IndigoVision Keeps Watch Over Football World Cup Stadium

An IndigoVision IP Video surveillance solution has been deployed at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, near Rustenburg, South Africa as part of a multi-million Dollar security upgrade for the recent 2010 Football World Cup. The 42,000 capacity stadium was one of the 10 venues used to stage the World Cup finals and was also used to host the Confederations Cup in 2009. With experience of two Olympic Games and the 2006 Football Word Cup, IndigoVision's technology is a field proven solution for the demanding security environment posed by major international sporting events.

The 120 camera system was supplied by IndigoVision's Partner Norbain SA and installed by Southwest Systems, who also installed Biometric access control alongside the IP Video system. Commenting on the project, Southwest Systems' Director of Sales, Brian McMahon said, "It's an unavoidable fact of life that crowded areas are particularly vulnerable to security threats. Environments such as stadiums require complex security solutions that are both scalable and flexible. IndigoVision's system provides wide-ranging visibility throughout the premises as well as on the periphery, to allow not only for instant incident capture but also incident prevention."

A mix of IndigoVision's fixed and vandal-resistant internal and external IP dome cameras were used throughout the stadium. "These high-end professional IP cameras offer image quality that is as good as, if not better than, their analogue counterparts," explains John Loftus, Managing Director of Norbain SA. "The camera range allows for simple, easy deployment of IP-based surveillance systems since they only require a single CAT 5 cable for connection to the network. Because of the cameras' built-in PoE (Power-over-Ethernet) support they can be powered directly from the network, reducing installation costs."

Operators located in a central control room overlooking the stadium's interior use ‘Control Center', IndigoVision's Security Management Software to monitor live and recorded video from the cameras. Its intuitive user interface and advanced display and search facilities allows multiple cameras to be monitored easily and operator efficiency to be maximised, leading to faster incident response.

Video is recorded continuously from all the cameras for 30 days on seven 1TB IndigoVision standalone Network Video Recorders (NVRs). Real-time analytics running in the IP cameras reduce the network bandwidth and storage requirement by streaming lower framerate video during periods of inactivity in the camera scene. The instant motion is detected, video is automatically streamed at the maximum configured framerate.

As well as the stadium near Rustenburg, IndigoVision's technology was also at the heart of an integrated security system for the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The metro area is home to over 1.3 million people, covers an area of 2000 km2 and includes the towns of Uitenhage and Despatch, together with Port Elizabeth which was also a host city for the 2010 Football World Cup.