City of Toronto chooses an Integrated Access Control and Video Solution

In the months following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a number of governmental think tanks identified water filtration plants as being vulnerable to future strikes. In the city of Toronto, however, officials recognized the importance of protecting water systems before the attacks occurred.

For the past two years, the city has proactively worked to upgrade security at its key water filtration plant sites in an effort to protect the water supply for a city of seven million people. The last time the system was upgraded was in the late 1980s and the system was quickly becoming antiquated. Acknowledging that the water system was a critical infrastructure element that needed to be protected, city officials sought to upgrade the four major production/water treatment plants and the 33 pumping stations located throughout the city.

As part of a substantial re-building project, the city of Toronto chose an integrated access control and video solution from Software House and American Dynamics, both business units of Tyco Fire & Security, to secure its Water Filtration and Pumping Stations.

Software House, based in Lexington, Mass., designs, markets and supports integrated security management systems, including its flagship product C·CURE^® 800/8000. The C·CURE 800/8000 security management system is installed in more than 8,000 facilities worldwide with more than 1,200 added each year. Its open architecture allows seamless integration with critical business applications such as digital video, ERP systems, alarms and more.

San Diego-based American Dynamics markets and supports multiplexers, digital video management systems, digital video recorders, matrix switchers, domes, video transmission systems and related products.

The city awarded the access control contract to Diebold Inc. of Canada, a global leader in providing integrated self-service delivery systems and services. Diebold, a Software House integrator, is in the process of installing five C·CURE 800 servers and more than 30 iSTAR controllers from Software House.

The entire installation, when completed later this year, will be one of the largest integrated security systems installed in Toronto, according to Source AV, a leading Canadian-based manufacturer's representative firm.

"When the city of Toronto came to us for an integrated solution, we knew immediately that Software House had the solution they were looking for," said Chris Andrews, the integrator for Diebold. "When we presented the C·CURE 800 to the general contractors, they were impressed with the functionality and the scalability the system had to offer."

The new C·CURE 800 system will be part of a massive project that will ultimately secure more than 33 pumping stations located throughout the city. With the facilities widely spread out in the Toronto area, security officials will use C·CURE 800's central monitoring feature to provide an efficient way to switch security responsibilities to one central location as various facilities close each day, as well as utilize more than 100 cameras from American Dynamics for close surveillance.

The system will also utilize the integrated badging and broadcast messenger features in C·CURE 800 that will complement American Dynamics' Intellex^® digital video management systems in 16 of the plant's facilities.

NuTech Security was responsible for installing the American Dynamics' video equipment. Stephen Martyn, director of sales, said, "The Water Plant had extensive video requirements and with the high quality and reliability the American Dynamics products have had throughout the years, we elected to use their cameras and digital recorders. We also installed five of their Network Clients which let the security manager at the facility receive alarm notifications from the various Intellex systems."

Don Douglas of SourceAV, American Dynamics' manufacturers representative, said the video surveillance implementation has gone smoothly. Douglas said the best benefit is the remote video component, which relies on the motion detectors of the Intellex system to create alert/alarm modes. Those alarms are then being pushed to the two monitoring sites, one of the main treatment centers and a secondary site.

Douglas said the Intellex system is the "heart" at each location, and an alarm condition is triggered each time someone enters or approaches a buiding. "The system is looking for people wandering around who shouldn't be," he said.

Douglas said the four production/treatment plants use pan and tilt systems cameras while the smaller sites use four to six fixed cameras. "This implemenation has gone smoothly and there have been no major issues, which is testament to the strong working relationship of all parties involved," he said.

Originally Published:
November 2002, Security, Technology & Design