Los Gatos, Calif.-- January 19, 2010 – When Champions Auto Ferry decided to install a wireless video surveillance network, the company had to make sure the system could fulfill their security and monitoring needs even during harsh winter conditions. From mainland Michigan, the ferry is the only way to get to Harsens Island, a vacation destination during the summer and the rest of the year a remote town with less than 2,000 in population located 25 miles northeast of downtown Detroit. Ultimately, the company found the solution that could meet the security demands in such a tough environment in Firetide Inc’s wireless infrastructure mesh networking equipment and VideoIQ cameras.

“Champions Ferry provides transportation to and from Harsens Island across the St. Clair River, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Even the harsh winters and icy waters don’t stop us from operating,” said David Bryson, Champion Ferry owner. 

To better monitor the number of cars being transported on the ferries, and to ensure a safe environment for passengers, the company sought a video surveillance solution that would record transactions and activities and serve as a reliable backup if incidents needed further examination or investigation.

Champion turned to the security integrator Data Consultants Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich., skilled in understanding the needs of clients in industrial and harsh environments. “We work with companies, way up north, whose work takes place in very cold and icy climates,” said Josh Bylsma, physical security consultant for Data Consultants. 

Due to the island’s proximity to the Canadian border, there were additional security concerns with regards to the installation, according to Bylsma. “The issue of border surveillance is very real here. There were a number of homeland security issues that arose and surveillance in this location was important to provide a video record if needed,” he
said. The system also had to provide the ability to monitor, document and audit the vehicles that were coming and going instead of always relying on the human component.

“VideoIQ iCVR had everything Champions was looking for in a video surveillance solution, including the ability to automatically capture critical events at the highest frame rate and quality, while recording everything at a lesser quality to minimize bandwidth and storage requirements,” said Bylsma.

Data Consultants chose Firetide Inc. wireless infrastructure mesh network equipment for its high performance and reliability. The mesh network provides real-time connectivity across the channel with the network nodes on shore providing the link between the mainland with the ferry operations center on the island. Connectivity over water is an especially challenging radio frequency environment due to reflective surface the radio waves have to travel over; the Firetide network handled it well and provides courtroom-quality video for any further investigation if needed. The installation took only two days to complete due to the ease of deployment of Firetide’s wireless infrastructure mesh network.

“Firetide’s wireless infrastructure mesh technology is as reliable as the winter is tough along the Michigan and Canadian border,” said Bo Larsson, CEO of Firetide. “Firetide has proven time and time again that its technology meets the rigorous security needs found in harsh industrial environments all over the world.”

About Firetide Inc.
Firetide is the leading provider of wireless infrastructure mesh networks that enable concurrent video, voice, and data for municipal, public safety, and industrial applications. Firetide provides reliable high performance wireless infrastructure mesh and access solutions for video surveillance, Internet access, public safety networks and temporary networks wherever rapid deployment, mobility and ease of installation are required. Headquartered in Los Gatos, Calif., Firetide is a privately held company with worldwide product distribution. http://www.firetide.com

About VideoIQ
VideoIQ is the inventor of the world’s first and only intelligent surveillance cameras and encoders with a built-in DVR. The VideoIQ iCVR combines automated event detection, a built-in DVR and integrated video management into a single solution—all driven by next-generation analytics. http://www.videoiq.com.

Media Contacts
Scott Green
CLS Communications, Inc.
scottgreen@myastound.net
1-650-679-9044

Ksenia Coffman
Firetide
kcoffman@firetide.com
1-408-317-8985