UK Ambulance

Business Challenge

An ambulance service provider needed to protect bunkered fuel tanks across its estate as part of a loss prevention strategy, as well as to safeguard staff and assets. The sites were security risks due to the value of the fuel, and the existing security measures had not provided adequate protection from attempted theft. The 16 locations are dispersed across the estate, with fuel dumps installed at remote locations, adding to the complexity and cost of traditional physical security solutions.

Business Solution

AJAR Technology partnered with Eagle Eye Networks to design, implement, and commission a true cloud closed-circuit television (CCTV) video surveillance solution to enable local and centralized monitoring of all sites.

Digital, four megapixel internet protocol (IP) CCTV cameras with day/night functionality and integrated infrared (IR) lighting were installed in strategic external locations across each site. They provide for crystal-clear monitoring of each fuel tank, at full resolution, on a 24/7/365 basis.

The CCTV cameras were connected to a local router installed within secure external cabinets at each site, making them tamper-proof. Within each router, a corporate 4G SIM card was installed to provide for high bandwidth connection to the Eagle Eye cloud solution for secure data transfer and full resolution CCTV footage as a true standalone solution.

Each CCTV camera accesses the Eagle Eye platform via a software license key which is renewed on an annual basis, while the CCTV footage is stored for 30 days in the cloud. The ambulance service can access the live and recorded footage via secure web browser and/or mobile application using dual-factor authentication without the requirement to install any additional software on their client machines or mobile devices.

Expanding the Solution

Following the successful implementation of the project at the bunkered fuel depots, the Service engaged AJAR Technology to design and install the same Eagle Eye solution across their drug stores, medicine packing units, ambulance stations, and most recently, their Headquarters office. This expansion brings the total estate to over 700 cameras, all connected to a single centralized platform. This robust setup enables the Service to manage over 100 locations seamlessly via the cloud.

Successful Results

The Eagle Eye Networks solution has provided the ambulance service with a true cloud experience, enabling reliable and secure monitoring of their sites with access to both live and recorded video from anywhere with an internet connection. Implementation of the cloud solution has mitigated the cost and complexity of procuring and maintaining a traditional on-premise server-based solution, while also providing the ambulance service with the inherent flexibility and scalability of a cloud platform for additional applications across different sites and departments.

The intelligent use of mobile data 4G technology avoids any reliance on the ambulance service corporate network/WAN in its entirety, negating all network bandwidth and network security concerns, while also accelerating the onboarding process and solution deployment. Furthermore, the straightforward and flexible cloud software licensing model, for both CCTV camera connections and CCTV storage, provides the ambulance service with a defined, rapid, and clear process to scale up its solution across the wider estate as operational need requires, enabling immediate, ad-hoc additions of CCTV cameras and ad-hoc extension of footage retention without the need to purchase additional storage hardware.

AJAR Technology provides the ambulance service with a robust support and maintenance package with a defined service-level agreement (SLA) for peace of mind. Remote access to the cloud platform eliminates the need for onsite attendances with system faults identified and rectified using the software platform to rapidly restore the system to full operational capacity.