficulties were presented due to the large area of the building, which led to the installation of the cameras by means of UTP cabling and the implementation of the access control panels under an IP topology. In the same way, when adhering in a second stage the Library building, cameras were incorporated that due to the wiring topology used makes it possible to work in video distances of 1000mts, for its part the access controls are also monitored by IP networks integrating it into the central bunker .
Results
In the words of Apel, both solutions have met the planned standards, since these systems are the high-end of technology requires the corresponding certifications from integrators; in this case, Xiden has the authorization for the installation and implementation of Honeywell ProWatch and the Pelco certificate with authorized service for its systems, which is based on industry standards together with the installed technology and guarantees the fulfillment of the objective sought.
For the end user, this objective has met the expectations planted in this short period of time of application (since the inauguration of the building in November 2007). Likewise, the client is highly surprised with the system, since at first he was not aware of the scope that can be obtained with it, such as the network implementation of the CCTV system to be viewed remotely, as well as generating a control of the people who enter and interact in the building.
It should be noted that in Argentina security conditions have been changing leading to better controls for greater protection of government buildings and the people who are in them. "Security improvements seek to prevent conflict situations and be able to resolve them quickly," says Apel.
Inside the new building of the Legislative Power and in its surroundings the security system has provided protection however so far the results obtained are in the field of control of the system and in the management of it, which lead to a high rate of prevention that has generated fewer inconveniences than those that were previously had in similar situations.
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