Automating the night watch for BMW

Car theft is a huge risk for car sales offices, and this is especially an issue for the premium brands. Luxury car giant Eden Auto Premium BMW built a new site in Bordeaux, France, where they house and sell new and second-hand cars, as well as having a car park for customers. That amounts to a lot of cars that need protecting! They researched and compared different technologies and selected Hikvision products to meet their needs. These were then ably installed by reseller Faurie Telecom (Group Convergence), with Hikvision’s help, and the help of French distributor ITESA.

Challenge

The BMW reseller wanted a standalone system to streamline their security operation. Originally they used a night security agent, which was a costly solution. They needed to be able to integrate the security solution into a thrid party monitoring system, managed by Securitas, in order to reduce manpower costs.

The site posed a number of technical challenges. The team also needed to counter some crafty thinking from intruders, who were even resorting to hiding underneath cars during the day, when they can slip in unnoticed. They then could wander around the closed garage, avoiding detection by perimeter protection systems activated only at night. This meant the solution needed to focus on providing real-time, active image at night.

With a lot of flags flying on the site, false alarms were a particular issue – these would set them off regularly. The complexity of the site also gave a lot of potential for false alarms, which needed to be minimized to reduce overall costs.

Solution

The solution was made up from Hikvision products, providing a converged system, with seamless monitoring.

Central to the system was Hikvision’s Security Radar (DS-PR1-60) for intrusion detection at night. The Radar has a large coverage area, and performs excellently at night, whatever the weather. This means that false alarms are kept to a minimum. Radar has the added benefit that it can position humans and vehicles on a map, making it very useful for tracking purposes.

This is where the DarkFighter IR Network Speed Dome PTZ camera (DS-2DF8225IX-AEL) comes in. The radar cameras are linked with this for auto tracking. If an event is detected, the control center automatically receives an alarm and can use the PTZ’s auto-tracking function to track any intruders. DarkFighter cameras are also designed to excel at night, so are ideal for this solution.

Although radar has promising accuracy rates, the team needed to carefully configure it. The site environment proved a complex installation, with a lot of metal that can cause false alarms for the radar. The local team drafted in expertise from Hikvision HQ’s R&D and technical teams to complete the installation to a high quality and low false alarm rate.

The system is coordinated using a AcuSensecamera (DS-2CD2686G2-IZS AcuSense 4K NVR (DS-7716NXI-I4) and a POE Switch (DS-3E0510P-E). Finally, HikCentral provides a user-friendly VMS experience, designed especially to integrate all the different Hikvision products, to make a seamless security solution.

Christophe Chamand, from Faurie Telecom, says: “We were very satisfied with the innovative products and onsite service provided by the Hikvision team. From presales and order to technical support and aftersales service, Hikvision has been with us throughout the process, ensuring a successful installation and a happy customer.”

With an innovative, converged security solution, BMW has been able to streamline its security, even at night. So intruders sneaking in and hiding during the day are out of luck….