Devices
Anchor Group Services: Reconeyez Tower Case Study
Background
Our client approached us with a specific risk they needed a solution for. Our client had recently taken on a contract where a high number of valuable assets would be stored outside in an area where no mains fed power or permanent communication links would be available. Traditionally in such a scenario the client would have deployed security officers to protect and patrol the area 24 hours a day, 365 days a week but our client was looking for a more cost effective solution to provide protection to these assets outside normal working hours.
The customer sites are located in rural areas with very limited mains power and communications available to them. Any solution that we considered needed to be self-powered and utilise 4/5G communications to send alerts back to our control room.
The key criteria
The key criteria we considered when selecting an appropriate solution were that we needed something that would be relatively low maintenance, hence why we chose solar-powered devices with additional battery extenders to minimise and hopefully eliminate the need to revisit the sites and replace batteries. We also wanted something that was more portable that traditional towers due to the number of towers we planned to deploy and also that the client had explained the layout of the site may change and we needed to be able to easily reconfigure the towers as required. Having worked with Reconeyez previously, we knew how easy the detection is to setup so our intention is to provide training to the client to enable them to make simple changes as needed, avoiding additional call out charges.
An added value was our ability to provide the on site security teams, access to the Reconeyez portal and mobile app so that they also had the ability to monitor alerts from these isolated areas, reducing their need to carry out patrols of the protected area.
The considered alternatives
We did consider a number of other alternatives, including battery-powered CCTV cameras with built-in 4G routers. Using traditional CCTV cameras over 4G did have a number of advantages over the Reconeyez solution, including the ability to view video streams in real-time, but when we factored in that each camera would require a 4G SIM card and due to the number of cameras that would be needed the annual air-time costs would have increased by over £5000 per annum. When we factored this in and discussed the options with the client, we felt that the Reconeyez tower solution was more suitable and flexible to their requirements.
It took us only 45 minutes to fully assemble, test, and commission each tower
The first tower that we assembled took around 2 hours. We gained more experience with each tower we assembled until we got to a point where it took us around 45 minutes to fully assemble, test, and commission each tower. In total, we deployed 14 towers at two separate locations.
Measurable results
Our deployment of this solution has enabled the client to reduce their security hours by around 168 hours per week, saving them in excess of £100,000 a year in resource costs.
More opportunities
By having towers on our portfolio, it has enabled us to look at opportunities we would have previously struggled with, particularly in large open compounds where mounting options are very limited. Due to the portability of the towers, it also means that we can easily deploy multiple towers without the need to have to consider our transportation methods carefully.
