Maximising Multi-Site Surveillance

Sweden-based Casino Cosmopol, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AB Svenska Spel, has upgraded its surveillance with an integrated solution from Synectics to streamline security and gaming table management across four separate sites.

Supporting its IP migration strategy – with the chain of casinos set to become fully IP by December 2018 – the Synergy command and control platform enables 24/7 centralised management of over 1,300 third-party cameras and access control systems from a command centre in Solna.

Building on a ten-year partnership

Ted Nilsson, Assistant Surveillance Manager at Casino Cosmopol, said: “In a typical year, we welcome over one million guests through our doors – last year from more than 80 different countries. Our casinos are renowned international leisure destinations, and as such, we need to ensure we have a constant overview of activity to provide a safe, secure, and high-quality gaming experience for our customers.

“For over ten years, Synectics has been helping us do that, previously with Synergy Pro. But with our changing IP needs and a move to centralised monitoring and evidence management, we knew that upgrading to Synergy would deliver in line with the progression path we had set in motion. Having visited a Synectics Synergy 3 site in Las Vegas to see first-hand how the upgrade would benefit our business, we asked them to design a command and control solution tailored to meet our specific and evolving needs.”

Customised views, maximised mapping

The end-to-end solution developed by Synectics gives security managers at each site 24/7 access to camera footage to support day-to-day operations and decision-making, while the overarching camera, access, and alarm management sit with the 20-strong surveillance team in the Solna command centre.

Integrated GIS mapping capabilities afford operators in Solna a real-time, precise picture of gaming table activity, high foot-traffic zones, and other critical areas across casinos located in Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö, and Sundsvall.

“The mapping in Synergy is a major step forward for us. As well as the ability to swiftly display a wide range of locational data, the intuitive field-of-view switching enables advanced person-of-interest tracking across sites. It’s a great advantage.”

“There’s also another distinct benefit with Synergy’s dynamic mapping. Delivering the highest quality guest experience consistently means keeping things fresh and exciting, which often involves changing the layout or aspects of the gaming and hospitality environments we offer. Therefore, the solution had to be as adaptable as we are, and the mapping functionality is just one example of this flexibility.”

Customisable display views, which can be tailored to individual operator preferences and task allocation, ensure the central surveillance team has a wealth of glanceable data at their fingertips. “This is a really popular feature,” continued Ted, “as it means that operators aren't losing valuable time searching for information. Instead, the data required is presented to them how and when they want it.”

Open integration for tailored specifications

Another crucial feature of the Synergy upgrade is the level and scope of integration made possible for Casino Cosmopol, taking advantage of a wide range of ONVIF-compliant cameras (including IP, HD, megapixel, fisheye, and multisensor). Because it is an open-architecture solution, Synergy leverages Casino Cosmopol’s preferred IT platforms, such as Hewlett Packard (HP) servers and workstations, incorporating Dell EMC VMWare virtualization, with the Synergy database hosted on Microsoft SQL Server.

David Aindow, Product and Technology Director at Synectics, said: “Being able to utilise third-party technology and existing IT infrastructure has delivered significant benefits to Casino Cosmopol. This versatility, in terms of the devices and systems chosen, has ensured that the most appropriate equipment is specified. During the design phase, careful consideration was taken to ensure legacy investment is maximised without compromising future migration plans and the adoption of new technology.”

“By deploying Synergy across existing hardware, both the surveillance operators and maintenance teams have the added comfort of familiarity while still gaining the benefits of the complete situational awareness Synergy can deliver.”

Reliable, solutions-focused support

With multiple levels of redundancy and resilience, including real-time data replication and hardware failover, the Synergy-driven solution eliminates the threat of data loss or a single point of network failure. While an essential requirement of the upgrade brief for the government-owned operator, the peace of mind provided is reflective of a broader focus on problem-solving.

“I don’t want to lose sleep at night worrying about potential problems, and working with Synectics, I don’t have to. Ever since we first started working together, I’ve felt looked after. The team has always worked hard to understand our specific needs and develop practical solutions to tackle the challenges we face.”

“It’s all about receiving the right support. And that doesn’t stop with the technology. As part of our Synergy upgrade, our operators have all received bespoke training to make sure we get the most out of all the features and capabilities the solution offers. We chose to upgrade to Synergy because it met all our requirements for centralised command and customisable control. We also knew Synectics would deliver on their promises and exceed our expectations.”

Synectics’ end-to-end integrated security and surveillance solutions now monitor and manage more than 100,000 channels in over 100 of the largest, busiest, and most tightly regulated casinos in Asia, North America, and Europe.

With our changing IP needs and a move to centralised monitoring and evidence management, we knew that upgrading to Synergy would deliver."

Ted Nilsson, Assistant Surveillance Manager, Casino Cosmopol