Going once, going twice, sold

Bonhams is a privately owned British auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. Over the years, its long-term IT solutions partner, Quru, developed an ERP application to handle the entire auction process. Quru further developed an interactive application that was launched last year, enabling real-time bids to be made globally via the Internet. Bonhams, in turn, wanted to add on visual functions to its existing live-bid application so bidders could see auctioneers, giving the company a more competitive edge.

"We want to make the auction process accessible to those parties that cannot make it," said Matthew Girling, CEO for Europe, Bonhams. “The proof of concept was a success, and the additional dimension that video brings to the auction process is extremely valuable and helps set us apart from our competition.” Following a trial over a six-month period, the application was officially launched, with live footage being captured using an Axis Communications PTZ dome that offers HD quality and 18x zoom for indoor surveillance applications. With an IP51-rated housing, it is ideal for use in demanding environments including warehouses and shops, so it was the perfect model for Bonhams' auction rooms. The camera was chosen after close collaboration with Axis partner, Azlan, a value-added distributor of networking, communication and software solutions in Europe.

In addition, Quru specified three 5-megapixel outdoor cameras that were installed to take time-lapse footage of the Bonhams headquarters' renovations. The 1,080p performance, P-iris control and H.264 compression are suitable for outdoor surveillance and applications to cover large areas or extremely high image detail.

"Historically, surveillance cameras were something that we saw purely as a security measure, and not a tool we could use to really improve the way we run our business," Girling remarked.