Peniscola, Spain Deploys Wireless Video Surveillance Network

Firetide Inc. and AWA, the largest Spanish operator of Wireless LANs, has completed a wireless video surveillance deployment in the city of Peniscola, Spain. The Mediterranean city is using Firetide's HotPort mesh network to enable network surveillance cameras to operate wirelessly for remote monitoring of suspicious activity during busy tourist seasons. With the new system, police officials can monitor more locations to minimize vandalism, pilfering and congestion without adding more police officers or overburdening the municipal budget.

"As with many tourist destinations, security is imperative to assure that people have a good visit and will return to our city," said police inspector Jose Antonio Soriano. "Our goal was to incorporate a non-intrusive technology that allowed us to effectively increase our police presence without the need to hire seasonal and inexperienced staff for more patrols. Firetide's secure wireless solution met both our needs to preserve our town's charm and extend our monitoring capabilities to keep travelers and our citizens safe."

Firetide's mesh provides public safety officials the ability to monitor multiple locations around the clock from a central monitoring station. Consequently, adding additional officers for surveillance work was no longer required during the tourist season, saving time and money for the police department. The wireless mesh infrastructure also eliminated the need for the city to install expensive and unsightly video cabling for the cameras.

Firetide's partner AWA, a wireless telecommunications provider in Mexico and Spain, referred Peniscola police officials to Firetide after conducting positive tests for reliability and performance in other cities. Santiago Arenos, chief technical officer for AWA said: "Firetide exceeded our expectations for security, performance and usability. The mesh network automatically forms and heals itself so it is very easy to install and extremely reliable. And because the mesh can operate around large obstacles or inside moving vehicles, we can install our cameras in locations that other wireless solutions cannot reach."

"We are seeing a growing global demand for secure and robust wireless networks for video surveillance as well as other networked applications," said Bo Larsson, CEO of Firetide. "With our ability to deliver high bandwidth and mobility with very low latency or delays, Firetide's wireless mesh networks are a reliable choice for cities that need video, voice as well as public safety communications and public Internet access. Our network is also very scalable, so the city of Peniscola can easily add more services and coverage at any time without disrupting or replacing their existing network."