Case Studies and Clients

A Large New Build Academy The Academy was totally transformed by an ambitious building project completed in September 2011, offering new buildings, an enhanced 21st century curriculum and outstanding facilities for students aged 11 - 18. The state-of-the-art facilities include learning plazas, extended vocational centres, performing arts theatres and outdoor performance arenas. Inside the impressive structure there are: 10 hi-tech, interactive learning plazas Futuristic science and food technology labs Specialist dance, music, art and design technology studios A fantastic performing arts theatre A purpose-built sixth form centre offering more than 96 courses Four-court sports hall A Coffee Shop for Sixth Form students and staff Open plan dining offering cashless catering A laptop for every Year 7 pupil, which charges in their personal locker With its specialism in technology and science, the Academy sought a sophisticated technological solution to provide a secure environment for pupils, staff, visitors and equipment. To that end Ansa-IT was asked, inter alia, to design and specify CCTV and access control solutions across the whole site. The abstract below from our proposed solution reflects the key elements of our approach. CCTV “The networked surveillance solution proposed by Ansa-IT uses the excellent new IT infrastructure to distribute video to authorised site users and securely record to dedicated file servers. The file servers and workstations and, indeed, the network that they reside upon can be managed under the same remit as other curriculum and application servers and machines. This gives the school an ownership and management role in the CCTV system and does not mean it is a ‘black box’ type system that is difficult to manage and extend.		Our design recognises that network infrastructure is key to current and future technologies as more and more devices become ‘network centric’. Future biometric and video analytics products will all be network oriented and the emergence of these sub systems will allow less intrusive management of sites but with even more flexible control.“ Access Control “The access control scheme proposed by Ansa-IT is based upon a single token technology. Each student and member of staff possesses a ‘proximity’ card enabling access to certain areas at certain times of the day. Full logging of an individual’s movements through access controlled areas is available with synchronised video events, allowing targeted searching of events very quickly. A key feature of the design is single token, multi use and the intended future integration will use such a token’s common ID for printing, LRC, catering access and possibly single user sign-on etc. Custom integration applications will ensure that the academy’s core administration system is the single major administration point – automatically sending student information into the subsystems. Whilst details within those subsystems will also require administration, the core records are handled at a single point. The access control solution can become a hub for recording student entry into the site. For example active reporting can automatically produce a report, based upon timing, of students who have entered the site but not entered (and registered in) their particular zone. Such a report could be web/intranet based for quick access by authorised staff. Token ownership can be enhanced for the user (to discourage careless loss) by the relationship between the card and the catering sub system. Additionally redemption points for catering services can be overlapped with surveillance to discourage card abuse such as one student taking/using another’s without their permission. “ Critically, our proposed design and the subsequent specification were fully adopted by the Academy.
A Community College Situated in London and serving an area that is in sharp contrast to its more affluent neighbours, the Community College provides education to 750 11-18 year olds. Being part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme and securing a grant for a £23m project to provide its students with an outstanding learning environment, the college was a 'pathfinder' project for the DfES, which set the template for many other education establishments. The new facilities supported a step change in aspiration. Creating a new environment has enabled the college to establish itself at the heart of the community, engaging with parents and pupils seven days a week. Benefits have ranged from better staff morale to increased enrolment and the opening of new revenue streams for the school.		Ansa-IT were chosen inter alia to design and specify an integrated IP surveillance and access control solution for the College. We designed a system around the latest network cameras - managed and streamed by an industry standard video management system. The open platform enabled the college to choose exactly how the system grows in the future and enabled us to fully customise the interface to incorporate intuitive maps for camera and access control event information. We specified an access control suite to secure vehicle and pedestrian access - including main entrance barriers and lifts. Ansa-IT’s Managing Director Paul Stout commented "this is another example of integrated solutions being recognised as the clear way forward. We are very pleased to have been able to offer superb products, providing very flexible security and site management tools."
Portable Incident Management Solution R&D Project Ansa-IT has a proven position as a cutting edge technological solution adviser. In the recent past the company has supported R&D projects involving innovative communications and component combinations to meet the specific challenges of certain environments. A major UK based security contractor was aware of Ansa-IT’s reputation and approached us about supporting them in using new technology, to show what may be possible in the field of security and incident diagnosis and management. The context for the solution was military and civil use in dealing with serious incidents with a range of potential types of collateral damage. The total solution was to consist of various elements providing real time analysis to support remote chemical, biological and visual diagnosis and management of incidents in any environment, however challenging, without vehicle support. The key element in the solution was suitability in a challenging environment, which included the need for: Portability, compactness and durability in difficult and restricted environments and terrains self sufficiency in power supply (therefore adopting solar as a possible solution or back up) very high definition imaging streaming over various networks to a central command centre recording and replaying high quality images from high definition colour cameras. In defining technical boundaries and confirming functional capabilities, the key technological uncertainties addressed by this comprehensive and wide ranging R&D project were: providing all the required functionality packaged into a single portable device creating a sufficiently rugged device to endure the demands of potentially harsh operating conditions powering the equipment at the required level for the required time to support the functionality in the context of managing a terrorist or similar incident incorporating alternative power and communications routes while maintaining portability. For Ansa-IT the project consisted of: Definition of the potential requirement for the visual diagnosis and management element Overall Technical specification and design of the solution Individual component specification, design and sourcing Bench testing of components and of complete visual diagnosis solution Preparation of the complete prototype to be part of the wider application which included remote biological and chemical analysis. The R&D project posed some difficult technical questions, which we were able to overcome, working closely with our partners and proposing alternative approaches, which ultimately improved the overall concept.		In defining technical boundaries and confirming functional capabilities, the key technological uncertainties addressed by this comprehensive and wide ranging R&D project were: providing all the required functionality packaged into a single portable device creating a sufficiently rugged device to endure the demands of potentially harsh operating conditions powering the equipment at the required level for the required time to support the functionality in the context of managing a terrorist or similar incident incorporating alternative power and communications routes while maintaining portability. For Ansa-IT the project consisted of: Definition of the potential requirement for the visual diagnosis and management element Overall Technical specification and design of the solution Individual component specification, design and sourcing Bench testing of components and of complete visual diagnosis solution Preparation of the complete prototype to be part of the wider application which included remote biological and chemical analysis. The R&D project posed some difficult technical questions, which we were able to overcome, working closely with our partners and proposing alternative approaches, which ultimately improved the overall concept.