Ultrak's taking CCTV to the Max

With over six million square feet of office and retail space having been constructed since 1997, and a further eight million square feet of land being developed, the Canary Wharf Estate is home to a massive daily commuter population. Over 45,000 people currently work there – a figure set to double over the next four years.

The Estate's Business Centre comprises no fewer than 14 prestigious office buildings, including (of course) Britain's tallest – the 50-floor One Canada Square. Barclays plc, Credit Suisse First Boston, Morgan Stanley and HSBC are just some of the high profile clients resident on the Estate, which also plays host to the Docklands Light Railway and celebrated Jubilee Line Underground stations.

As you'd imagine, managing security on the site is no small undertaking – not least having to contend with the ongoing threat of political activists. With this in mind (and expansion requirements for the remote set-up of CCTV cameras, telemetry and control of remote devices such as multiplexers and VCRs deemed essential), client Canary Wharf Management has chosen an Ultrak MAX-1000 HD Series matrix system as the cornerstone of its surveillance system management.

At the heart of the operation, the main Control Room features three individual workstations that control over 600 of the site's CCTV cameras (including internal and external Ultrak KD6 domes and other PTZ telemetry receivers).

Using Ultrak's MaxPro graphical interface platform, easy-to-use touch screen control allows each operator to view and assign any camera to any one of the Control Room's 28 colour or individual spot monitors.

Systems installer SDA is currently embarking on ongoing additions to the security infrastructure at Canary Wharf. Within the next five years, the number of cameras expected to be under the control of MaxPro will escalate to around 5,000.