International. With more than 620 offices around the nation, Morocco's BMCE bank is one of the leaders in banking services, so it decided it was time to build a new headquarters in the city of Casablanca, and to secure its facilities they turned to the world leader of hybrid DVRs: Hikvision.
In order to secure this new building, which recently opened in spring 2012, careful consideration was made of the number of tangent factors. Among these were a variety of different surveillance cameras approaching one hundred units, a wireless locking system for the building's 50 glass doors, and specific security software that allows management to integrate this entire complete solution. It was immediately apparent that the quality and type of DVR was supreme.
CST Sécurité, the installer hired to provide this solution, knew this was a crucial decision. Not only does the DVR serve as, in effect, the brain of comprehensive security, but a variety of customer-specific ramifications were also covered in one pass.
The first important priority was CST Sécurité's desire for a future-proof solution. Analog cameras are currently used at the new headquarters of the BMCE bank, but a gradual shift to IP-based cameras is planned. To ensure a smooth transfer, CST Sécurité chose Hikvision DS-9016HFI-RH hybrid DVRs. This decision was due to the reputation of the DS-9016HFI-RH's, as well as its hybrid functionality, allowing the use of both analog and hybrid cameras. This decision provides excellent performance with existing analog cameras today, and also promises excellent performance with future IP technology. In addition, Hikvision's hybrid DVR technologies, such as "Hot Swap" (which allow convenient disk switching options) and "R.A.I.D." (for fault tolerance and improved performance), provided the BMCE with a higher level of confidence that Hikvision is the way to go.
Another factor was the high number of cameras used. The DS-9016HFI-RH easily accommodated this need with 16 channels at 4CIF, 8 channels of REAL-time 720p IP video input and 16 channels of synchronous playback, where excellent resolution is provided with H.264 video compression simultaneously.
In addition to impacting these discussions there were a number of practical issues,
such as the fact that among the cameras already in service, not all of them were manufactured by Hikvision. These obstacles proved not to be a problem given the functionality and adaptability of the DS-9016HFI-RH. In addition to accentuating this adaptability, the training required to learn the full operation of this DVR was minimal; including all specific areas of the DVR and the integration of other components of the solution – such as access control and alarm functions.
A final technical consideration was the Moroccan government's requirement that the video has to be kept for three months. This was easily accommodated by Hikvision's proven hardware, which allows each DVR drive to support 8x2TB of memory on their hard drives.
While the concept of "future-proof" often has a long-term connotation, for the BMCE that future has already begun.
Impressed with the overall performance and quality of Hikvision's technology, the BMCE has already ordered and installed IR analog cameras to upgrade existing fixed cameras. While these new Hikvision cameras are placed both indoors and outdoors, the primary catalyst for this change involved improving image quality in areas that are susceptible to low light levels – however, the added value of Hikvision proved irresistible.
While infrared technology provides clear images regardless of light conditions or the specific time of day, outdoor units are also secured to remain fully functional with IP66 protection. And although Casablanca is known for its Mediterranean climate, the BMCE bank can be confident that the DS2CC192P(N)-IR5 will withstand anything that nature can throw at it thanks to a guaranteed functional operation from 10 oC to 60 oC.
Now that the doors of the new BMCE headquarters have opened, executives are able to get a good night's sleep with the assurance that Hikvision is working to protect the company and its new facilities.
