Maple Grove Focuses on IP Surveillance to Realize Cost Savings
Posted on Thu, Jan 12, 2012
By Kevin Klemmer, Pivot3
ASG Editorial Comment: The following ‘case study’ reflects the approach of one of our premier National Account Implementation Team partners: Pro-Tec Design. This is an excellent account of their approach as well 
as the potential payoffs of virtualized storage solutions.
The city of Maple Grove, Minnesota, serves as the retail, cultural and medical center of the growing northwest region of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area and is one of the State of Minnesota’s fastest growing and dynamic cities. Its close proximity to the Twin City metropolitan center has led to high-quality residential, commercial and industrial growth including one of the area’s largest retail shopping centers.
Maple Grove began re-evaluating its existing surveillance program after it secured a grant to upgrade its existing DVR-based system. The city had concrete goals: it wanted to connect surveillance networks from multiple buildings, including the transit station, various city departments, and the park and ride facility. Maple Grove’s IT administration knew that transitioning to an IP-based video system would provide the functionality and cost benefit the city required to make the project a success.
Systems integrator Pro-Tec Design worked alongside the city’s IT department to determine which Video Management System (VMS) would best fit current needs and would scale as the installation expanded. The team chose Milestone’s XProtect video management software to manage IP cameras from Axis Communications and Sony, while Pivot3 was selected for the high-availability infrastructure that would simultaneously meet the city’s needs to store large amounts of high-resolution video, increase retention times, and meet tight budget constraints.
The storage appliances by Pivot3 combine server and storage functions into a single platform and the idea of hosting servers in an iSCSI SAN eliminates the need for standalone physical servers, reducing cooling, rack space, and power costs by up to 40 percent. The cost reduction from combining server and storage functionality was a powerful selling point for the city, which envisions expanding its surveillance system to upwards of 200 cameras. The money it saves by not having to purchase additional standalone servers convinced the IT staff to move forward with the Pivot3 implementation, and repurpose existing servers from Dell and HP for other IT-focused functions.
Today, the city monitors activity at multiple locations with 170 cameras. There are plans to add more devices at the community center and police station as well as increase coverage to the newly developed public works facility and government center. The entire surveillance solution delivered substantial upfront and ongoing cost savings, which enabled the city to expand its surveillance system quicker than if it had chosen a conventional configuration. The ROI is significant; support costs are reduced significantly and valuable video footage is protected.