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IP video enables healthcare group to migrate to multi-site surveillance

November 3, 2010 | By Anthony Capkun


November 3, 2010

Submitted by IndigoVision

Lakeridge Health Corp., a Canadian-based healthcare group, is using IndigoVision’s complete end-to-end IP video solution to migrate its stand-alone DVR analogue video equipment to an integrated multi-site surveillance system. By re-using much of the analogue equipment, Lakeridge has managed to keep a great deal of its original investment.

PHOTO: Oshawa Hospital (Oshawa, Ont.)

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Lakeridge Health is one of the largest integrated hospital networks in
Ontario, formed in the late 1990s when four hospital campuses were
brought together into one unified group. They soon realized that IP
video technology was the only way forward to build an integrated
surveillance system across their campuses.

The IT department was fully supportive of this move and, in preparation,
built an optimized virtual network in 2004. The network can support
over 1000 cameras without interference with other network functions, and
has fully redundant power supplies, switches, routers and firewalls. AC
Technical Systems (IndigoVision’s authorized partner and a provider of
IP solutions) worked with Lakeridge to develop its security monitoring
facilities and, in 2007, the first of the cameras were migrated to the
IP video system.

“Our IT team put incredible time and energy into creating a
state-of-the-art network infrastructure, so we would expect nothing less
than the best in an IP video system,” explains James Ramsey, the
manager for security, emergency preparedness and worksafe at Lakeridge
Health.

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Since 2007, 250 fixed and PTZ cameras have been added to the IP video
system across the four sites, including 144 cameras from the original
system in the main Oshawa hospital complex. A further 46 cameras will be
added over the next few months. Two of the other hospital sites are
still using the existing DVR analogue equipment, but they will also
migrate to the IP video system.

As IndigoVision’s system is fully distributed, any component can be
located at any point on the network, including workstations running
IndigoVision’s Control Center security management software. These
workstations are used by operators to view and analyze both live and
recorded video from any camera at any site. As Control Center is
licensed on an unrestricted basis within the cost of IndigoVision’s
hardware, Lakeridge Health has been able to deploy multiple workstations
across the group for no additional cost. In addition to the central
monitoring facility at Oshawa, workstations are also located in various
departments and at numerous Nurse Stations, where their access is
limited to live view of local cameras.

“The ability to place video workstations in different departments has
been of great benefit to us,” adds Ramsey. “The Parking Services
department located at Oshawa Hospital used to rely on an intercom to
communicate with the other sites; now they can monitor and manage all of
the group’s parking lots and unmanned gates from a single workstation.
It’s also much easier to track missing equipment and locate wandering
patients.”

Video is continuously recorded from all cameras on IndigoVision’s
stand-alone network video recorders (NVRs) for up to 45 days.
Evidence-quality video clips can be exported for police use in the event
of an incident.

Future plans for the IP video system include integration with the onsite
Lenel access control system and deploying IndigoVision’s Video Wall
software in the central monitoring facility. Using IndigoVision’s
integration module, the access control system can be seamlessly
integrated across the IP network, with an alarm in one system triggering
events in the other. This leads to more efficient security management
and quicker incident response. IndigoVision’s Video Wall software is
based on Control Center and allows fully-featured control-room video
walls to be built to any size.

“AC Technical Systems is pleased to be the partner of choice to deliver
Lakeridge Health Corporation’s integrated security and surveillance
solution,” says Guy DiGiorgio, senior account manager at AC Technical
Systems. “This system was specifically designed to meet the challenging
requirements of this unique environment—both now and for the future.”

CLICK HERE for IndigoVision.


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