CASE IN POINT: City of Manchester, NH

Every city in the United States is conscientious about security in the post-9/11 world. The city of Manchester, NH, is no exception.

Manchester's commitment to safety and security was highlighted when the city's security manager, Red Robidas, GPP, decided to equip all 40 city buildings with

Mike Pellerin, president of Pelmac Industries, assigned security systems integrator Stacey Oikle to the project. Oikle, along with Vice President of Operations Bob Adkins and Dan Boyce, project manager, helped design and implement a WAPAC-PRO system from Synergistics. With the flexibility to handle more than 4,000 alarm inputs and relay outputs, WAPAG-PRO is an automated building management and access control solution.

Perhaps the most crucial buying factor was the ability to put all the buildings on a single network, according to Robidas. "When a new employee is hired, a new profile is created for him or her on the network specifying which buildings the person has access to, as well as which areas of those buildings," he said. "A new profile does not have to be established at each individual building."

WAPAC's ability to integrate seamlessly with existing systems was another important consideration. Synergistics, along with Pelmac, worked with the city to customize the system to integrate with the Digital Monitoring Products (DMP) intrusion system and Pelco CCTV equipment that were already in place. The integration with the DMP system allows users to scan their cards to disarm the intrusion system. A card disarms only the areas to which each user is allowed access.

Partitioning, also an important feature of the system, allows individual administrators control over their own users while simultaneously preventing them from accessing other department files. One of the primary benefits of partitioning is that it provides a high degree of privacy, since no employees on the network can tell which areas their fellow employees are able to access, or even when their fellow employees are in the system.

Robidas said Manchester is specifying Synergistics for any new buildings currently under construction. For instance, the Synergistics system is being integrated with the GGTV cameras in a new underground parking garage at Central High School. The garage will have 160 parking spaces exclusively for faculty, who will be required to swipe their cards to enter the garage. When a card is swiped, the nearest camera is activated to record movement so that the identity of the person can be quickly determined.

Panic phones are also located in the garage. If a phone is activated, Synergistics automatically opens all walkway doors and garage doors, alerts the receptionist at the front office, then alerts the police through the DMP system. It also activates two cameras-one locks in on the phone while the other shows the area around the phone to see who activated the phone and why. When no one is in the office, the alert goes directly to the police, who are able to view the video from the station.

The first WAPAG-PRO system was installed in a city building in the fall of 2003. Robidas sees long-term growth with the system. "The City of Manchester employs about 3,000 people, while the system can accommodate up to 80,000 users," he said. "Needless to say, we are prepared to handle future growth for quite some time."

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