Due to steadily increasing numbers of students, the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) had to relocate to various sites in Vienna several times in its history.
Due to steadily increasing numbers of students, the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) had to relocate to various sites in Vienna several times in its history. In the 1990s, the number of students grew further and eventually settled at over 20,000. As a result, in 2009 work began on a new campus in Vienna's second district to the east of the Prater park.
Six renowned architects from around the world were involved in the planning of the WU campus, during which the topic of security played an important role. A viable concept had to be developed, in particular for the large outdoor areas that are accessible day and night, to protect students, sta ff and visitors on the campus against attacks and thefts, while still respecting their personal rights. A further key task of the security technology is visual support for the emergency services in the event of an alarm as well as the securing of escape routes. Design aspects also needed to be taken into account: this means that the cameras should be placed as inconspicuously as possible, and should not in any way affect the overall architectural impression, a tricky task for the installation engineers in particular.
The solution
The
SeeTec software was chosen for the video management system. Thanks to its exible and modular design, the SeeTec solution is expandable and can be easily connected to thirdparty systems. For the WU campus, this was important because all security systems were to be linked and managed via a centralized building management system.
The SeeTec software o ffers encrypted communication between the server and the client, and also supports secure connections to the cameras. In addition, sensitive areas can be masked out in the camera image or persons can be made unrecognizable by pixelation; access to the recorded original data is then only possible with the works council being present, for example.
The result
To minimize the system load, the video images are recorded and supplied via multiple servers that are also protected against failure via a made-to-measure redundancy concept. The live images can be displayed as required on a large-screen system in the WU campus control center. To permit interaction of the total of 16 di fferent systems, they are linked to one another via the Winguard SiControl building management solution from Siemens. If, for example, a fire alarm is triggered, action plans can be automatically displayed in the control room or in the deployment center, and live images from cameras in the vicinity can be displayed. This means that the emergency services personnel can quickly gain an overview of the situation and ensure that escape and access routes are clear. The cameras distributed across the terrain and in the buildings focus primarily on the outer shell, the escape routes and the critical infrastructure.
Thanks to specially developed mounting concepts from Siemens, it was possible in many cases to incorporate them inconspicuously into the façade and ceiling structures, thus preserving the overall architectural impression. To o ffer additional security to students, sta ff and visitors on the site, SOS telephones have been erected at multiple points on the premises. If an emergency call is sent from there, this triggers an alarm on the Winguard SiControl. In addition, the nearest PTZ camera focuses the column and turns on the live image in the control room. This means the security personnel can immediately gain a picture of the situation on the ground.