Introduction To The Problem
An existing Clearnet customer contacted us regarding their need to add surveillance cameras to a large warehousing facility in Tacoma, WA. The site was a relatively new and large concrete tilt up warehouse that measured approximately 600 feet by 1400 feet, with over half of the space (450,000 Sq. Ft.) leased to Clearnet’s customer.
Research
Clearnet had previously installed multiple fiber lit IDF cabinets that provided local network wired connection points and over 20 wireless access points that provided wireless connectivity throughout the facility for bar coding and inventory purposes. All places within the facility were within 328 feet of at least one or more IDF cabinets that were column mounted in strategic locations in the building to provide local connections for current and future needs.
As the estimator and customer walked the site to discuss the need to secure the facility with surveillance cameras, it became clear that theft had been occurring and it was likely from multiple sources including staff and outside suspects. To catch all potential theft or vandalism activity, cameras were slated to be placed at most locations around the facility. Every transfer bay door required video surveillance that could be recorded and stored for playback at a later time.
It was determined that the cameras pointing at the bay doors could not be mounted to the trusses overhead because the elevations of the cameras would then be too high to provide adequate viewing of the interiors of the trailers and the activities that were taking place inside the trailers during loading and unloading of trucks and trailers.
This would require the addition of pendant type cameras to be suspended down approximately 15 feet from the overhead trusses to a point at which the cameras were high enough to be out of the way of all forklift traffic but low enough to allow for adequate viewing through the bay doors as needed.
A map of the building with all needed cameras were drawn up to establish the plan of installation and for quoting purposes. All information was taken into consideration and engineered into a comprehensive plan that would meet all customer requirements and provide added capacity for possible future expansion and increase storage time in the future.
Clearnet’s estimator produced the quote and recommended components to make up their new high definition IP surveillance camera system with full video surveillance of all areas of concern. The customer agreed to review all aspects and get back with a decision on whether or not to move forward with Clearnet for this project.
Challenges
The return call did not happen and it was assumed that the customer was waiting on funding or had possibly chosen to hire another contractor. After several months of not hearing from the customer, a call did finally come in regarding some network problems they were experiencing. We dispatched one of the original installers of the fiber optic cabling and discovered that someone had been tampering with the network connections. Some of the fiber optic cable strands had been broken and were no longer functioning as a backbone connection to their primary gateway.
The dispatched technician was able to get two IDF cabinets back up and running by making use of spare fiber optic strands that were not broken at that time. The on site technician also noticed while on site that some new Cat 6 cabling had been pulled in since he was there last. This was evident based on the poor workmanship observed that Clearnet’s installers would never do. The cable ran by others was ran diagonally, short cutting corners where the trusses meet, making for 20-30 foot spans of stretched cable that was clearly not supported properly.
The network was returned to its original functioning state but the existing cabling was no longer in pristine condition as it was when Clearnet completed the initial cabling installation. The first thing that was visibly noticeable was that new cables had been run into the data cabinet through the front locking Plexiglas door. This meant that the door of the wall mounted data cabinet could not be closed because of the cables blocking the ability of the door to swing closed.
Other notable elements of the installation by others included tie wrapping cables to existing electrical conduits and securing the cables to sprinkler pipes above the warehouse floor. Both of these are clear violations of the electric code and should not have been done that way. The customer appeared to be surprised when made aware of the hap hazard installation that we had discovered while on site. They did not request an immediate revision to the improper installation, just to get things working at the time was all they wanted. We took care of their immediate needs and left them with the network working well upon departure.
Another few weeks went by, when another call came in from a new customer contact from the same customer premise. The call to Clearnet on this day was to report that several of their camera images had gone down and were no longer working. The cameras were installed less than a year prior but already experiencing outages that left the customer with no ability to see their facility in real time, nor record any activities that occur throughout the work day and after hours when the area is vacant.
The dispatcher responded with two technicians with a bucket truck being sent to site to troubleshoot and repair all cameras not working as best they could with materials in hand. Upon arrival, the technicians met with the new site manager, who explained that the cameras had worked initially but that they frequently would go off line, then back on & repeat. The system was not recording consistently and was unable to play back video stream of activities that occurred after hours.
Solutions By Clearnet
Clearnet’s technicians took an overall assessment of the installation and could see that short of a completely new installation, that the surveillance system could only be patched back together and would not be fully up to a dependable Clearnet typical installation. The cables were improperly supported, if supported at all. Conduits, sprinkler pipes, water pipes and lights were all used to drape cables over as they span from the terminals to each of the camera locations. The Clearnet technicians found indoor cabling ran outside without protection or having sealed the holes penetrated to route cables through the exterior walls. Crimped on modular plugs were oxidizing and degrading every day due to lack of protection, improper materials used and poor workmanship could be seen throughout.
The Clearnet service technicians were able to re-terminate many of the connections and got a few of the cameras working but several cameras had failed completely and were in need of replacement. As the customer had originally ordered their own camera equipment, and had agreed to order their own replacement cameras for Clearnet to return at a later date for installation once they arrived on site.
The customer promptly placed the order for cameras and contacted Clearnet for a return trip and the servicemen completed their efforts to bring every possible camera online with the parts they had available.
Within 10 days the customer called back to Clearnet, stating that the three replacement cameras had arrived and that she was ready for the repair team to return with the bucket truck to install the new cameras where the old ones had failed and been removed. The same team of service technicians returned with the bucket truck to the now familiar site. They promptly got to work, mounting and connecting up all customer provided replacement cameras and were able to configure them without delay to bring all cameras back up to functional status.
With all cameras and recording functions back up and running, the installation remains in sub standard condition. The cabling has been poorly installed, does not meet code and is likely to encounter failures or intermittent failures if left in the current condition. The customer is aware of the situation and has agreed to re-visit the possibility of pulling all new cable to the existing camera locations with the proper type of cable, installed and supported properly, routed into the data cabinets from the backs as opposed to through the opened front doors which now cannot be closed.
If Clearnet’s installation team would have installed the camera system initially as proposed, none of the problems being encountered would have happened. From end to end the previous installers took short cuts to make the work easier and faster, but did not produce dependable results. We include many hidden costs that are needed long term to make our installations work on the first day and for many years to come. We guarantee all our work and we guarantee that we will design, specify and install the proper materials to match the actual site conditions.
