“ We ’ re family-owned and operated , doing business against multinational conglomerates with tens of thousands of vehicles ,” says Christopher Dean , son of Kellie Dean and business intelligence and analytics coordinator of Dean Transportation “ We ’ re proud of the personal service we provide our customers .”
Dean Transportation constantly monitors new developments with regards to site surveillance and on-board vehicle technologies . In an effort to learn more about new advancements with these technologies , Dean started to research and learn about systems with real-time onboard surveillance capabilities , system status dashboards , and open development platforms .
“ We transport more than 60,000 students daily , so having to physically touch a camera ’ s hard-drive in order to review footage is becoming more and more difficult ,” Dean says . “ In case of emergency , we may need to see what ’ s happening in real-time and we need to know that our systems are functioning properly .”
Dean Transportation began making inroads with Arete Technology , located in nearby Grand Rapids . Arete ’ s expertise is in cellular technology , internet services , asset management and video technology .
Through an on-site consultation , Arete conducted an analysis of Dean Transportation ’ s requirements .
“ Dean Transportation needed IP ( Internet Protocol ) cameras rated specifically for vehicles ,” says Mitch Kimball , founder of Arete Technology . “ Furthermore , we needed to ensure that they received cameras which would display the high-resolution video and audio they required , paired with our cellular connectivity to exchange all of that information .”
Kimball says the obvious choice for Dean Transportation was Axis Communications , a manufacturer of network cameras , video encoders and video management software with a specialization in transportation . Axis is a world-leading provider of network video solutions for professional installations , and the company invented the original IP camera in 1996 .
“ Arete explained their relationship with Dean Transportation , and we showed them what we can offer in terms of onboard video ,” says E . Anthony Incorvati , business development , transportation at Axis Communications . “ It resonated well , because of the Arete team ’ s communications & cellular background , so they proposed our system to Dean .”
Trialing the Axis system
Arete Technology and Axis Communications proposed upgrading all of Dean Transportation ’ s on-site security with Axis cameras . As part of that , the three companies embarked on a product trial on five school buses and one motorcoach .
Christopher Dean says he was immediately cognizant of the scope and expertise of the Axis organization .
“ Before connecting with them on this trial , I did not know much at all about Axis Communications ,” he says . “ As I learned more about them , I realized they are a major player in the site-security industry .”
“ We always want to do our due diligence and make sure we ' re utilizing the best technology available ,” he continues . “ We ' re always analyzing our operations to make sure we ' re using technology to the best of our ability . We saw Axis ’ s advancements in hardware and software and thought , ‘ How can we use this to increase the safety onboard our vehicles and at our facilities ?’”
Axis manufactures purpose-built IP cameras for onboard environments , drawing from experience all the way back to its first IP camera .
“ I like to call IP cameras ‘ computers with lenses ’,” Incorvati says . “ The CPU processing power of IP cameras has grown over the years , in the same way any computer ’ s power has grown since the technology ’ s inception .”
That increased processing power , Incorvati says , has enabled several advancements in video surveillance – increased image quality , better performance in low-light , back-light and blinding-light conditions ,
to name a few – but none more important than the advent of open architecture in video surveillance .
Open architecture refers to an open platform in which Axis calls theirs the Axis Camera Application Platform ( ACAP ). With this open platform , the camera essentially becomes the server that can support and run in camera application . With Axis , as Incorvati puts it , it means “ we create an open and easy platform that allows for third-party application developers to create “ apps ” which run on the camera … almost like how apps would run on your smartphone ”
For this Field Test , Arete led an implementation that included Axis cameras and a software platform called Observit C3 ( Camera Connected Cluster ). This trial represented North America ’ s first deployment of the Observit platform . Observit is a long-time Axis Application Development Partner that has always specialized in the onboard video management environment . However , and more recently , Observit have taken their NVR / server-based software approach and has developed C3 – which is an in-camera , server-less and cloud-based approach
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