Scottsdale, Ariz., hosts numerous high-profile events throughout the year, including the renowned golf tournament, the Waste Management Open, as well as the Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction and the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show. The nearby city of Glendale hosted the 2015 Super Bowl, which was the third time the Phoenix area had hosted the NFL championship game.

For visitors, residents and local businesses, major events like these bring festivities, media attention and floods of people. For the Scottsdale Traffic Management Center (TMC), events such as these invite the potential for incredible traffic nightmares.

Managing traffic for a large metropolitan area comes with significant challenges, but when major worldwide events are thrown into the mix, even greater challenges naturally follow. In order to maintain efficient operations on a daily basis as well as during large-scale events, the Scottsdale TMC decided to build out an entirely new management center, complete with the most advanced technology and functional capabilities.

As the general contractor, integrator and installer for the project, CS Technologies worked with the Scottsdale TMC for several months determining precisely what features and technologies to include in the new center. Once work began, however, the team only had about 30 days to construct the management center space.

“Once we got started, we worked extremely fast,” said Marty Soulard, ITS division manager at CS Technologies. “The city of Scottsdale hosts more outdoor events, spectator events and outdoor spectators than any other city in America. As we prepared for construction, the Waste Management Open was getting ready to happen, as well as the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show.”

Starting from scratch in an entirely new area, the CS Technologies team faced space and size constraints in addition to the challenging fast-track schedule. The room design included a video wall combined with a series of desk-mounted monitor systems. Comfortably utilizing the monitors without obstructing the video wall proved to be a significant challenge.

“TMC staff needed to see the bottom of the lowest monitor on the video wall and there were a lot of concerns that employees wouldn’t be able to see over the tops of the desk-mounted monitors and consequently partially block the view of the lower video wall,” Soulard said. “We needed furniture that could comfortably fit in the space without obstructing sight lines.”

In order to provide a solution, CS Technologies chose the Envision line of consoles from Minnesota-based Winsted Corporation. Envison consoles offered a modular design with multiple mounting positions for optimal sight lines and ergonomically correct viewing angles.

“The monitors were mounted low enough without obstructing the view of the video wall, and yet comfortable enough for operators to utilize on a regular basis,” Soulard described. “The consoles also fit nicely in the space, so the room didn’t feel crowded.”

Along with the consoles, CS Technologies worked with Winsted to develop a conference table with monitor lifts and cable cubbies. Before even looking at the furniture, however, Soulard and his team had a few ideas of what they wanted in terms of design.

“We put together some rough sketches and designed what we thought the consoles should look like from an aerial perspective,” Soulard said. “We showed Winsted the drawings to communicate what we were trying to achieve and Winsted’s product line defined itself almost immediately based on what we were looking for.”

Throughout the entire process CS Technologies collaborated with both the Scottsdale TMC and Winsted to help ensure a functional workspace while keeping the project timeline on track. This collaboration brought unique solutions and positive end results.

“During the course of the project, the Scottsdale TMC gave us feedback and good ideas for productive features,” Soulard said. “And because they were able to test-drive the systems on the workstations, we were able to collaborate and come up with exciting new features we could integrate into the system that we hadn’t even considered.”

One example of the creative, collaborative thinking resulted in a wire management system within the furniture. The legs of the furniture became wire-ways, enabling the team to maintain a clean, clutter-free work area. This was important because the workstations could be viewed from both the front and back of the consoles, and the Scottsdale TMC wanted to make sure the furniture looked presentable to both operators and visitors touring the facility.

“The wire management system was simple, yet effective, and there are two workstations spliced together by a common return,” Soulard said. “Both of these features are examples of thinking outside the box, identifying what needed to be done and coming up with a solution.”

Despite the short timeframe and space constraints, CS Technologies completed the job on time and with better-than-expected results. The city of Scottsdale can breathe just little easier facing upcoming events knowing their city has traffic management under control with a sophisticated new center.

“It would be really easy to cast a bad shadow on your own city if you couldn’t handle traffic and parking well, especially during major events,” Soulard said. “Overall, the project went better than expected and the collaboration we had with the Scottsdale TMC and Winsted helped the entire project run smoothly.”

Farpointe Data announced that its new P620 mullion-sized combination proximity/keypad reader made installation much easier for Cameras Networking and Security of Vermont (CNSVT) of Barre, Vt., at the Morristown Fire and EMS building, also located in Vermont. The mullion keypad reader mounts directly to a standard North American sized wall switch box or any flat surface. It features an eight-inch proximity card read range for increased convenience while the user enters a PIN on the keyboard.

“The dimensions of the reader were very important,” said Tom Uchacz, CNSVT owner. “Vermont is the granite capital of the world and installing the 1.78 by 6.1 inch mullion-size P620 reader was much easier than having to drill holes in or add a box to a granite wall to mount the larger standard-size combination proximity/keypad reader. We only had to pull two wires — one for the strike and one for the reader — and we were done.”

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Milestone Systems is helping Hyatt Hotels to standardize a unified video security platform across all of its property brands. This allows integrated security and risk management, centralized support and training, remote storage and incident management. Hyatt Hotels owns and manages hundreds of properties worldwide. Until 2013, the company had no standardized CCTV security platform. The disparate video solutions across all the sites were not efficient or effective.

“We wanted a global standard and security system we could eventually deploy in all Hyatt properties,” said Mark Sanna, corporate vice president and head of global security, Hyatt Hotels. “We also wanted something that could adapt to a diverse, rapidly expanding enterprise. Milestone VMS made the most sense on both fronts and it’s great to have tiered solutions that meet the needs of different properties.”

In addition to Milestone VMS, Hyatt wanted preferred component partners in other aspects of the installation. After careful deliberation, Hyatt chose Axis Communications as its camera provider, Anixter as the distributor, and HP/BCDVideo as the server system of choice.

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) selected AMAG Technology and its Symmetry Homeland Access Control System to secure its headquarters building, Office of the Executive Director. Symmetry helps the FTC meet HSPD-12, which calls for a mandatory, government-wide standard for secure and reliable forms of identification issued by the federal government, and the Federal Information Processing Standard Publication 201 (FIPS 201), which specifies PIV requirements for federal employees and contractors. The FTC plans to install the Symmetry Access Control system in all 13 offices throughout Washington D.C. and surrounding area.

Symmetry will integrate with a video management system to deliver the FTC a comprehensive security management system.

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With a seating capacity ranging from 68,500 to 75,000, the security team at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., is familiar with the challenges of watching over a crowded stadium. According to Lou Pezzola, director of security systems, “No two events are alike. It’s an ever-changing environment with various schedules and a mixture of people coming and going that need access to different areas.”

When construction of Levi’s Stadium began, the team made a unanimous decision to opt for Genetec Security Center, the unified security platform that combines video surveillance, access control, automatic license plate recognition and other business systems in one solution. “Security Center was a great security platform for all aspects of our environment, but unification was the most significant advantage for our team because we can carry out every task in a single platform,” Pezzola said.

Currently, Levi’s Stadium has a total of 725 network security cameras and more than 680 doors that are managed from Security Center. An independent system was set up at the nearby practice site, which has approximately 50 doors and 50 cameras. The stadium implemented the Federation feature within Security Center, allowing the security team to view and manage all security devices from a central control room.

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IDIS and partner PSX Inc. announced multiple installations of IDIS video surveillance technology for the Edna Independent School District (ISD) in support of the district’s compliance with Texas Senate Bill 507 (SB 507) requirements.

Following a number of high-profile incidents of alleged abuse of sometimes non-communicative special needs students, Texas passed SB 507, which requires districts to install audio and video surveillance equipment and recorders in selected classrooms where special education services are provided if a parent, school board, or staff member requests it. At the heart of the solution is the IDIS DirectIP Super Fisheye Camera, which features mobile dewarping for a clearer picture. It also features IDIS Smart UX Controls, which allow for agile real-time pointing and zooming.

“In Edna ISD, the safety of our students, teachers, and staff is a key part of our educational mission,” said Robert O’Connor, superintendent, Edna ISD. “The IDIS combination of a fully scalable solution of next-generation technology with a lower total cost of ownership than typically seen in the industry made it the right choice for our needs.”

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SpotterRF, a leader in low-cost, compact surveillance radar (CSR), collaborated with Milestone Systems and the NMS SpotterXP plugin that was used to secure both air and ground perimeter at the U.S. Presidential Debate held on October 19 at the UNLV Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. This was the first such debate monitored not only for ground threats but also aerial threats, by using SpotterRF’s A2000 CSR created especially for monitoring low-flying UAVs (drones).

Working closely with Las Vegas public safety authorities, UNLV security and federal agencies, the security solution teaming Milestone Systems, NMS and SpotterRF was tasked with threat detection and rapid response law enforcement communications.

“SpotterRF radar helped provide all-weather, day/night surveillance at great distances, over wide areas and in the air,” stated Reinier Tuinzing, strategic alliances manager, Americas, for Milestone Systems. “The integration of our IP video management software and compact Spotter radar device provides a wide defense dome around and above the protected venue.”

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Orchard Place, a Des Moines, Iowa-based provider of children’s mental health services, is standardizing on 3xLOGIC’s infinias access control at nearly all of its facilities. “In the past, we used a standard lock and key system,” explained Scott Heldt, director of environmental services, Orchard Place. “Keys were being lost or not returned. This resulted in having to reissue keys for many of our buildings to our employees.”

3xLOGIC infinias is installed at the main campus, covering all external doors, the internal server room door and maintenance shop door; one door is installed at the PACE Juvenile Center building; and three external doors and one server room door are managed by infinias at the Child Guidance Center, an outpatient facility.

In total, Orchard Place currently has 35 doors under management, with two additional doors planned at the PACE location.