Renovation and optimization

By: NVT*

From 2007 to 2008, two of Colombia's most recognized shopping centers, Unicentro Bogotá and Cali, carried out outstanding architectural renovations that gave them a more modern look, but also adapted it to meet the needs of a growing population.

Among all this process there was also a phase to which the conventional media did not give much coverage: the modernization of its electronic security systems, moving from the old models based on coaxial transmission to new structures with topologies based on UTP cabling.

Unicentro's shopping centers in Bogotá and Cali are similar in some respects and differ in others. The first has a larger population of visitors (4 thousand employees -between direct and indirect- and a daily average of visits of 120 thousand people, with about 17 thousand vehicles on average per day). For its part, Unicentro Cali receives 75 thousand visitors and 11 thousand vehicles daily.

Both establishments are located in areas of high social strata, but receive a multi-strata population group. For the preparation of the following article, NVT spoke with Jaime Berrío Trujillo, general manager of the integrating firm BT Security Technology S.A.; he also consulted the opinions of Lieutenant Colonel ® Ernesto Condia and Álvaro Betancourt, security chiefs of the shopping centers of Bogotá and Cali, respectively.

Total change
The large number of people who visit the facilities daily makes the control of the security of the commercial establishment a great challenge for the operators and managers of the place. It is important to explain that in addition to being surrounded by residential sectors of high purchasing power, both commercial spaces have stores of national and international renown, among which we can mention Falabella, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren, Arturo Calle and Almacenes Éxito -the most important retail chain in this country-.

The very fact of the renovations created an opportunity to modernize the old security system. "Our main objective was to renew and implement the latest technologies in cabling for CCTV, optimizing the amount used, while looking for an option for the management of the power supplies of the cameras. Consequently, PVD technology was used on 100% of the installed CCTV, sheltering interior and exterior areas of the shopping center," said Condia, of Unicentro Bogotá.

At Unicentro Cali the process was similar and the remodeling was used to completely change the wiring and connectivity method of the security system. "Since a new building was being built, we thought of updating the CCTV platform with the latest existing technologies, within which was the infrastructure in the wiring and the connectivity of the same," said Betancourt, who also expects to update the coaxial wiring of the old part in 2010.

Technology that simplifies work
At the time of evaluating the security project there were several needs: coverage of greater distances, optimization of the amount of wiring used, power supply for the cameras; all without affecting the aesthetic parameter that would be seen as a result of the architectural work. Nor could any of the two fundamental tasks of the system be neglected: real-time surveillance and large storage capacity (the Bogotá system has a capacity of 6 Tb. and the Cali 1 Tb.).

"We use the PVD technology of the NVT brand to migrate all the cabling of the internal and external CCTV from coaxial to UTP, concentrating it in small telecommunications rooms distributed throughout the service corridors of the same shopping center. Today the Citadel has 100% of the CCTV -more than 250 cameras between fixed and domes- structured on UTP level 6a cabling, managing integrated and on the same wiring, the video, the data associated with the PTZ cameras and the power of the same, "explains Condia.

For his part, Betancourt, from Unicentro Cali, explains that "in this project we managed to implement the PVD technology of the NVT brand by installing all the CCTV on UTP cable level 6a (new area of the Oasis building), and integrating in turn the CCTV of the old area to the new console through the use of NVT multi-receivers. We currently have 70% of the CCTV over UTP cabling (96 cameras) and we expect to migrate the remaining one in 2010 (65 additional cameras)."

The integrator's vision
Once the installation process is finished, the analysis and evaluation stage comes, both by the integrators and the end users. Why do you choose to replace the traditional coaxial mode with UTP, with hybrid systems and do not contemplate the IP option?

According to Berrío, the platform that the customers had installed was analogous and what was intended was to improve the infrastructure associated with it, also stabilizing the availability of the service. "The coaxial cable, so it is shielded to 95%, is actually an antenna and when the facilities are large it presents failures due to distance, induction of noise in the signal and loss or distortion of it in some cases; this without taking into account the electrical wiring that also generates problems when the right conductor is not used (caliber according to the distance)", he says.

If an integrator makes a real assessment, says Berrío, of which topology should be used to install the appropriate infrastructure for a CCTV for service availability, costs, modularity, among others, the solution will definitely be to wire by UTP; if additional technical considerations are added in design, the ideal solution will undoubtedly be to achieve a unified topology by PVD technology.

It should be noted that for these particular projects it was impossible to migrate to IP (using new IP cameras at the zero point of installation), since they already had a unified analog platform. In Berrío's opinion, there are other important considerations that make the NVT system much more profitable in the choice of technology to be implemented over IP technology:

-IP technology will require the same telecommunications rooms that were designed for the use of PVD technology, because by standard the minimum distance in copper is 90 meters.
-In the telecommunications rooms they would then have to have active equipment (switch), and if they intend to unify the power of those cameras on the LAN network they would then have to use power injectors or PoE switch, making the project more expensive above what could be an active PVD equipment.
-It should also be taken into account the increase in costs in the Backbone between the telecommunications rooms and the main console (Backbone between the layer switch of the communications rooms and the core switch of the main console), because in the case of a LAN network this Backbone must be in fiber (normal standard distance 300 meters), while in NVT we can have distances in copper from 200 to 2.4 Km.

For the latter, PVD technology not only made it possible to standardize the wiring used but also radically improved the quality of the final video.

Berrío, for his part, said about PVD technology that "without a doubt, cost benefit is the best option in infrastructure installation. We estimate that savings can be obtained in large installations of 20% and in small medium-sized installations of 12%, over traditional forms of wiring."

Sheet
Installation firm: B.T. SECURITY TECHNOLOGY S.A.
Contact: Jaime H Berrio Trujillo
Phone: 5336452/55/57 (Bogotá, Colombia)
E-mail: [email protected]
NVT equipment used: Reference transceiver NV-216A-PV for each fixed camera and NV-218A-PVD for dome cameras.
In the telecommunications rooms: PVD equipment reference NV-16PS10-PVD.
In the center console: Reference equipment NV-1613 or NV-1662 depending on the distance from the telecommunications room
Installation date: Unicentro Bogotá 2007, Unicentro Cali 2008