Top diamond manufacturer relies on Genetic Omnicast IP video surveillance within security center to safeguard diamonds in state-of-the-art manufacturing plant and Mumbai headquarters
Not many people know that 92% of the world's diamonds are cut and polished in the city of Surat, India. Shree Ramkrishna Exports Pvt. Ltd. (SRK) is the leading diamond manufacturer in the region. The company processes more than 720,000 carats of rough diamonds annually and owns the world's largest and most progressive diamond processing facility. The company also has 2 headquarter buildings in Mumbai as well as another older factory in Surat. Protecting these diamonds that range in value from thousands to millions of US dollars from internal theft or loss requires a very thorough approach to security.
During construction of their new state-of-the-art, six-story diamond plant, SRK set up a fully IP-based video surveillance system to leverage a new network and infrastructure. SRK had an analog system in the older factory and was looking for improved clarity and more powerful features to investigate missing assets and track unusual behaviours. However, after 6 months in operation, SRK realized the limitations of their choice.
“The initial IP video software SRK selected was only able to support 40-50 cameras per server. In growing the system, SRK had to decide whether they would spend a lot more money on servers or change the software to one that would provide greater network efficiency,” explained Santosh Kamble, Managing Director at NexGen Integrated Systems Pvt. Ltd., the Genetec-certified integrator for SRK.
Looking for a more cost-effective solution for long-term growth, SRK choose Genetec Security Center unified platform. SRK was also interested in Security Center's ease of use and the ability to later integrate access control and license plate recognition within their platform.
Safeguarding Million-Dollar Diamonds with Security Center
Today, Security Center has been fully deployed and its video surveillance system,
Omnicast is managing over 1100 IP cameras across 3 buildings: the new factory in Surat and the 2 SRK headquarter buildings. The most vital feature in helping SRK maximise their infrastructure investments was Multicast. With this unique Security Center feature, many users can view a video feed simultaneously without overcrowding the network or overloading the servers because Multicast uses the bandwidth of each network segment only once.
According to Shreyans Dholakia, Director at SRK Export, “We were able to keep our existing infrastructure, and get over 100 cameras per server. So in terms of scalability, it was an excellent solution.”
SRK has benefitted from the user-friendly system during investigations, as its team often uses bookmarking, image exports, instant playbacks, and mobile system access from iPads. Thanks to Security Center Mobile, SRK directors can easily pull-up video from their mobile phones, within or outside of their offices.
“Our floor managers are always on the move. So when incidents happen, they are able to do a little bit of investigation from their iPad to identify issues. They will then report their findings to the factory manager. Together with security and IT, our managers take a closer look in the control room. In terms of day-to-day operations, it has become so much easier and faster to review video. We can move forward and backwards, without any delays in accessing the video,” elaborated Mr. Dholakia.
SRK's IT team has also found Security Center to be extremely reliable and very easy to maintain. “Two of IT administrators underwent Authorized Genetec training. We feel we have really mastered our system and remain in control of regular maintenance. Even without any new updates, we can easily manage and maintain our system for a few years,” said Mr. Dholakia. Tools such as Advanced Health Monitoring help the SRK team stay up to speed by automatically logging system health events and providing warnings for all basic components.
Expanding Investment in Genetec IP Security Solutions
“Since installing Genetec, we are very happy. We have established a good partnership with Genetec, and will continue growing our security system with Genetec,” advocated Mr. Dholakia while discussing plans to expand their Security Center system into the older Surat factory.
Other plans such as integrating Omnicast with access control, license plate recognition and asset tracking systems are also on their maybe-later list. “In the future, SRK will integrate Security Center with their RFID-enabled diamond tracking system to identify the real-time location of diamond packages and receive alarms if they move outside designated zones,” clarified Mr. Kamble.
In the meantime, SRK has one of India's most progressive security solutions, proving the following statement encompasses everything, even its security: “Technological superiority and high quality form the backbone of Shree Ramkrishna Exports Pvt. Ltd. (SRK).”
A Closer Look at the Infrastructure
A total of about 930 Axis Communications IP cameras including models Axis M1114, Axis M1346, Axis P5534, Axis M3204, and Axis P3346 are spread through SRK's new diamond processing plant, suggesting over 100 cameras per floor. The remaining cameras cover both buildings at the main headquarters in Mumbai, with approximately 100 cameras each. Video from all these cameras are hosted on seven servers with SAN storage which allows SRK the ability to retain video recordings for about 15 days.