Videonetics Unified Solution ensures 24x7 surveillance of the guests and artifacts at Kolkata’s Cultural & Research Institute

Inaugurated in 2012, the government of West Bengal had taken an initiative to build a Cultural & Research Institute to commemorate the birth anniversary of Bengal’s polymath, known as the Bard of Bengal, globally. Spread over an area of 4.89 acres, the institute is in the heart of New Town with facilities including an auditorium, art gallery, exhibition hall, mini cinema hall and music room. Every year, thousands of guest tour exhibits, attend cultural programmes, enjoy movies, and view artifacts.

Incident management

While the Cultural & Research Institute had delegated personnel to keep a watch on the premises, manning the expansive property proved to be time-consuming and inefficient. For security team, round-the-clock security preparedness at the location was crucial and ensuring the safety and security of the guests was quite a challenge.

The management wanted to build a unified solution, aiming to not only deliver 24x7 surveillance but also empower the on-ground team to manage incidents proactively. Specially, they were facing the conflicting dilemma of keeping priceless objects safe yet allowing millions of visitors a chance to see them.

Intelligent VMS

After analysing the requirements, the Videonetics team conducted a detailed survey of the property along with the system integrator for the project, Prakash Electricals, to draw out a comprehensive plan for the campus. The state-of-the-art Videonetics unified solution combining Intelligent VMS and Intelligent Video Analytics coupled with IP cameras were chosen to address the unique needs of specific areas.

• Videonetics Intelligent VMS helps in recording and viewing 25+ cameras throughout the property including gated entrance, open-air pavilion, fountain park, art gallery, auditorium, passages, server room to name a few.
• The institute wanted a video analytics solution that could help with protecting valuable artifacts in the art gallery. The art gallery is secured with a virtual and invisible protective barrier called Artifact Protection. If an individual breaches this perimeter, in an attempt to touch or steal an artwork/paintings, an alarm is triggered and immediately received both in the centralised location as well as by the security personnel on their mobile devices, allowing them to react and take action quickly.
• During the survey, some of the vulnerable areas were identified where Videonetics deployed Zone Monitoring as part of the unified solution. The zone monitoring was required at the entrance, operators’ room, art gallery, park space, to detect when a person stays beyond a certain duration in a user-marked zone.

Monitored facility

The Cultural & Research Institute has been very successful in promoting an open and secured environment where guests and staff could move freely throughout the premises while keeping an eye on strategic locations and limiting access to more sensitive areas such as management offices, cash handling office and crossing barrier near to precious artifacts.

Today, incidents are rare at the institute; but if something happens, the team is ready. The security team is alerted in real-time to any irregularities within the site, including tampering with the exhibits and entry into the restricted access zones. From the start of the tour, visitors become aware that they are in a secured and monitored facility. 

“As we looked to address a variety of surveillance challenges, we were assured to have Videonetics on board to exceed customer’s expectations, in terms of intuitive functionalities, open architecture and accuracy. With Videonetics team, we have successfully provided a right balance between securing the people and protecting assets, to the institute,” expressed, Ujjwal Kumar Dey, Partner, Prakash Electricals.