Case Study: Milestone – Integrated IP Video and Access Control Help Australian Water Utility to Control Assets and Improve Operations – Melbourne, Australia

Institutional Profile
South East Water provides water, sewerage and recycled water services to
residential, commercial and industrial customers – more than 1.7 million people
in Southeast Melbourne. Its service region covers 3,640 square kilometers from
Port Melbourne to Portsea. South East Water manages a water and sewer
network made up of more than 24,000 kilometers of pipeline, 81 water pump
stations, 259 sewage pump stations, nine recycled water pump stations, eight
water recycling plants, and one storm water treatment plant, totaling more than
$3 billion of infrastructure and assets.
Legacy CCTV Challenges
Asset monitoring and CCTV have a central role to play in the organization’s
success, by protecting investments, reducing site costs and helping to respond
to issues more rapidly. South East Water saw an opportunity to upgrade its
existing mix of standalone legacy monitoring systems with a more integrated,
flexible platform that could support the organization’s ambitious technology
and innovation strategy.
Open Platform IP Video Solution
South East Water selected an open platform, IP network-based solution. The
company currently has about 400 Axis network cameras running on Milestone
XProtect Corporate video management software. The Milestone open platform
is also integrated into an Integriti access control system from Inner Range and
a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, which acts as the
alarm monitoring unit.
The organization has 20-30 employees using Milestone, many of whom are
monitoring assets using Milestone Mobile on their phones or tablets. It has also
placed cameras on certain remote assets using 3G and 4G wireless. The camera
data is set to record on motion in the Milestone software.
South East Water used Johnson Controls for its initial integration and camera
setup, but for the new Frankston headquarters, turned to a Melbourne-based
Milestone Partner, Elaren Security, who provided the installation and integration
of the Inner Range Integriti access control system and HID EasyLobby integrated
with the Milestone XProtect VMS. Elaren Security carried out the HLI (high-level
integration) work, including mapping for the access control and VMS systems,
license plate recognition (LPR) video analytics, and the upgrade of all remote
sites.
SE Water, under the direction of Andrew Forster-Knight, Group Manager of
Intelligent Systems at South East Water, performed the majority of the backend
network integrations itself.
Centralized, Integrable, Mobile Advantages
With its adoption of the Milestone open platform paired with Axis network
cameras, South East Water is able to monitor its assets with a centralized,
integrated solution that is easy for employees to use. Axis cameras provide
comprehensive coverage to offices and remote facilities, as well as street and
underground sewage and drainage systems. Milestone Mobile’s Video Push
notification allows South East Water to quickly respond to incidents like major
infrastructure damage, burst pipes, sewer spills and other critical events that can
all be streamed in real-time from operators’ phones to the control room.
South East Water Chooses Open Platform
Andrew Forster-Knight, Group Manager of Intelligent Systems at South East
Water, said that the company decided on an open architecture platform early in
the search process.
“Our most important criterion in choosing a new system was that it be an open
platform,” said Forster-Knight. “With Milestone we had an almost unlimited
amount of choices when it came to camera vendors and third-party applications,
reducing integration costs and maximizing the value of existing infrastructure.”
Ease-of-use was also a key factor. Using the intuitive step-by-step wizard, team
members with little previous experience can add any kind of camera and have it
instantly pop up in the video client.
Milestone Helps Keep Assets Secure
With infrastructure located across inner Melbourne, security is an important
consideration for South East Water. Graffiti presents a particular challenge, yet
before Milestone and Axis, the video image quality wasn’t always good enough
to assist police investigations.
“The new solution means we have the ability to send ultra-high quality AVI
video directly to the police, which they know will be admissible in court,” said
Forster-Knight.
Integration with Access Control and LPR Provide Added Benefits
Access control integration is also enhancing South East Water’s security
processes. Using the XProtect Access module, South East Water is able to
integrate Milestone’s video management and user interface with Integriti,
South East Water’s access control system. This extra level of integration
combines the verification of Milestone video with access control events, from a
central client.
“All of the cameras and door locking can be controlled from the mapping within
either the Milestone VMS or the Integriti access system,” said Sam Chisholm,
Partner and Director, Elaren Security. “This type of high level integration is the
sort of project Elaren takes great pride in.”
South East Water is also using XProtect LPR, a license plate recognition (LPR)
add-on product fully integrated in the XProtect Smart Client interface, to
streamline employee parking.
“We Installed and programmed the license plate recognition system to interact
at a high level with the Integriti access control system to control entry and exit
from the sites multi-level carpark,” said Chisholm.
Employees can enter buildings with swipe cards or a Bluetooth-connected
smartphone app. Now, with XProtect Access video verification, South East
Water can confirm there are no unauthorized personnel entering offices or
treatment plants.
“It would have been a time-consuming process to have everyone use a
swipe-card to access the lot, so we designed our new building with LPR,” said
Forster-Knight. “XProtect LPR automatically opens our parking lot gate when a
permitted license plate is identified. Plus, we have eyes on every car in the lot, so
we can proactively respond to any incidents that may arise.”
Axis Proves Best in Brand
South East Water has standardized with Axis cameras, based on their low failure
rate, competitive pricing and integration capabilities.
“We’re using Axis pinhole cameras, PTZs and things like license plate
recognition, so it’s great to have a one-stop shop like Axis where team members
only have to learn one system,” said Forster-Knight.
Axis cameras can be placed in both indoor and outdoor facilities, even within
residential and rural sewage and drainage systems, due to the rigorous
waterproof and dustproof-testing Axis does on every camera.
Milestone Mobile Paying Dividends
South East Water is also seeing the benefits of Milestone Mobile Video Push
capability, which has greatly improved operational efficiency by allowing
engineers to relay the details of complex issues instantaneously to its command
center.
“In the past, when an engineer would go to inspect a problem with a sewage
pipe, we wouldn’t receive the information for hours or possibly days,” said
Forster-Knight. “Now, using Milestone Mobile, video can be recorded and
immediately sent to our command center, where we can evaluate the cause and
take appropriate action. It means we can respond to problems faster, and the
impact to customers is reduced.”
Planning for the Future
In 2016, South East Water is already planning for the future.
“We are working on installing cameras in certain underground sewer
environments provided they can hold up to the terrain,” said Forster-Knight.
“We are leveraging new technologies right across our business in order to
deliver better value to customers, and Milestone is playing an important role.”
APPLICATIONS build nvr custom nvr INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS LEARNING CENTER Milestone XProtect RESOURCES SERVICES TECHNOLOGY Video Surveillance