Milestone XProtect provides Finnish schools and harbor with full-range protection

“Installing Milestone XProtect has done the trick. We have reduced the cost of vandalism by approximately €50,000 (around $69,054) per year. Now we have practically no costs in regards to vandalism. What originated as a need for general security has evolved: One of the main benefits of our solution is the broad usage of it.” - Eero Polonen, Technical Manager, Kontiolahti Municipality.

The Challenge:
Before installing Milestone XProtect software, Kontiolahti Municipality was subjected to extensive vandalism at schools and in the harbor. The harbor was especially plagued by theft of boat motors and oil, littering and other destructive activities that the old security system was not equipped to handle.

The Solution:
Installing Milestone Partner Hallstrom designed and implemented an efficient solution with Milestone XProtect Professional and XProtect Essential to manage 200 AXIS, Sony, Vivotek and Mobotix cameras. The cameras are installed throughout the entire municipality at hospitals, sports fields, harbors and schools. Hallstrom integrated Blackbox Light Control System, which has enabled the municipality to use XProtect Smart Client and Milestone Mobile to control not only cameras, but also all public lighting systems. Hallstrom set up the users with the XProtect Smart Client Finnish language interface, which significantly eases day-to-day operations for Kontiolahti Municipality.

The Advantages:
The Milestone XProtect solution has provided Kontiolahti with increased safety and has led to a significant reduction in vandalism saving around USD69,054 a year. The municipality can easily expand their security solution to more uses with the Milestone open platform.

Large yearly savings from reduced vandalism thanks to Milestone
The Milestone surveillance solution is installed all over Kontiolahti Municipality for many purposes, including keeping the citizens of Kontiolahti safe in public: “The general opinion in the population is that security has increased after we have installed the new solution,” states Eero Polonen, Technical Manager at Kontiolahti Municipality. The estimated savings are €50,000 a year due to reduced vandalism.

“Before we installed Milestone XProtect we were experiencing a lot of vandalism at schools in our area and at the harbor, where fuel and motors from the boats were frequently being stolen. That was the reason why we decided to install a new security system: to reduce the destruction of our facilities and further increase safety for our population,” states Polonen.

“A new security system was badly needed since the previous one was both outdated and lacked user-friendliness” relates Polonen.

To find a better solution to secure the municipality, Eero Polonen teamed up with Milestone Partner through seven years, Hallstrom LTD Partnership. Hqllstrom is a Finnish expert in the fields of ICT and security, and is one of the leading suppliers of IP-based surveillance solutions in Finland. Their effective solution with Milestone XProtect Professional and XProtect Essential has significantly made a difference in helping the municipality with their problems.

“We chose Milestone XProtect because the product is reliable and stable, which is very important for us. Moreover, the Milestone solution is scalable, so it can be used in everything from small systems to very large systems. That is a big advantage,” says Polonen.

Kontiolahti gets additional benefits from using open platform software
Besides helping the municipality reduce vandalism, the video monitoring solution is also used to secure the personal safety of citizens living in elderly homes and for checking conditions at sports venues: “With Milestone Mobile we remotely check the condition of a sports field to plan maintenance, for example,” says Polonen. The solution has also proven to be beneficial during the long cold winters: “In winter the staff can remotely check how much snow falls to decide how often they have to plow ice away from roads and parking places.”

 The integration benefits of open platform
Kontiolahti Municipality sees many advantages of the Milestone open platform that makes it easy to integrate with third-party systems.

“Hallstrom has integrated XProtect with the Blackbox Light Control System. This allows us to control the lights at different locations directly from the XProtect Smart Client interface,” says Polonen. “A big plus in regards to the XProtect Smart Client is that it has been translated to Finnish. That contributes to making the clients easy to use. In general, I think the XProtect Smart Client is very intuitive and easy to manage and the fact that we can use the same client for all platforms is an extra plus.”

It was the system integrator Hallstrom who recommended Kontiolahti to go with the Milestone solution, and Hallstrom has thoroughly trained each of the users in how to use the solution. “We have received very good support from Hallstrom who has quickly responded to our questions and inquiries throughout the purchasing, installation and support process,” concludes Eero Polonen and adds that the municipality is planning on expanding the solution to cover even more institutions.