Cisco Premier Partner Clare Computer Solutions Deploys Groundbreaking Wireless Video Project for City of Brentwood

August 1, 2005

By Cindy McDowell, News@Cisco

The City of Brentwood, California is located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's home to 40,000 citizens, and it's growing fast. Lieutenant Kevin King, of the city's police department, wanted to embark on a fairly revolutionary IT project for law enforcement: provide live, wireless video feed from selected 'high risk' establishments directly to monitors installed inside police cars. It chose Cisco Premier Partner Clare Computer Solutions, with its specializations in Wireless LAN/WAN, to design and deploy this critical new program.

"This was a new and very groundbreaking program for the city," says King. "My department is trying to impose certain conditions on businesses, and if the vendor didn't come through in this new pilot program, we would lose credibility and risk the entire project stalling."

Based in San Ramon, California, in San Francisco's East Bay Area, Clare Computer Solutions has provided high quality network services since 1990, and has installed more than 1,100 multi-user networks.

"The key to our success is keeping our customer first," says John Isaac, vice president of sales for Clare Computer Solutions. "For over fifteen years we have been involved in the planning, design, implementation, optimization and support of networks. We don't simply walk in and just recommend whatever it is we want to sell. We develop solutions to meet the individual needs of our clients. To do that successfully we perform a needs analysis, figure out the best way to address it and present a solution, and we stay within budget, keeping both the short term and the long term goals in mind."

City Taps Clare for Innovative Security Solution

Clare Computer Solutions had already done a number of networking projects for The City of Brentwood, so they were among the first firms to be approached with King's wireless video idea.

"Yun Cho, the IT manager for the City of Brentwood, brought several vendors in so we could do our due diligence and collect a number of presentations and bids," says King. "Credibility was the most important factor to me since this was such a groundbreaking project. Clare brought that credibility in, starting with their proposal process." Clare Computer Solutions won the bid and provided planning, design, implementation, optimization and support for a revolutionary video surveillance and security program for the City of Brentwood.

King modeled the video security project after a similar and successful deployment in the city of Seal Beach in southern California. But while Seal Beach focused its wireless video efforts on banks, King was after a broader reach.

"The city is undergoing tremendous growth right now and I felt this was a real opportunity to ensure that new businesses are conditioned to put video security technology in place," says King. "I want to put the security technology condition in place for those establishments at the highest risk for a police incident." King identified these establishments as 'big box' stores with their high employee turnover, jewelry stores, pharmacies, and high-occupancy retail establishments - the kinds of business where this potential of takeover types of robberies or that rate a high number of after-hours alarms.

"The disgruntled former employee and escalating domestic violence that can happen at a place of work are also areas of real concern for law enforcement," he says. "These kinds of incidents can get ugly fast and we want to give our officers the advantage of having live video so they can see exactly what is happening and know exactly what they're walking in to."

King also wanted the video system to be a positive perception for the retail establishments and for their customers. So Clare Computer Solutions designed the system so that it is primarily alarm-based. While the video is recording all of the time, it is only accessible in the police car or at the station house when there is an actual incident.

Solution Wins Strong Adoption Rate Among New Businesses

Clare Computer Solutions recommended Cisco equipment for a variety of reasons.

"Interoperability with the city's existing Cisco switches and firewalls was certainly a big part of choosing Cisco equipment," says Isaac. "But the management and monitoring capabilities of the Cisco wireless solution, Cisco equipment being what we consider best-in-class, and the Cisco commitment to public safety all factored in as well."

The Clare Computer Solutions team worked closely with Cho and his IT team to map out the deployment strategy. They started by designing a backbone infrastructure on Cisco 1400 series bridges that would canvass the whole city at strategic points. The system monitors all Cisco wireless equipment and reports back on whether equipment is up, down or suffering performance degradation. Additionally, the California Department of Justice has strict guidelines regarding who can access the videos and other critical data, so the wireless setup had to be really secure.

The Clare Computer Solutions team divided the project up into phases.

"We ran into some snags and delays, which are to be expected with almost any deployment," says Isaac. "We worked closely with the city and they bent over backwards to accommodate us." According to King, any delays in the project were not technical in nature, but city-induced.

"We had some problems getting conditions imposed properly and with diligence as far as providing notice to new businesses regarding the video program," he says. "I don't want to impose deadlines on people without notice. So as long as a retailer or business owner is working with us and making forward progress, that's all I can ask."

King says the conditioning of new businesses to the wireless video security system has been subjective.

"It's about a $10,000 investment for a business to get this system installed and running in their space," King says. "While a 'big box' type of store can easily afford this, we don't want to stifle a mom and pop store for whom the investment is a really major consideration." He says that with the help of Cho and the city's IT team along with the Clare Computer Solutions team, he's been able to market the program effectively and has had several businesses sign on.

Cisco Platform Provides Big Picture Visibility

With the system in place and new businesses signing on, King and Cho say that monitoring results tell them the wireless video solution is better than anticipated. The video radius is excellent and King reports that the solution recommended by Clare Computer Solutions has proven itself out.

"Our goal is to implement this program to the degree it becomes a deterrent to criminal activity," says King. "I can't change their behavior, but I can make them want to go someplace else. We already know that the city right next to us, Antioch, is interested in implementing a similar program."

Isaac is not surprised as Clare Computer Solutions' experience delivering solutions for law enforcement allows them to recognize a growing trend.

"People are absolutely looking at wireless video as a way to control crime," says Isaac. "Officer safety is important to everyone because these folks are putting their lives on the line every time they answer a call. And homeland security continues to become more of a concern - many cities want to implement some kind of video solution." And King is pleased with the potential for growth the system provides. He is looking at red-light cameras for video notices of traffic violations at key intersections.

"This system gives us a big picture ability to look at the potential to access and utilize Web-based video from these intersections," says King. "For instance if we get a call about an injury accident at a bad intersection, we can bring up Web-based cameras and actually see how substantial the accident is, how many cars are involved, and if we need someone out there to direct traffic. We are not technical people, but the system allows us to easily think outside the box and envision new applications. Thanks to the vision of the team at Clare, we can look at this as not just a security project, but a global solution."

Cindy McDowell is a freelance journalist located in Santa Cruz, CA.