Smart CCTV Ltd: Smart CCTV hires new business development director to grow security business

Matthew Fletcher, a seasoned sales and marketing professional with 20 years' experience in IT, has joined Havant company Smart CCTV Ltd, as business development director, heading up its new security division. He will market the company's growing video analytics portfolio, including its flagship behaviour recognition system, PerceptrakT, particularly to retail security users. He is also tasked with expanding the business with the launch of an exciting new line of video analytics based security surveillance products aimed at residential and small to medium sized businesses.

Matthew said: "Smart CCTV has developed a great reputation since it was set up in 2003, for delivering solutions on time and in budget. As a specialist firm, it is gaining well-deserved market share in the fast-growing niche area of video analytics."

Nick Hewitson, managing director of Smart CCTV, will focus on the firm's transport-related security solutions for applications such as traffic management and Automatic Number Plate Reading. Nick said: "We are delighted to have Matt on board. Both the security and traffic markets are becoming major users of video analytic technology and we need to expand our management team in order to remain focused on delivering our customers both innovative solutions and value for money.

Most recently Matthew was sales director for Grandeye, a specialist security camera manufacturer, following a position as business development manager at a leading IP Video and data security provider, and work for the European Space Agency. Matthew's career has spanned 20 years in the IT industry, on telecommunications systems and more recently, security video applications. He lives in Windsor, Berkshire.

About Smart CCTV Ltd

Smart CCTV Ltd is a value added reseller of 'video analytics' products that will allow operators to become more proactive in their response to criminal and undesirable behaviour and thereby improve the quality of life of the people living and working in their area. Smart CCTV Ltd uses the technologies of computer image processing and analysis to supply and sell innovative solutions.

Portsmouth leads UK by installing video analytics for city centre security

A market-leading CCTV system, based on behaviour-recognition software and state-of-the-art intelligent cameras, has been installed by Portsmouth City Council, to increase the effectiveness of the camera monitoring.

Perceptrak™, supplied by Smart CCTV Ltd of Havant, has been set up to watch quiet areas such as car parks, stairwells or corridors in buildings and streets at nighttime. Perceptrak™ uses the latest software to analyse images using up to 18 pre-defined criteria such as ‘converging people’, ‘fast car’ and so on. When it sees something untoward happening, the system sends an alert to the control room. This allows the security officer to make a human decision on whether to monitor the scene and make an appropriate response. It also ensures that many more scenes are being watched than is normally possible, hence helping to make Portsmouth city a safer and more trouble-free zone.

Ray Stead, CCTV manager at Portsmouth City Council, who decided to install Perceptrak™ for the City, said: “Following a successful trial period in 2006, we decided to install the system on a more permanent basis to prove proof of concept after improvements had been made to the software and because of the quantifiable benefits to the control room outcomes.”

Nick Hewitson, managing director of Smart CCTV, added: "We believe that this is the first fully installed example of video analytics being used in a city centre control room in the UK. As a local company we are very pleased to be working with Portsmouth City by providing leading edge technology to make their CCTV control room one of the most effective in the UK."

In the area covered by the Portsmouth City Council control rooms, there are 142 cameras with live monitoring, and the CCTV operators watch over 24 monitors simultaneously. Perceptrak™ is run in the background looking at some of those cameras that are not displayed to the operators until an alarm sounds.