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Security on the right track

MTN Business was recently approached by one of its customers, a major South African railway company, who identified a key business challenge.

The company's need was to monitor its trains in order to minimise crime and improve security. Unfortunately, due to the trains being in constant motion, accessing onboard video footage remotely proved to be a difficult task. The main customer requirement was the ability for the system to deliver a reliable live video feed from a moving train over the Internet. Additionally, the system needed to meet the operational requirements, which included `always-on' full video access in realtime (sub three-second latency). Due to MTN's pervasive broadband coverage along the rail link, the network's mobile data solution proved to be ideal.

MTN Business, in conjunction with Graphic Image Technologies (GIT) presented SerVision CCTV Mobile Video as the solution for live streaming from the moving trains. MTN Business and the customer piloted the concept on the rail link in order to review the capability of delivering live video from a moving train. To test the link, an IVG400 mobile video recorder was provided to MTN Business by GIT. The system was installed on a train and tested for streaming while in motion. The proposed system was found to deliver good quality, reliable GPRS video streaming along the rail link and the network-based CCTV cameras performed very well.

Growth in the mobile data market in the past few years has proven beneficial, especially in view of pricing coming down and network capacity growing exponentially. One of the key customer benefits of this growth is the ability to receive live video over mobile networks (GPRS, Edge, 3G and HSDPA) cost effectively and with minimal complications.

"The IVG400 mobile DVR from GIT was the ideal device to utilise for this customer's requirements. Its ruggedised construction and its ability to stream four frames per second at 8 Kbits/second allows MTN Business to reliably stream live video coverage over our network," says Sean Moore, MTN Business solution consultant.

"This solution, engineered by MTN Business, proved to be a new challenge for our equipment. Their reliable broadband allowed us to test our devices' capabilities to the limit. Excellent video recordings were obtained remotely and the system performed well, 24/7," says Mark Chertkow managing director of GIT.

With the successful completion of this pilot programme, MTN Business' customer will be taking its safety and security strategy to the next level.

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