Caja de ANDE relies on Honeywell to protect people and property

From its headquarters in the capital city of San Jose, Caja de ANDE offers a wide variety of savings and lending services such as credit and debit cards, as well as loans for homes, vehicles and personal needs. Caja de ANDE has always been recognized as an institution with high quality standards, but management is also driven by a social conscience that urges them to help improve the quality of life of its shareholders.

The financial institution strives to provide excellent service to its depositors and efficiently administer resources in twelve branch offices located throughout the rural areas of Costa Rica.

The Situation
A significant increase in criminal activity over the past few years has compelled companies in Costa Rica to seek more innovative ways of safeguarding their employees and customers using surveillance and security services. Because Caja de ANDE has lately been experiencing growth on a nationwide scale, management sought to implement an improved level of security to protect its central buildings and offices, as well as its branch offices around the country. They wanted an electronic system that would be easy to operate and manage which would incorporate intrusion alarms, access control, video surveillance, fire protection, and public address capabilities in order to help meet the needs of the various internal departments such as IT, security and occupational health. They reached out to SPC | TELECENTINEL, who designed a state-of-the-art security system— and integrated all of the components from all the institution's sites within a single platform.

The Solution
The comprehensive solution recommended by SPC | TELECENTINEL operates on a 100% IP platform for transmitting signals among each of the systems, which individually represent access control, video surveillance, intrusion alarms and fire protection, but which tie together with the air conditioning, heating and lighting systems to offer a seamless network of robust functionality for building management. Honeywell's Vista intrusion alarm panels, PW-6000 access control panels and IP cameras arm security operators with total visibility and complete control. Additionally, for another layer of active crisis management, the NOTIFIER fire system handles two-way radio communications between remote offices for public address. The pieces were integrated through the Pro-Watch security management system, providing for centralized administration of Caja de ANDE's entire security platform. Should the need arise to engage an emergency situation, information can be processed and managed instantly from the main control center through the MAXPRO VMS video wall that displays live video information from every one of the systems involved.

By concentrating events from every system in every building into a single software program, Honeywell helps the Caja de ANDE security team manage incidents—whether a crisis or simply daily operations—more effectively.

Although it was essential that each of the systems would work locally, they also needed to perform remotely at a high level. By concentrating events from every system in every building into a single software program, Honeywell helps the Caja de ANDE security team manage incidents—whether a crisis or simply daily operations—more effectively. SPC | TELECENTINEL accomplished the integration of the system using the Honeywell Software Developer Kit (HSDK), which offered a significant enhancement to the installation. "The most interesting aspect of the installation was the customized integration that extends protection from the central building in San Jose to all the branches throughout the country," said Joseph Jamri, president of SPC | TELECENTINEL. "Since the buildings are all connected, it's possible for an operator in the control center to begin tracking a situation with event-associated cameras, evaluate the circumstances more accurately, and immediately generate actions such as locking/unlocking doors or even issuing live voice messages to any office—or across all of the offices at once."

Pedro Ramirez Williams, security coordinator for Caja de ANDE, speaks about the process of choosing the Honeywell solution: “We asked SPC | TELECENTINEL to arrange a visit to a site with characteristics similar to ours so that we might analyze the impact and functionality of the Honeywell systems in other projects," he said. "We visited several sites and were favorably impressed with the equipment. It was also helpful to hear firsthand the positive experiences of the individuals who had been working with these systems on a daily basis."

The Benefits
Ramirez Williams and his staff have been pleased with the performance of their connected buildings. "The Honeywell solution provides a sense of security for our employees, our shareholders, and other people who visit our offices on a daily basis. We’ve even had good comments from the municipal security forces in our country, because we've been able to share video footage captured by our system that helps them prosecute cases."

Since the installation was completed, Ramirez Williams says the greatest benefits of the system so far have been maximizing the effectiveness of his operators—and preventing criminal activity from happening in the first place. "The system monitors very precisely who enters and exits our buildings, so my team has been able to be more proactive in terms of controlling restricted areas, as well as being more effective in detecting and deterring intruders who try to gain unauthorized access to the facilities." He said as Caja de ANDE continues its expansion, plans are in place to bring the new buildings online and integrate them with the central offices. "The result we've achieved here is a platform that provides for ideal integration between all the systems necessary for building management. The strong networking platform lets us operate not only at a local level, but supports communications between each branch and the central office."