AST Digital Magazine May 2016 | Page 3

Regional Network Manages Safety in Minnesota Regional Network Manages Safety in Minnesota by Courtney Dillon Pedersen, Communications Manager, Milestone Systems widespread commonality for all cities was the need for an IP VMS system to replace legacy analog systems. “We had a collective idea between numerous municipalities to centralize local systems with the same IT backbone,” said Tim Ferrian, director of sales and marketing for Pro-Tec Design. “Every city can adopt software from the Milestone portfolio to have its own system. However, there are times administrators may want to open access to their system to solve a mutual incident, and they can Eleven cities around the greater Minneapolis area of Minnesota have formed a valuable relationship by connecting the municipalities’ video surveillance to protect citizens and quickly resolve incidents that can cross their borders. With open platform video management software (VMS) networked between the cities, each controls their own security monitoring, yet quickly connect with neighboring systems for collaborative surveillance missions. (To view YouTube Video outlining the Challenge, Solution and Benefits of Milestone XProtect®, go to https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=fsFMu9jj6wQ.) The Challenge The greater Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, area is composed of 45 municipalities with similar citywide surveillance needs. Within that space, security integrator ProTec Design identified the parallel and individual needs of each city and their various departments. For example, the get assistance from neighboring emergency services, police department in one city has a variety of unique aprequiring as much help as possible to solve a problem. plications different from the IT department of another. The 3