Education security applications - Case studies

One of India's most premier educational institutions, IIT Delhi, is sprawled over 325 acres of land. It houses classrooms, department buildings, laboratories, libraries, recreational zones, and residential areas for students, faculty, and other staff, among other things. Need for an intelligent surveillance system As expansive and beautifully landscaped the institute is, it presented a massive security challenge. Until now, its measures were limited to the campus being physically manned by sec...

A host of industry-pioneering fire protection solutions from UK manufacturer, Advanced, have been installed to protect approximately 140,000 sq ft of Grade A office space at Westferry House, Canary Wharf. As a cornerstone office building situated at the western gateway to Europe’s largest and most successful business district, Westferry House consists of 11 storeys, complete with its retail promenade on the ground floor. At the core of the active fire protection for the building are six A...

Here East is an innovation and technology campus located at the heart of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, UK. Once the Press and Broadcast Centre for the 2012 Olympic Games, it is home to a thriving community of over 4,500 creative, academics, and innovators. Designed as a mini-city, the campus is a mixed-use development that houses offices, retail units, university facilities, cultural exhibitions, and public spaces. Notable tenants include BT Sport, the V&A Museum, Sports Interacti...

Four out of every five (82%) of existing CCTV and video monitoring systems are set to be extended to help keep schools and colleges ‘COVID Safe’, found a new education sector study of 91 education organisations based in the UK, US, Sweden, and Norway, carried out by video security as a service (VSaaS) provider AVA Security in March 2021. Many schools and colleges have already adapted their video monitoring systems to support COVID safety measures. For example, half (50%) of all thos...

With 4,500 card readers installed across 55 university buildings, Aalborg University in Denmark is G4S’s biggest integrated access control implementation in Europe. G4S access control system What started out as a simple security contract, providing a handful of officers at two university buildings, nearly 25 years ago, has grown into G4S’s biggest integrated access control implementation in Europe. Aalborg University, founded in 1974, is Denmark’s fourth-largest higher educa...

Columbia University's College of Dental Medicine (CDM), one of the top dental schools in the U.S., is establishing itself as a leader in the use of RFID technology to drive compliance. The school launched the RFID project in response to a change in the way it managed dental instruments. Previously, students purchased their own dental instruments and were responsible for making sure each cassette (or dental instrument set) was complete and properly sterilised. Recently, the college transitioned...

Warwickshire College is one of the largest colleges of further and higher education in the Midlands region. Spread over six centres with 1,700 staff and 18,500 students needing support for both administration and learning facilities, Warwickshire College Information Services has a significant number of IT assets that have to be controlled across multiple sites. Challenges with IT asset management It has the twin problems of controlling the IT assets used by its administrative staff and those...

The 18-month pilot project at Rigshospitalet hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, shows that tracking surgical instruments with RFID could save the hospital 31,000 hours a year in operating room procedures alone while also improving patient safety and providing additional time saving and infection control benefits during sterilisation and other processes. Dr. Henrik Eriksen, project director for the RFID trial, announced the results last month during a press conference in Copenhagen. Implementing...

With school starting this month, cybercriminals are back in action, targeting university students in an attempt to steal valuable personal information. In a recent attack, uncovered by Abnormal Security, a credential phishing attacker used a legitimate email account and created false urgency, in order to steal student credentials, through a phishing website. Credential phishing attack In this attack, cybercriminals used the real university email of a person on the ‘Student Services Team&...

Dahua Technology, a video-centric smart IoT solution and service provider has partnered with the Spanish ITCL Technology Centre for the development of the WorkingAge project. The project studies and promotes healthy habits in working environments focusing on people aged over 45. WorkingAge is funded by the European Commission with a €4 million budget over 3 years and will run until the beginning of 2022. ITCL is the coordinator of a consortium of 12 partners including the University of Cam...

Embracing the benefits of touchless access using smartphones, Vanderbilt University expanded its investment into campus safety and security, by leveraging HID Mobile Access to deploy campus IDs on iPhone and Apple Watch via Apple Wallet. The enhancement builds upon the university’s initial investment in mobile-enabled technologies from HID Global. These technologies capitalised on the ubiquitous nature of smartphones and mobile devices among students, 90 percent of whom reside on campus t...

Retrofitting modern security to old or protected heritage buildings used to be an installer’s nightmare. Wiring could be complex, with damage to ancient architecture or door hardware a constant risk. Now, wireless access control devices that match the protection and durability of wired technology, have made it straightforward. For a facilities manager, the security remit for any building or space is broadly the same. People and assets must be kept safe. Access to the most sensitive areas...

Highland Community College’s mission is to meet the needs of the Greater Northwest Illinois community through quality educational and cultural programs. The College serves thousands of students at its Freeport campus and satellite locations throughout the district. The institution offers comprehensive academic programming with over 60 degrees and certificates. Addressing challenges  On any given day, thousands of students and hundreds of instructors can be on campus at Highland Com...

Videoloft is bolstering its presence in the United States by hiring new U.S.-based sales staff and integrating with established brands in the US market, including Digital Watchdog, exacqVision, Vivotek, and Lorex.  Cloud surveillance systems Videoloft focuses on transforming traditional professional surveillance systems into cloud-connected solutions via the Videoloft Cloud Adapter. The company was born from the innovative technology created for the Manything app in 2012, which turned ol...

ISONAS Inc., a globally renowned IP access control and hardware solution provider, and part of the Allegion family of brands, has announced that the ISONAS Pure IP access control solution has been deployed at a school district in the southwest suburb of Chicago. With six buildings within the district, they wanted to be able to manage access at all buildings on one unified platform.  Remote access The school district had three main priorities for the upgrade, which included controlling the...

Qognify has announced that VisionHub is being trusted and relied upon by six departments at the University of Vermont - one of the oldest universities in the U.S. The VMS+ is fully integrated and operational across the University’s on-campus install base of 459 video channels (predominantly AXIS IP cameras) and CBORD’s CS Access system. It has been instrumental in helping to reduce unnecessary on-site attendance, as part of the University’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic....

Gujarat Medical and Education Research Society is an initiative taken up by the State Government of Gujarat to improve the Human Development Index in the state by establishing new medical colleges. This, in turn, will increase the availability of qualified doctors and ensure the spread of health care services and medical knowledge. GMERS Ahmedabad is also one such initiative. Spread across five buildings, the campus has a hospital setup with a capacity of 720 beds. Challenge faced Centralised...

Remark Holdings, Inc., a global technology company with leading artificial intelligence ("AI") solutions and digital media properties announced that its KanKan AI business has installed its Smart Campus system in more than 200 elementary and secondary schools in China. The system allows for seamless attendance management, epidemic prevention and control, energy management, campus access control, and notification of risky behaviors.  Smart Campus system During the ongoing battle with COVI...

When UK families require assistance while caring for a loved one, they often turn to Bupa. This well-respected healthcare organisation offers residential and nursing care at over 120 homes and ten retirement villages. With its residents among the most vulnerable to COVID-19, Bupa knew it needed a way to quickly identify any ill staff members to keep residents safe. A Blue Prism digital workforce came on board to help. In fact, Bupa’s intelligent automation program was so impactful, i...

Michigan State University (MSU) was founded over 150 years ago. Today, over 10,000 academic and support staff serve more than 50,000 students. MSU was ranked by Times Higher Education as one of the top 100 universities in the world, and the top 8% of universities in the United States. To continue its commitment to world-class education, the university decided it was time to modernise its communication capabilities. MSU was relying on an outdated analog communication system that could no longer...

The Catholic School District oversees 160 Catholic schools and administrative buildings in its geographic region, supporting over 80,000 students with more than 5,000 teachers and support staff. The organisation relied on several outdated analog communications systems across the 160 locations that were end-of-life and becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to manage. The district wanted to modernise IP and standardise communication across all sites to improve efficiency and access modern...

Located just 25 miles south of Richmond, Virginia, the municipality of Dinwiddie County serves nearly 25,000 constituents. The local government needed to modernise communication in the buildings that several departments worked out of, including Law Enforcement, the Board of Education, Parks & Recreation, and the Health Department. Challenge to install IP solution County administrators wanted to move approximately 160 users across multiple locations to an IP unified communications solution...

The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) advises the world on the latest information and data regarding cancer prevention. The organisation funds research on the relationship of nutrition, physical activity, and weight management to cancer risk. AICR then educates people worldwide about choices they can make to reduce their chances of developing cancer. Challenge to install IP voice solution Forward-thinking puts the American Institute for Cancer Research on the leading edge of cance...

McKinney ISD relied on an aging analogue phone system that was out-of-date, end-of-life, and no longer supported. The school district wanted to upgrade to an IP communication solution across 37 separate buildings. The school board already had a Fibre backbone that connected each of the buildings. However, the IP devices would also need power, meaning every classroom would require an MDF closet. This solution was not viable due to high costs, network complexity, network security, and safety conc...

82% of schools and colleges in both the US and Northern Europe see a potential role for CCTV/video monitoring systems in supporting a safe return to face-to-face teaching in school buildings and across further education college campuses, following the pandemic. Many schools and colleges have already adapted their video monitoring systems. For example, half (50%) of all those in charge of these systems had already adapted their existing video systems to help manage social distancing. A further 3...

FLIR Systems, Inc. announced it has won a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to rapidly develop novel fabrics with embedded catalysts and chemistries that can fight and reduce chemical and biological threats upon contact. The revolutionary fabrics will be incorporated into protective suits and other equipment such as boots, gloves, and eye protection that can be worn by troops on the battlefield, medical experts, healthcare workers, and more. FLIR received $11....