De Koel needed a surveillance system upgrade as the aging camera system was no longer functioning adequately and was failing to meet the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) standards to guarantee the safety of fans.
The long-term growth strategy of VVV-Venlo is a club and community ambition known as‚ ‘Same Nao Baove‘, with goals including playing top-flight Dutch football in a modern, atmospheric, and safe stadium. De Koel’s aging camera system was no longer functioning adequately and failing to meet the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) standards to guarantee the safety of fans. The municipality of Venlo and the police also set out guidelines for a new surveillance system to significantly increase security in and around the stadium.
Challenges
The stadium, Operations Manager, Jeroen Koopmans, evaluated several camera systems and sought a professional partner for the installation and maintenance. Energa from Venlo, which had been a trusted technology partner for over 25 years, and loyal sponsor of the club, was selected for the project. Energa, with its tagline “Friend in installation technology”, consists of a team of fifty engineers specializing in total electrical and security technology solutions for a range of sectors including critical national infrastructure applications. John Deenen of Energa joined forces with Theo Freericks of IDIS Nederland BV to listen carefully to all the parties involved to jointly design a solution that would meet all requirements.
The primary function of the new surveillance system would need to monitor safety and security both around and inside the stadium, including a clear view of the stands, with the ability to effectively observe, assess, and verify incidents. The new surveillance system also had to meet the core requirements:
- Sharp image quality to clearly recognize and identify people and incidents
- Real-time image display on multiple screens without stuttering images or latency
- Fast image retrieval for rapid identification of persons or events of interest
- A user-friendly interface, futureproof and expandable solution.
In addition, the Energa team would need to overcome the challenges posed by the existing infrastructure and stadium layout to deploy fiber optic cabling and power the system.
Solution
Following careful consideration of the Energa and IDIS proposal, a decision was made to choose a high-quality and extremely user-friendly video management system designed around IDIS Solution Suite software.
In and around the stadium, 25 high-performance network cameras have been located at strategic points, consisting of 10 fixed-lens and 15 controllable PTZ speed dome cameras. Linked via fiber optic cabling to an IDIS server pre-installed with IDIS Solution Suite video management software, the solution successfully met all the club’s requirements.
In the ‘Radio Room’ a rotating team of six people use IDIS Solution Suite. The camera images are displayed grouped, yet spread over several monitors, and operation is quick and smooth using a keyboard with a joystick and/or mouse. Security personnel only needed minimal training, demonstrating the user-friendliness of the IDIS Solution Suite interface. Satisfied with the new solution, Operations Manager Jeroen Koopmans noted enthusiastically, “the drag-and-drop features in combination with interactive maps are exceptionally practical.”
Results and benefits
Today, the IDIS solution is living up to its promise and benefitting the operations and security teams at VVV-Venlo with:
- Robust network cybersecurity
- Smart UX controls and interactive maps
- Remote access via client stations and mobile devices
- Failover, backup, and redundancy services
- A low total cost of ownership (TCO) with no recurring license fees.
Since the new camera system was commissioned, it has already delivered several results thanks to the clear and sharp images.
Marco Bogers, General Manager of VVV-Venlo said, "A safe stadium is one of the spearheads in our strategic plan ‘Same Nao Baove’. An innovative surveillance system means we have taken a big step in the right direction in terms of safety. The IDIS solution has been an important investment for the club, and one that has had an immediate positive impact and added value. The club can now guarantee the enhanced safety of home and away fans, while they enjoy top class football and the atmosphere in our iconic stadium."