Broadband Communities

JUL 2012

BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.

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FIBER DEPLOYMENT CASE STUDY Newark Secures Public Housing With Fiber Network A new fiber broadband network dramatically improved the quality of life for residents of Newark public housing. By Rachael Licata ■ Millennium Communications Group T he largest city in New Jersey, Newark is a major transporta- tion hub with a culturally diverse population of 277,000 and a park that boasts the most extensive collection of cherry trees in the United States. It also has challenges, including the provi- sion of safe, livable housing for low- and moderate-income residents. Te Newark Housing Authority (NHA), which oper- ates more than 8,700 housing units in 45 buildings, provides homes for almost 30,000 of the city's resients. Ten of the authority's buildings accommodate el- derly and disabled residents; the remain- ing buildings are set aside for families. A few years ago, the housing author- ity was having difficulty meeting its goal of providing safe homes. In many build- ings, drug dealers had overtaken the stairwells. Mothers could not allow chil- dren to play outdoors. Seniors couldn't leave their homes for fear of confronta- tion with drug dealers. Te NHA embarked on a major initiative to upgrade its physical secu- rity systems with the goal of providing more effective assistance to its staff and creating safer communities for residents. Te agency consulted with Millennium Communications Group (MCG), which provides fiber optic networks and ad- vanced technology solutions for govern- ments, communities, utilities and edu- cational institutions. After assessing the situation, MCG realized that a high-per- formance security solution was the best option to help the NHA regain control of its objectives. MCG recommended connecting the housing units with a fiber Crystal-clear images from the IP cameras connected to the fiber network deter crime. optic backbone – an infrastructure that was capable of handling a high-perfor- mance IP camera security solution. THE BENEFITS OF BANDWIDTH While the fiber network was being con- structed, MCG's team of information technology engineers started to develop the new IP solution for the NHA. Af- ter organizing facilities into subnets to reduce broadcast traffic, MCG began to design a 10 Gbps link from each of the buildings back to NHA headquarters. Tis provided the bandwidth needed to carry images from more than 900 digital cameras located in and around the buildings. Te IP cameras provide superior color images during both day- time and nighttime. With the fiber in- frastructure in place, NHA employees could view, stream, transport and store the large footage files. Camera images can even be viewed in real time from centralized or remote locations. Te increased bandwidth that the fiber infrastructure afforded also made other security solutions possible. To in- About the Author Rachael Licata is communications manager for Millennium Communications Group, a provider of advanced network communication services, including engineering, design, systems integration and construction. Learn more at www.millenniuminc.com. 10 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | JULY 2012 crease the safety of the senior citizens and families in NHA buildings, MCG installed a visitor management system that allows the NHA management and security departments to obtain compre- hensive reports detailing who visits the buildings, how long visitors stay and how often they visit. To help the NHA monitor its build- ings, MCG built a security operations center where the management and se- curity departments can easily research video incidents, manage unwanted visi- tors and control resident and visitor ac- cess badging from a centralized location. CLEAR IMAGES DETER CRIME Prior to installing the IP cameras, the NHA maintained low-tech, black-and- white cameras that were often unmoni- tored. If an incident occurred, finding usable camera footage was a matter of luck – and luck didn't come all that of- ten. With the new, high-performance, fiber-based physical security solution, the housing authority has been able to use camera footage to aid in prosecu-

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