ASBU’s historic city centre location, with its night-time economy, makes it the study destination of choice for around 5,500 students annually. But with such a busy site, the university also has to deal with an increased risk of incidents, including crime and anti-social behaviour.

A 350-camera surveillance system, monitored 24/7 from ASBU’s dedicated control room, had been expanded several times over the years. But the resulting mix of six different vendor brands had left the VMS struggling, with issues such as frozen live images, hard-to-manage data burden, and difficulty to control.

Idis integration partner 11S Savunma Sanayi ve Güvenlik Sistemleri was asked to devise the best upgrade route. In an on-site proof of concept demonstration, the company showed how Idis’s VMS, IDIS Solution Suite, (ISS Expert) could quickly register all the mix-and-match cameras and devices, including recorders and a 3x3 video wall.

Complexity issues resolved

With the project now completed, the result elminates the previous complexity allowing seamless control, full functionality of all cameras regardless of the brand, and transformed ease-of-use for operators. They can now control the system from their workstations as well as from the video wall, with browser features allowing the university’s fire system to display on the same screen. Idis Mapvue (demonstrated in the video) is also being added, with a schematic showing the locations of the cameras, to improve domain awareness and make navigational playback easier.

The Idis solution is easy to maintain and expand, and a further 100 cameras will be added in the next phase of the project when two renovated accommodation buildings will also benefit from upgraded surveillance. The new cameras will include Idis 12MP fisheyes and domes, which are ideal for the historic setting where ceiling heights are up to 9m, and where full coverage with HD image capture is needed, with minimal structural modifications.

To save bandwidth and reduce the storage burden, cameras in corridors, the basement, and other key areas have been set to record only when motion is detected, using a combination of Idis Motion Adaptive Transmission, and ONVIF motion detection on the other brands.

Easy provision of video evidence

ASBU’s security team can now easily comply requests from law-enforcement agencies for video evidence. Bookmarked event recording makes it easy for ASBU operators to skip from scene to scene when reviewing recordings. And in the next project phase, Idis Deep Learning Analytics (IDLA) tools will be added for even faster, automated footage review. The Idis solution also makes it easy and affordable to expand the system, for example with Idis 310D servers that will allow more cameras to be added and increase storage capacity to ensure longer retention periods without increasing storage costs thanks to Idis Intelligent Codec.

“Idis Solution Suite solved all the problems we had with our complex and ageing system, with an easy upgrade that extends the life and performance of all our cameras,” says Zafer Buldu, Manager of Hardware & Technical Services, ASBU.

Koray Ozyildirim, Idis Turkey Country Manager said: Idis Solution Suite has turned ASBU’s cluttered and failing system into a powerful, integrated surveillance solution that is easy to use, adapt, and upgrade, with the assurance of an extended lifespan backed by industry-best warranties.”