Los Angeles-based Stephen S. Wise Temple and Schools has recently implemented a multi-faceted security and video surveillance system to ensure the safety of facilities, members, students, faculty and staff.
A major component of the system is the NetDVMS Video Surveillance Management and Control Solution from OnSSI, which manages networked video from cameras located throughout the facilities and integrates with the institutions' physical security information system (PSIM).
"Part of the beauty of the NetDVMS system from OnSSI is its ability to integrate with multiple systems," says David Lam, chief information security officer for Stephen S. Wise Temple and Schools. "It is a very open system. We had no problem integrating analytics, and we can switch cameras whenever we want to. It is an open solution and works with products we need it to work with."
Stephen S. Wise Temple and Schools is one of the largest Reform Jewish congregations in the country, with more than 3,000 member families and close to 1,700 children in its schools. The temple encompasses an early childhood center, an elementary school, religious school, Milken Community High School, and David Saperstein Middle School. A 24-hour security operations center maintains watch over the temple and its various campuses.
Working with system integrator Antropy Inc. of Chatsworth, Calif., the temple security team evaluated three different IP camera management systems. According to Antropy Vice President David Girdner, OnSSI's NetDVMS solution was selected based on its lower total cost of ownership, conformity with IT best practices, compatibility and simplicity of installation and operation.
"OnSSI designed NetDVMS from the ground up as an IP system with advanced video surveillance capabilities. It is designed with the IT environment in mind, unlike other control systems that evolved from analog video roots," he says.
Wise Temple and Schools run NetDVMS software on two HP servers with 16 terabytes (TB) of video storage assigned to the OnSSI system. Ten cameras run on a virtual server and another 54 cameras run on hardware servers. The cameras are a mix of domes, "box" cameras and pan/tilt/zoom (p/t/z) cameras, all of which are managed by OnSSI's NetDVMS system.
The Temple and Schools also use OnSSI's Ocularis Client Lite software, installed at the operations center and the IT department, for forensic analysis of incidents. "When the School needs more 'granularity' in searching video, they turn to Ocularis Client Lite's investigation tools," says Lam. Features include simultaneous playback of up to 64 cameras; highly configurable motion detection; incident search by time and alert; a kinetic timeline for reviewing large volumes of video; and auto-generation of thumbnails based on time and motion.
To effectively manage monitoring of the facilities' extensive perimeter area, the system also employs video analytics from Agent Vi in conjunction with OnSSI's NetDVMS software. The PSIM receives data from multiple systems, processes it and provides operators the visual information they need to see. "If there's an event triggered by the content analytics, the system takes the feed from OnSSI and analyzes it, then alerts the guard," says Lam. "We're just thrilled with the NetDVMS. It's a remarkable piece of technology."