London, UK

The Farebrother management team at 20 Old Bailey selected the Avigilon HD Surveillance System because it delivers superior image clarity, necessary to provide the City of London Police with useable footage for evidence in the event of an incident.

"We are able to provide the City of London Police with high quality footage to be used as evidence if required," explained Jon Batt, partner in charge of the Facilities and Corporate Estate Management team at Farebrother Chartered Surveyors. "Our previous analog-based surveillance system was unable to provide the clarity and detail required to meet our needs. We selected the Avigilon HD Surveillance System because of its performance and image quality."

With the assistance of Argonaught Network Technologies Ltd., a local provider of surveillance system design, installation, and service, the management team at 20 Old Bailey installed Avigilon five megapixel cameras on the exterior of the building to monitor traffic, the parking lot, and the main entrance. With ten floors and a 30-car parking lot, 20 Old Bailey houses a business management consultancy, two merchant banks, and an international airline, and is the office for 1,900 workers and 25,000 visitors annually. Mr. Batt also kept 20 analog cameras from his previous surveillance system, which he plans to replace with Avigilon HD cameras as budget permits. To integrate the old analog cameras into the new Avigilon HD Surveillance System, Mr. Batt deployed several Avigilon Analog Video Encoders to ensure better performance and image quality from the analog cameras. With access from four monitors, the security team seamlessly manages the Avigilon HD Surveillance System using Avigilon Control Center network video management software with HD Stream Management. The 20 Old Bailey management team also installed four Avigilon HD network video recorders (NVR) to store up to 30 days of continuous surveillance footage.

With the Avigilon HD Surveillance System in place, footage has become a valuable resource for the team at 20 Old Bailey and for the City of London Police, who can use the video as evidence when required. Image clarity up to 250 feet captures details needed to confirm and convict. The system's performance and ease-of-use has reduced investigation time by 25 percent. The 20 Old Bailey management team was able to use existing cabling and housings for the Avigilon five megapixel cameras for a 50 percent savings in installation costs. By installing Avigilon Analog Video Encoders, security personnel can achieve 12 times the image resolution on its existing analog-based cameras.

"Unfortunately, tenants at 20 Old Bailey have a heightened understanding of threat because of their location across from the Central Criminal Court, which not only deals with dangerous criminals, but also sometimes draws intimidating crowds," said Dave Tynan, vice president of global sales and marketing at Avigilon. "With the Avigilon HD Surveillance System in place, tenants can be assured that they are well protected in the face of any possible danger."