IPVideo Corporation, the Bay Shore, N.Y,-based manufacturer of IP-based video surveillance and command center solutions, has completed a comprehensive video surveillance installation for the City of Fort Myers, Fla. The project was initiated in response to the deadly shooting at the zombie-themed street festival that occurred in downtown Fort Myers in October of 2015. IPVideo Corporation’s SentryVMS video management system now connects 49 ultra-high definition IP cameras strategically deployed throughout the city to monitor pedestrian and vehicular traffic. This highly sophisticated system was deployed in only three weeks, meeting the city’s compressed timeline to have enhanced security in place for the city’s popular New Year’s Eve celebration.

The majority of the new cameras deployed are state-of-the-art, 33 megapixel, 180-degree models from Axis Communications. Each camera features three separate 4K lenses, providing a tremendous amount of high definition video. IPVideo President David Antar, explains, “The technology used here leverages cameras that are 10 times more powerful than traditional security cameras. In fact, a total of 33 cameras are providing 99 super high-definition video feeds to the city.” Additional HD pan-tilt-zoom cameras, strategically placed, allow system operators to zoom in on any aberrant activity spotted by the super megapixel fixed cameras.

Due to the large quantity of video data coming from the cameras, the SentryVMS system must support extremely high bandwidth requirements and deliver exceptional storage capacity and processing power. Four 72 terabyte Enterprise servers running IPVideo’s SentryVMS provide the city with redundancy and sufficient video storage. In addition, a comprehensive, bi-directional wireless gigabit infrastructure, supported by technology manufactured by Siklu, enables the city to wirelessly monitor the new cameras from a command center installed at the downtown police headquarters. Ultimately once IPVideo’s C3Fusion PSIM is implemented, this infrastructure will allow emergency responders to pinpoint the location of incoming 911 calls and automatically call up cameras closest to this location. 

“The operators who will be viewing the cameras will be able to pull up and see what's going on in a specific area, in clear, high definition,” Antar said. “In addition, SentryVMS has the capability to allow city officials to monitor these cameras live, on mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets.”

Fort Myers Mayor, Randy Henderson Jr., says of the system’s capabilities, “There isn’t a city in America right now, this moment, that is as sophisticated as the City of Fort Myers in this regard … in the way of surveillance, in the way of reaching out and having the opportunity to catch a would-be perpetrator who’s going to decide to threaten our citizens.”