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Few would argue the respect that Nike garners as a corporation in the world, and the Nike Swoosh is one of the most recognized brands anywhere. The company’s focus on innovational excellence extends into everything related to the Nike brand, including the corporate headquarters.
Nike’s World Headquarters (WHQ) near Beaverton, Ore. is a beautiful corporate campus designed as a true monument to sports and the great athletes who bring the fan out in all of us.
The 193-acre campus is home to nearly 5,000 employees, includes a seven-acre lake, running trails, playing fields and 17 main buildings whose names pay tribute to some of Nike’s most legendary athletes and coaches.
The sprawling grounds and all of the buildings on campus are monitored around the clock and secured after business hours and weekends to ensure the safety of staff, the security of trade secrets and the privacy of high-profile celebrities who visit the campus.
Donna Olson, Nike WHQ security manager, and her team oversee security operations for the company, monitoring 50 buildings nationwide, including WHQ, from the security control room on campus. As Nike has grown in recent years, so too has the need for additional monitoring capabilities.
Given Nike’s focus on design, when the time came to upgrade the control room, aesthetics played a significant role in the design process.
Nike worked with longtime vendor Aronson Security Group (ASG), Seattle, an independent integrator of enterprise security solutions, on the control room upgrade.
“If you ever stepped foot on the Nike campus you would find it’s the nicest, most welcoming corporate campus in North America,” said Mike Kobelin, vice president of sales for ASG. “But the security console and their operations center was outdated.”
According to Nike’s Olson, the previous control room was set up for one security officer with a small rack-mount console. However, as her security staff got busier and busier it became clear they needed to add a second officer in the control room but simply didn’t have the space.
Together, Olson and Kobelin set out to change that, spending two years traveling to various trade shows and visiting control rooms at other corporations researching options for a new security console and video wall.
Nike partnered with ASG to create an efficient way for Olson and her team to monitor security systems for WHQ and the company’s manufacturing and office locations all over the country, including those for Cole Haan and Converse, two of Nike’s affiliate companies.
Designs for the new control room were focused on making it possible for two officers to comfortably work at the console and do the same functions, with space for a third officer in the event of a larger crisis. Plans for the upgrade also included a new video wall.
Nike and ASG wanted to work with the technical furniture experts at Winsted Corporation to design the new console.
Steve Runkle, who managed the Nike account for ASG, worked closely with Winsted designers to hammer out the details for the new console.
Dave Tewel, western regional sales manager for Winsted, made numerous visits to Nike headquarters over the duration of the project — doing everything from outlining what Winsted had to offer to taking measurements of the room and creating preliminary designs. Winsted also provided three-dimensional mockups of the designs that really helped provide a clear picture of what the final console design would look like.
The two main workstations also face a new standalone video wall, with four 42-inch displays, that was custom built for the control room.
Winsted’s console also incorporates numerous design considerations to make power and cable/wire management easy and efficient. A large dual-cable raceway hidden inside of the console separates signal and power cords. Data and power ports built in to the back of the console work surface combined with raised flooring in the control room keeps all cables and cords hidden from view.
According to Runkle, the changeover from the old system to the new could not have gone more smoothly. Nike has several other security bunkers that were able to take over monitoring for the bit of time it took to gut the control room, right down to the raised flooring and walls, and install the new console and video wall.
The new Winsted console was shipped to Nike in a modular fashion and the installers from ASG found it to be very straightforward to set up — even with very little practice setting up consoles.
“The operators are happy. They realize it is a state-of-the-art control room,” said Olson. “It’s very clean, very sharp, very cool.”
When asked why Nike and ASG chose a Winsted console, Kobelin said, “I think it was positively that Winsted was able to help us design a solution that fit ergonomically and looked good. Because having something that looks modern, is functional, and is state-of-the-art is really important to Nike.”
“They want to have people look inside that security room and say, ‘Wow!’” Kobelin adds. “Not only that, but the upgrade has increased efficiency and the value of Nike’s security operations because everything works so much more smoothly.”
After a significant amount of research and some insightful guidance from a few trusted vendors, the newly redesigned security control room at Nike WHQ is now a true reflection of the Nike brand — as impressive to look at as the stunning campus it monitors.
| PROJECTS in the News | ||
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Verint® Systems Inc., Melville, N.Y., announced that Eastern Michigan University (EMU) is leveraging the next-generation Nextiva® video management software from Verint Video Intelligence Solutions™ to advance the security of its facilities and further its commitment to safe learning environments. A Verint customer for over two decades, EMU is focused on protecting its students, faculty and staff, and securing its large geographically distributed campus through cutting-edge technology. Located in Ypsilanti, Mich., the university has more than 23,000 students attending academic and athletic sites. EMU comprises 800 acres with 122 buildings, 14 residence halls and three apartment complexes. In October 2010, as part of a security modernization initiative, it deployed the next-generation Nextiva Video Management software and IP cameras from Verint to help monitor and advance the safety and security of its vast campus grounds. The system was designed and implemented by long-time Verint partner Camtronics, a Michigan-based integrator of security systems.
Garonor, a famous business and services center located in the Ile de France region of France, needed a security system to monitor its buildings, which are located between two Airports, the Charles de Gaulle and Le Bourget. But finding a creative, cost-effective CCTV solution presented several challenges. Among the difficulties: the distance between the buildings (some of them near the Charles de Gaulle airport and others next to Le Bourges Airport) and network constraints such as interferences due to the radars coming from the airports. Wireless mesh technology from Fluidmesh Networks, Boston, was chosen as the solution to cover the distance and line of sight issues. The project is progressing in three phases. During the first two, five FM1100 and four FM2200 Duos were installed. One of the FM1100s is being used to connect the control room while two of the FM2200s Duo serve the NVR connection to the entire network. In the second phase, the system will be expanded using five additional FM1100 MITO units and a FM3100 MITO device. The third phase of the project is completion of an advanced configuration and is targeted for the end of this year.
NICE Systems Ltd., Ra’anana, Israel, announced that AeroExpress, a provider of rail transportation services between Moscow’s rail terminals and its three airports, will implement NICE Situator to improve overall security operations. AeroExpress will also be implementing NiceVision Net, NICE’s enterprise-class, open-platform IP-based video surveillance solution along with video analytics capabilities for automatic intrusion detection. The NICE solutions will enable AeroExpress to effectively manage security situations and respond quickly to events as they occur.
DVTel Inc., Ridgefield Park, N.J., announced that the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), London, United Kingdom, selected DVTel as the central platform for a newly-upgraded IP video management system. Since its founding in 1852, GOSH has been dedicated to children’s healthcare. Each year, there are over 170,000 patient visits to the hospital. The DVTel solution will manage data from more than 160 IP, high definition (HD) and analog cameras, covering the entire hospital complex and monitored from a central command video wall, along with dedicated workstations throughout the hospital (where required), and possibly in the future from portable devices such as an iPad. Check Your Security Ltd. performed a CCTV audit at the hospital prior to the project going to tender and was then eventually selected as the integrator for this ongoing project.
Avigilon, Vancouver, Canada, a provider of high definition (HD) and megapixel video surveillance solutions, announced that Rogers Centre, a 50,000 seat capacity multi-purpose sports and entertainment venue and home to the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Canada, deployed the Avigilon HD Surveillance System. Rogers Centre deployed a security plan that is flexible and readily adaptable to meet the needs of any event—ranging from 5,000 visitors at a tradeshow to 50,000 during a Blue Jays Major League Baseball game. “Because we host a range of events with different configurations, we wanted a powerful, flexible, and cost-effective surveillance solution—one that could give us access to information needed to make staffing decisions and review incidents more successfully to better serve our customers,” said Mario Coutinho, vice president of stadium operations and security at Rogers Centre. “The Avigilon HD surveillance system provides us with superior clarity, maximum coverage and ease of management—key features we needed to enhance our incident management capabilities at all events.” Nineteen Avigilon HD 16MP cameras cover the entire seating bowl while a mix of Avigilon HD 1MP, 2MP, 5MP, 11MP, and 16MP cameras monitor the building’s exterior. Three Avigilon HD network video recorders (NVR) store continuous surveillance footage.
HID Global, Irvine, Calif., announced that the company’s credential and reader solutions for access control were selected by mutual insurance company EMC to protect its entire, multi-structure corporate campus at the company’s headquarters in Des Moines and an additional facility in Ames, Iowa. EMC worked with a security systems integrator to design a comprehensive solution for protecting seven buildings, two parking lots and one parking structure. Its existing, 15-year-old access-control system infrastructure was based on proprietary technology that was no longer supported by the manufacturer, making it impossible to expand while leaving EMC vulnerable to security risks. “We were in dire need of an upgrade in order to perform the functions we required,” said Scott Gooch, control center supervisor with EMC. “Now, with our integrated solution from HID Global, we’ve not only eliminated critical immediate risks that could have been extremely costly, but also have the flexibility to continue upgrading our system as our needs change and security threats evolve. We also plan to expand the HID solution to our 17 branch offices across the country, from Providence, R.I. to Phoenix.”
Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport in Sonoma County, Calif., chose Symmetry Security Management System (SMS) from AMAG Technology, Torrance, Calif., to upgrade its current security system and secure its newly expanded airport terminal. AMAG Technology, an access control, IP video and intrusion detection solution provider, along with Electronic Innovations, an automatic entry and security management company, worked together to upgrade the current security system and to provide the newly renovated terminal with a security solution. The system monitors and controls access to the airfield, terminal and other private areas via Symmetry’s ID badging. Twelve remote gates will be tied wirelessly to the Symmetry SMS that includes approximately 60 HID RK40 readers. |
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