e-Watch® Surveillance Products

Making The Step From Analog To Digital Security

Security has become ever increasing in importance in today’s society. Until recently the majority of video surveillance products consisted of a Close Circuit TV (CCTV) system with analog cameras connected via coaxial cables to VHS machines and NTSC monitors.

The conversion of analog to digital information and utilization of existing LAN infrastructures enables high quality video streams over computer networks. Many businesses have computer networks installed, making the incremental cost of the installation of digital video system cost effective. The e-Watch® product is a comprehensive multimedia surveillance and monitoring system, which is adapted for transmitting event data, video clips, high resolution images, audio signals and other sensor and detector data using digital data transmission over both wired and wireless networks (LANs, WLANs).

e-Watch increases the security professional’s productivity during the investigative mode.

Tape based archives (VHS, DAT, etc…) for legacy CCTV systems must be searched in a linear, non-random manner. Reviewing images of an event in a linear mode is time consuming, especially if security personnel are searching for a specific event over a period of several days.

The e-Watch® software application includes tools that allow images to be reviewed in a non-linear, random manner. Selected images may be immediately retrieved, from specific cameras and over a specific time frame. A user can immediately skip forward and backward to points in time, of the set of images retrieved, and isolate an event.

e-Watch is network centric. Surveillance data, current or archive, is available anywhere on the network or internet to authorized users. This is in contrast to Legacy CCTV, which is site specific, i.e. CCTV tape recorders are located on site. When an event occurs, security personnel physically travel to the site and retrieve the tapes for the investigative team. e-Watch allows the investigative team access to ANY data ANYWHERE on the network. e-Watch allows response personnel to view events in real time from remote sites. This allows them to assess the situation BEFORE entering a potentially hostile area.

7th floor, Lincoln Center Office Complex, San Antonio, TX

Previous to the installation of the new system, this facility had a legacy system of video cameras connected to a multiplexer. Additional alarm systems were standalone and only monitored by ADT. Today, the system is fully integrated. The system has multiple digital cameras and digital encoders (attached to analog cameras), 3 wired digital monitor stations, a 92-inch display wall, and a video server with 1.25TB of storage. The system is integrated with an Isonas® access control system.

This system has significantly reduced the amount of time required to respond to false, after-hours alarms. Alarms are relayed to administrative personnel and they can, in turn, log into the system via our Intranet. By reviewing the alarm log, the archived video and the live video, we can now determine whether a physical response is necessary.