MOBOTIX Corp. and Pivot3 Technologies Help Municipality of Anchorage Streamline Investigations, Boost Safety

Surveillance helps police investigations; changes perception of safety of area transit

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MOBOTIX Corp., an industry-leading provider of high-resolution, network-based security solutions, and Pivot3, the leading provider of converged storage and compute appliances in the surveillance market, today announced the Municipality of Anchorage has deployed a comprehensive surveillance system at the Anchorage Downtown Bus Transit Center. The Anchorage Department of Public Transportation is using the MOBOTIX cameras and Pivot3 appliances to hasten police investigations, increase operational efficiency and maintain video for compliance and investigations.

“The cost efficiencies delivered by MOBOTIX’s decentralized approach to surveillance technology makes it a perfect solution for a local government on a budget and bundling MxControlCenter with the purchase of our cameras further enhances the end user’s ROI”

The downtown transit center, the main cog in a 14-route bus system that attracts about 3,000 riders per day, installed 29 MOBOTIX cameras and Pivot3 appliances that allow it to store 24 days of video to quickly tap into recorded footage if an incident occurs. The focus on video to enhance safety is part of an effort to change Anchorage’s collective attitude toward public transportation and increase ridership. The video system is also being considered for purposes beyond security to help the department track rider counts and gauge the timing and efficiency of their busses.

“Public transportation can have an image problem,” said Lance Wilber, Director, Public Transportation Department, Municipality of Anchorage. “The security technology we’ve adapted helps improve that image. The environment at the center is noticeably more positive and overall, passengers are much more comfortable.”

The MOBOTIX cameras provide a high level of video quality through its use of megapixel sensors. One MOBOTIX camera with 3.1 megapixels records 30 times more detail than traditional CCTV cameras. As a result, larger image areas of up to 360-degree views are possible, which reduces the number of cameras needed in any environment and, therefore, upfront and long-term costs. Most importantly, as a local government on a small budget, the transit center was able to get more features than anticipated through deploying MxControlCenter, professional video management software that connects any number of cameras at any location with centralized or local, user-based operation and evaluation, as it is included with the MOBOTIX cameras at no additional charge.

“The cost efficiencies delivered by MOBOTIX’s decentralized approach to surveillance technology makes it a perfect solution for a local government on a budget and bundling MxControlCenter with the purchase of our cameras further enhances the end user’s ROI,” said Steve Gorski, General Manager, Americas, MOBOTIX. “It is nice to see the cost efficiencies of our surveillance solutions helping change the perception of public transportation.”

The amount of storage capacity required by surveillance video is a major budget item in a surveillance installation since cameras, especially megapixel cameras, can generate up to 1TB of data in one day. The Pivot3 Serverless Computing™ appliances reduce cost by consolidating server and shared storage functionality in a common appliance, and provide application failover that protects both storage and VMS applications in the event of a failure. The robust storage capacity allows the Department of Public Transportation to access footage of a reported crime and submit the evidence to police to enhance and hasten the investigation.

“Pivot3 appliances make it remarkably easy for users to expand their storage capacity,” said Lee Caswell, Founder and CSO, Pivot3. “This reduces the pressure to precisely calculate the storage they will need by leaving the system open for later expansion and reduces upfront costs.”

About Pivot3

Pivot3 was founded in 2003 on the idea that today's stack of servers, storage and networks could be radically simplified, consolidated and cost-reduced. The company has over 600 customers across the globe deploying the Pivot3 storage and compute STAC™. Pivot3 products are deployed in the data protection, digital surveillance and rich media markets and have seen particular success in the public sector, transportation, education and retail vertical segments. The company has won numerous awards and was most recently selected by the Wall Street Journal for the prestigious "2011 Next Big Thing" category. To learn more about Pivot3, visit www.pivot3.com.

About MOBOTIX

MOBOTIX is a software company with in-house hardware development in the area of digital, high-resolution and network-based video security solutions. The company focuses on the development of user-friendly complete system solutions from a single source. The publicly-traded company with headquarters in Langmeil, Germany, is known as the leading pioneer in network camera technology since its foundation in 1999 and its decentralized concept has also made high-resolution video systems cost-efficient. From 2010 onwards, MOBOTIX will extend its product range to include intelligent home automation products that are developed in-house. Whether in embassies, airports, railway stations, ports, gas stations, hotels or highways, over one hundred thousand MOBOTIX video systems have been in operation on every continent for years.