In business, in retail, every cost and saving, for whatever reason, matters.
Hence a retailer’s use of IP technology, tackling crime and reducing loss.
As Paul Harte, security support manager at retail chain DSG international plc , puts it: “New European standards and insurance driven demands are constantly putting pressure on the retail sector to find better, more efficient ways to achieve security objectives … and if these efficiencies can be achieved at a lower cost, then everyone from the board level down should be happy."
The retailer, formerly Dixons Stores Group, includes names such as Currys, The Link, and PC World. The group has 1,130 sites across the UK and Ireland has harnessed its IP network to relay alarm signalling – thought to be the first retail business in the UK to fully achieve this. Many IT departments have traditionally been reluctant to release their networks to carry IP alarm or CCTV signalling and data, fearing that bandwidth would be eaten up. However, the retail chain reports it has piloted and now fully rolled out the system, and any such fears have proved ill-founded. Anthony King of Kings Security Systems, installers of the technology adds: "Traditional signalling from an alarm or CCTV camera demanded a bespoke line rental with all the associated costs. Multiply these costs by 1,000 plus sites for some retailers, and eliminating them can give cost savings well into the significant six figure region. More than this however, signalling flowing along existing IP networks gives massively improved functionality, clearer picture/voice data et cetera.”
The robustness of the system was proved after the Buncefield oil terminal fire in December 2005. It caused significant damage to DSG international plc’s nearby head office. The system and its contingencies held their integrity. Paul Harte says: “We now have a continuously-polled IP network with GPRS back-up and automatic recourse to digital audio verification in the event of an incident. Alarm monitoring systems that rely on PIN connections alone are no longer adequate, it seems. For me, the IP signalling route has certainly improved our remotely monitored systems in terms of not only security benefits but with added cost saving. Since the completion of this project there have been several instances when all lines to a store have been cut, but the GPRS secondary signalling has notified us of an attack on the store and this detailed information has been passed directly to police." According to the installer, IP signalling amounts to a more secure, reliable and effective alarm and alarm monitoring system. The installer points to the retailer’s cut costs and hard, tangible benefits by use of IP into the in-house alarm monitoring station.
