Mobotix, a manufacturer of complete high-resolution IP video systems completed the installation of its surveillance system, which is protecting The University of Glasgow’s Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, the oldest public museum in Scotland, with a discreet, reliable and low-cost system.
Mobotix, a manufacturer of complete high-resolution IP video systems completed the installation of its surveillance system, which is protecting The University of Glasgow's Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, the oldest public museum in Scotland, with a discreet, reliable and low-cost system.
Housed within four buildings on the main campus of the University in the west end of Glasgow, The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery has highly prized collections of archaeology, historical artefacts, cultural treasures and truly breathtaking works of art including several collections by James McNeill Whistler and the majority of the watercolors of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
The Museum has had a basic surveillance system for around 20 years but the poor picture quality and reliance on unreliable tape recordings was proving a concern. As Dave Russ, Facilities Technician for the Museum said, “We need something that would provide better coverage but without being too intrusive, complex to operate or expensive.”
The gallery area was the most pressing concern due to the high value items on display, yet the museum was keen to avoid having to place hundreds of cameras everywhere, especially in rooms with listed building status. However, with more than 22,000 square feet of gallery space to protect, the Museum issued an open tender to any interested surveillance supplier.
Before the tender, we had looked at Mobotix as a potential solution and we were extremely pleased when Proxis replied back with a quote that offered more coverage, with better quality using less cameras than we had originally planned for, Russ said, The quote was also one of the most competitive and included the cameras, storage, running all the networking cable, setting up the software and providing us with training on the monitoring station.
After evaluating 33 separate responses from vendors, The Museum selected the only Mobotix partner to respond. At a quote of more than US$37000 including VAT, Proxis UK utilized the power of the Mobotix hemispheric technology to use a single camera to cover entire rooms or intersections where other systems had recommended two or three separate cameras. In total, Proxis used just 18 Mobotix cameras to provide coverage of every single public accessible space across the entire gallery.
Each camera uses PoE capability that allows much simpler single cabling over narrow Cat5. For added security, the entire installation uses an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) backup which can keep the system recording for up to an hour in the event of power failure.
“The Proxis guys installed everything in about a week and took particular care working in some of the sensitive rooms,” Russ said, “The images are displayed on a screen at reception and in my office and we have had 100-percent reliability since it went in.”
“Footage is stored on a RAID enabled NAS device and provides over a month of recordings in megapixel quality. Proxis provided the system for less than many of the rival analogue systems we were offered and did a first rate job,” Russ said. “The cameras are also very discreet and look just like smoke detectors and blend into the decor of the gallery all-in-all we are very pleased indeed,” Russ commented.