Brown County Achieves Wide-Scale Municipal Safety With Milestone XProtect IP Video Surveillance

XProtect Corporate video management software is a centralized solution for all government facilities and with Agent Vi analytics integrated at the airport

Brown County, Wisconsin, has upgraded disparate DVR systems that were time consuming and unreliable to an improved system designed to keep workers and publicly owned property safe with streamlined efficiency. They installed a fiber communications network with an IP-based surveillance system. Network cameras from Axis Communications are interconnected through Milestone XProtect Corporate video management software (VMS). Brown County now efficiently monitors public buildings including the museum, library, courthouse, jail, community treatment center – even the solid waste facilities. At the Austin Straubel International Airport, Agent Vi analytics are integrated with the Milestone XProtect platform for critical alerts.

Brown County, Wisconsin covers 530 square miles and is home to the Green Bay Packers, 13 townships, nine villages and two cities. With departments scattered throughout, the new surveillance system had to be centrally administrated and controlled with restricted access from specific areas, enabling all departments to share video, with fast and efficient views of security related events.

A video management system that offered easy integration with third-party systems and multi-phase scalability for a future-proof investment was designed by Technology Resource Advisors, Inc. (TRA). They carried out the county-wide installation.

“When the information came from TRA about Milestone’s IP open platform allowing analytics integrations and other security systems for access control, we were very impressed,” stated Kevin Raye, Network Support Manager, Brown County. “Everything - including the pricing standpoint and the fact that Milestone’s technology is compatible with a large variety of cameras - helped us in our final decision to choose this surveillance solution.”

“From a user standpoint, the Milestone system is especially great for Brown County,” stated Carrie Borofka, Programmer/Analyst for Brown County. “As an administrator of the software, I turn it on and quickly open up to the Milestone XProtect Smart Client and see the entire system, log in and we’re good to go.”

For users logging in from multiple sites, the central administrators securely and rapidly allow or deny access to views as needed. For example, the community treatment center is a state-licensed psychiatric facility where surveillance may be used for medical instances – more than just security. Patient privacy concerns are considered, so the assigned roles set up in the system mean that unauthorized users are blocked.

The system’s storage capabilities give the flexibility to determine video backup on a camera-by-camera basis. A minimum of 30 days of full video backup is kept for the entire county and can be adjusted if archived images are required for longer periods.

“We were able to develop a solution that combined multiple aspects including Milestone Federated Architecture and Agent Vi analytics to fit the large-scale needs of Brown County,” stated Tom Reminga, CTO, Technology Resource Advisors, Inc. “The reliable, cost-effective and scalable nature of Milestone allows the county’s IT department, along with other department administration, to easily monitor government buildings for the safety of the community.”

Throughout Austin Straubel International Airport, an analytics system called Vi-System from Milestone Solutions Partner Agent Vi has been integrated with the Milestone XProtect VMS. Rather than stationing TSA agents or security guards at additional checkpoints in the airport, Agent Vi’s real-time detection and alert software monitors the video footage for predefined security scenarios. When an event is detected, an alert is sent to the VMS, which triggers various actions including live video pop up from the relevant camera.

Agent Vi’s analytics are used in other applications at the airport, including ‘sterile zone’ monitoring where Vi-System alerts security personnel of movement by people in restricted areas. This enables an immediate response in line with the level of threat associated with the event.

The runways also use Axis thermal IP cameras to monitor the movement of airplanes, service vehicles and personnel. Vi-System analyzes the images provided by the thermal cameras to differentiate between people, vehicles and static objects. Here Vi-System has been predefined to detect and alert when there are people present in a vehicle-only lane, while disregarding the movement of vehicles in that area.

Download link(s) for photos and the full customer story:
http://download.milestonesys.com/PR/installation/brown-county/; http://bit.ly/XSbGEN

About Milestone Systems
Founded in 1998, Milestone Systems is a global industry leader in open platform IP video management software. Delivering powerful surveillance that is easy to manage, reliable and proven in thousands of customer installations, Milestone technology supports flexible choices in network hardware and integrations with other systems. Sold through partners in more than 100 countries, Milestone solutions help ‘video enable’ organizations – managing risks, protecting people and assets, optimizing processes and reducing costs. For more information, visit www.milestonesys.com.