Ipswich Town Football Club has made the move to improve surveillance equipment at its Portman Road ground, to increase match day safety and comply with regulations.
With the 2019/20 season suspended and doubts over whether it will resume, the football club has upgraded its closed-circuit television (CCTV) system with a new state-of-the-art set up that is easy for staff to use.
Safety Officer for the Suffolk club, Mick Warden, commented that the previous system had been in place for 15 years and urgently required an upgrade. Along with providing a reliable system for safety Warden wanted the new equipment to allowed him to investigate incidents on match days and identify those committing offences. The old system used by the club had recently failed twice to supply images he could use to find offenders responsible for throwing missiles on the pitch during matches.
The new system features eight cameras around the 30,000-seating capacity stadium, and a further seven located outside. The cutting-edge cameras deliver high resolution images even in low-lighting conditions. A further 33 cameras have been installed on various outbuildings and beneath the stands to motor crowd activity in public areas, including corridors, function rooms and bars.
Enterprises updating their CCTV installation in Chester, Ipswich and other parts of the country should always use certified professionals to undertake the project.
To deliver the highest resolution images instantly, the new CCTV network uses a wired system with high-speed ethernet capability. Monitoring is achieved with three dedicated PC workstations and footage is stored on 48TB hard drives
