Located roughly 80 kilometres north of Oslo, Vikersund is one of the world’s most famous and largest ski flying arenas. It consists of one large jumping hill that regularly hosts world championships and eight smaller hills for training. Several world records have been set here. Just in time for a new world championship, Konica Minolta supported the organisation in updating its security camera systems for the entire vast area, including the arenas, audience area and parking spaces – ensuring the highest level of safety for all participants.
Installing an up-to-date, reliable and comprehensive security camera system for an area as vast as the ski flying hill area in Vikersund is a demanding task in itself – covering the entire premises, including the arena, the public viewing areas and parking spaces. Having to get the system up and running and fully functional for an international championship in just under six weeks after the initial meeting – that is quite a challenge. Yet, it was a challenge Konica Minolta was able to meet.
Vikersund’s IT department had already been a satisfied long-term Konica Minolta customer utilising the provider’s printing solutions.
“When Konica Minolta’s key account manager came to us and informed us that they might also be able to support us with bringing our camera surveillance system up to date, I was immediately interested in learning what they could provide,” said Vikersund’s Department Manager Arena/IT Bjørn Henning Jahren. One meeting and a thorough site visit with Konica Minolta’s Business Development Manager for the Mobotix solutions later, the project and its scope were defined: updating the existing security system in time for the next world championship and integrating the pre-existing third-party cameras into it.
“We were impressed by Konica Minolta’s thorough analysis, recommended solution and service level. Without hesitation, they accepted the incredibly challenging timing and the project quickly took shape. The installation was not even interrupted by large amounts of snow from a snow storm in the night before the set-up of the hardware,” Jahren remembered. To ensure optimal all-round monitoring of all areas with highest image quality, Konica Minolta set up six Mobotix Move SpeedDome 340 pan-tilt-zoom cameras. With their 40x zoom as well as 360° horizontal and vertical manoeuvrability, these devices are ideal for covering large grounds as well as zooming in on large crowds to identify and analyse potential irregularities. Their IR light feature makes monitoring possible even in complete darkness, and their robust construction ensures their uncompromised operability even in harsh weather conditions of down to -40°C.
Utilising the existing cabling, as agreed with the customer, all cameras are connected to a 4 TB Mobotix Raid 10, 4-bay/16 channel data storage system, including the pre-existing cameras. With this Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, the 24/7 storage of all recordings throughout entire events is possible. At the same time, this NAS system ensures uninterrupted availability, as the hard drives are hot swappable in case one suffers a device failure. For the monitoring room, Konica Minolta installed a six-display virtual management system providing an optimal overview of the entire premises. The Mobotix MxMC system set up also allows for faster and more intuitive control of the cameras. Unlike other systems, they are not steered with arrow keys on the monitor but with the mouse in the image, making it possible to track moving objects more easily.
Within just six weeks of our first meeting, Konica Minolta was able to set up a security camera system that not only met our requirements to the full, but also surpassed them, particularly with regard to the seamless operation, the quality of the images and cost control of the system
Bjørn Henning Jahren
Department Manager Arena/IT Vikersund, Norway
“The image resolution and picture quality were a huge improvement, making an entirely new detail level of monitoring possible for us,” said Jahren. With regard to another advantage and additional important reason for choosing Konica Minolta, Jahren explained, “Licensing can be a troublesome issue with security systems: in many cases there are additional fees when new cameras or users are connected. In some cases, adding a further user can entail a shift to an entirely new, larger licence package
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