At present, the Monroe County IP surveillance program numbers four self-contained surveillance systems-the county, the county department of transportation, the airport, and the county prisons-all of which will eventually be managed by the DVTel iSOC. Each of the IP surveillance systems will be monitored and maintained by both the primary system "owner" and by County security management.

"Our goal is to integrate everything into one system," said Charles Diamond, assistant supervisor maintenance and operations. "Each individual manager has control of their system and with the DVTel Global Client, designated County personnel have access to all video feeds." At the center of this ambitious project is a highly robust fiber network that Diamond and team continue to expand.

Diamond continued, "We have both our 911 center and the emergency preparedness center, and we can bring video into those locations as warranted or if any of other location, like a prison or the airport, goes down. The beauty of IP surveillance and this design is that we can set up a command post anywhere and we can move a control room instantly." And as Country officials pointed out, the DVTel command and control software gives Monroe County the flexibility and scalability critical to the project's goals while keeping project costs manageable.

"The majority of the infrastructure is set up and now we deploy everything as IP, including cameras. For our smaller buildings installing analog would have been relatively easy, but for the larger buildings we can't pull all that coax. And in the jails and some other locations, IP helps us overcome significant installation headaches and makes things much cheaper. Repairs and maintenance are also less costly. There is an initial cost factor, but the total cost of ownership for this IP-based surveillance system is significantly more favorable than any alternative"

As the Monroe Country project expands, the vast majority of the new cameras are IP and are supplied by DVTel as well. The cameras come equipped with motion detection capabilities and are programmed to pop video as incidents are detected and/or alarms sounded. The Country is utilizing the DVTel map feature and plans to migrate the current intercom system to the integrated DVTel intercom capability. The goal is integration across the county and minimizing the number of stand-alone systems.

All the county's buildings and courts are monitored; the DOT system has key roads and intersections under surveillance; both correctional facilities will be monitored, as is the Greater Rochester International Airport. "We are creating a highly useful community asset," a County official explained. "Instead of all organizations going in different directions, we want to unify the systems so as to serve our wider community in the most efficient and cost effective manner. Now, emergency preparedness, 911, and law enforcement all have an excellent view of what is happening, so that we can catch the bad guys a lot faster."

Prior to DVTel, the county had another IP video system provider that was not meeting their ambitious demands. DVTel replaced the incumbent company in the middle of the project, "DVTel had what we needed to accomplish our goals, and they have provided excellent support along the way."