Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Sun Microsystems provides network computing infrastructure solutions that include computer systems, software, storage and services. Its core brands range from the Java technology platform through to the Solaris operating system.
With 34,440 employees spread across more than 300 offices in over 100 countries worldwide, it’s evident that the company has a massive security challenge on its hands. There’s an ongoing need to ensure employees feel secure and, at the same time, protect valuable assets and limit liability.
Most of Sun Microsystems’ security cameras are placed at building entrances and exits, providing a facial view of individuals as they enter and leave the facility. Video footage is most often reviewed for after-the-fact investigations of personal property thefts, which may occur more than a dozen times a month around the globe.
Moving towards a digital solution
For more than 15 years, Sun Microsystems’ security organisation relied on analogue CCTV systems using VCRs to capture and store video. The disadvantages of this approach were numerous, including high maintenance and support costs in addition to the labour needed to change tapes, review them and replace broken ones. When members of the Security Team needed to find a particular event on the videotapes, they often had to review hours of footage to locate the exact time and date.
Steve Kruschke – Sun Microsystems’ manager of new security technologies and applications – headed up the effort to find a digital solution in 2005.
“We wanted leading edge digital technology to leverage our IP network infrastructure, and we needed a matrix solution to control multiple video servers from centralised regional Control Rooms,” explained Kruschke. “Additionally, we were looking for a solution that wasn’t reliant on Windows-based personal computers.”
At Sun Microsystems, all employees use ultra-thin clients called Sun Rays which have no local operating system to manage and administer. Sun Rays process only keyboard input and screen output, leaving all of the application processing and storage to the server. Employees walk up to a Sun Ray, insert a smart card and their desktop session appears just as they last left it.
An alternative ‘route to market’
Common business applications – such as word processing, e-mail, and spreadsheets – are web-based and delivered through the FireFox browser.
The majority of digital video surveillance systems, however, are built around the Microsoft Windows platform and require users to install a client software application on the computer that will be used to view and control video. This was unacceptable for Sun Microsystems.
Taking an alternative ‘route to market’, Sun Microsystems chose to build its new video surveillance system around the DV-IP Server, a high-performance network DVR and server developed to meet the demands of professional surveillance applications.
Available in 8, 12 or 16-camera input models, the DV-IP Server supports advanced multi-mode recording to dynamically switch resolution, record rate and compression in either JPEG or MPEG format from a wide range of analogue or IP cameras. Most importantly for Sun Microsystems, the DV-IP interface capabilities may be accessed locally and remotely via a web browser.
1,500-plus channels of video
Working with global distributor and systems integration partner Siemens Security, to date Sun Microsystems has deployed approximately 1,500-plus channels of video through the DV-IP Servers worldwide.
Sun Microsystems has also installed multiple DV-IP Codec units. These single channel selectable encoder and decoder combination units are designed to increase the flexibility of surveillance networks.
In encoder mode, the DV-IP Codec enables existing and new analogue cameras to be added to an IP network, allowing Sun Microsystems’ legacy video surveillance systems to expand and adapt to digital without the cost and trouble of completely replacing and redesigning the installation.
Siemens Security maintains a staff on Sun campuses to handle installation and service, while a global purchasing contract streamlines the process of acquiring the security equipment at the regional level.
Pick-a-Point digital matrix for Regional Control Centres
In late 2007, Sun Microsystems’ operations group began looking for ways to bring large-scale digital video surveillance to its five Regional Control Centres, located in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. In the past, analogue video was brought into the regional control centres using local A/D switches.
“We wanted to bring live and recorded digital video from local offices into the Regional Control Centres and, at the same time, make the control interface more user friendly for operators,” recalled Kruschke. “After gaining approval from our IT Department to bring video across network, we decided to make the North American Regional Control Centre in Broomfield, Colorado our first test site.”
At the heart of the large-scale video surveillance system is the Pick-a-Point centralised command and control workstation developed by integrator and strategic partner BBV. This digital matrix solution provides an intuitive environment, allowing the display of cameras from a number of monitored sites and delivering control over any servers, DVRs, domes and cameras in the system, while retaining all important keyboard and joystick functionality.
The Pick-a-Point viewing station is a dedicated IP keyboard solution with traditional joystick control, which provides either additional control points on a Pick-a-Point system, or operates standalone offering composite viewing and control of any NetVu Connected server, DVR or IP camera.
“The unique embedded Pick-a-Point control system is ideal for Sun Microsystems’ computing environment because it’s a dedicated, stand-alone, hardware-based workstation which eliminates the reliability and training issues associated with PC-based client software systems,” insisted Kruschke.
Several Pick-a-Point features contribute to ease of use. Site maps provide a graphical representation of camera positions, allowing the operator to easily track events from camera to camera throughout the system.
Intuitive, easy-to-use camera selection
Using Pick-a-Point’s graphical user interface, operators can simply pick and click cameras from a site’s database to view images – without having to know which DVR the camera is linked to.
Also, the Pick-a-Point keyboard affords intuitive, easy-to-use camera selection and joystick telemetry control without the need for a PC “qwerty” keyboard.
Operators at the Broomfield Control Centre use the Pick-a-Point workstation for three primary activities. A guard tour is conducted around the clock, as live individual camera feeds are brought up together on a composite screen. Several times weekly, the system is used to check cameras remotely and review video quality.
Finally, recorded video is reviewed on Pick-a-Point systems on an ‘as needed’ basis for investigations of personal property theft and other incidents.
Another exciting new application is live monitoring of ongoing events. For example, Sun Microsystems has about a dozen offices in the area of the southeastern United States that were affected by hurricane Gustav. Using Pick-a-Point and DV-IP Servers, operators in Colorado were able to help manage personnel during the event by checking live video feeds of office locations.
Substantial Return on Investment
Sun Microsystems has achieved a substantial return on its investment from the DV-IP Servers. Kruschke estimates that eliminating approximately 400 VCRs and the number of tapes required for 14-day backups saves the company $99,000 per year in maintenance on a global basis.
Even more significant is the $1.8 million in global yearly labour costs that Kruschke calculates is saved thanks to the deployment of the DV-IP Servers.
“The experience of Sun Microsystems in this case demonstrates the positive impact that, specifying and installing, an effective surveillance solution can have for a business,” commented Pauline Norstrom, director of worldwide marketing at Dedicated Micros.
“This is particularly true in terms of enhanced security and, crucially, through a more efficient use of resources to deliver concrete benefits for their bottom line. The fact that we were able to offer a robust, embedded approach to CCTV which wasn’t reliant on a Windows PC-based platform was also a key factor in our favour for this ambitious project.”
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