Major Health Partners Selects Vicon’s Valerus VMS Solution to Simplify Complex Security Demands

MHP Medical Center, a new, state-of-the art medical facility in Shelbyville, Indiana, showcases Vicon’s capabilities in designing a next-generation, full security surveillance solution leveraging the “advanced simplicity” of its Valerus Video Management System (VMS). The hospital, which prides itself on delivering the most advanced healthcare services and technology, can now boast having a security solution that’s equally advanced. Valerus’ flexible, scalable and cost-effective solution enables the security staff to function more efficiently, effectively and proactively, while delivering a refreshingly simple and stress-free user experience.

The MHP Hospital complex includes the main hospital and a surrounding campus with oncology center, orthopedic center and administrative/data center. MHP required security technology investments that could grow with the hospital and provide centralized management across all properties. Jeff Williams, MHP’s Vice President of Facility Operations, was the man responsible for approving the selection, and deployment, of the hospital’s security solutions and knew the importance of choosing the right end-to-end video management and camera system. “We (the hospital) had a prior situation where we had several, disparate systems installed and, quite frankly, the customer service suffered. When we needed help, we would have the different manufacturers pointing fingers at each other and nobody willing to take responsibility. This time around, we felt it was imperative to standardize on one solution and deal with one company.”

For help, Jeff turned to Open Control Systems (OCS), an Indianapolis-based facility technology integrator. OCS was tasked to find a solution that could meet current challenges and deliver what the hospital needed.  Its recommendation was for a Vicon solution, combining Valerus VMS software, NVRs (recording servers) with high storage capacity, and close to 200 indoor and outdoor IP cameras.

IP video technology provides hospitals with added flexibility in their video surveillance installations, while offering benefits such as remote video monitoring and more effective storage capabilities. The Valerus solution is browser-based, so there was no need to install client software on any computers. Instead, MHP has the flexibility to use web-enabled devices of their choice, including desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. From an operational standpoint, this provides freedom to monitor the system remotely and eliminates any future concerns about purchasing dedicated hardware to provide monitoring support.

As the one responsible for commissioning the system, Tim Davis, OCS’s Lead Installer on the project, was also appreciative of the single site-wide licensing key. In addition, Vicon’s 30-day grace period allowed Tim’s team to make sure everything was in place, all cameras were doing their jobs and all NVRs were recording as desired, before focusing on the business of licensing.

For camera placement, MHP required coverage of every entrance and exit of all buildings. The hospital also wanted cameras in many public and semi-public areas. Lobbies, waiting areas, certain corridors, the pharmacy, and all rooms with drug cabinets required cameras, as did outdoor walkways, the parking lots and surrounding grounds. All of these cameras can be monitored from MHP’s main security room.

In addition, smaller local monitoring stations are set up in the ICU, emergency room and pharmacy. Valerus’ administrator tools made it easy to set different permissions and access levels for operators based upon their responsibilities and need to view certain areas of the hospital.

Once all equipment was in place, OCS worked with MHP’s Project Coordinator, Abby Lauck, to set up profiles for each administrator and operator. Together, they configured the Valerus interface to display a customized set of menus and resources for each user to help them do their job most effectively.

Jeff Williams, of MHP, had described how clunky software tools made it hard for the security staff to do its job. Tim showed MHP how easy it is to use Valerus’ powerful search engines and members of the hospital team felt fully confident using them after just a short demonstration.

“Healthy habits” pertain not just to MHP’s patients. Jeff Williams feels equally passionate about keeping his facility’s technology “healthy.” Valerus’ health dashboard provides reporting on the health status of the network in easy-to-read graphs and charts and highlights areas of concern through color-coded warnings. Jeff is also pleased at how easy it is to keep the system current. Like all Valerus customers, MHP has immediate access to new versions of software. Updates require only a single download to the main server which pushes the software out across the network to all NVRs.

“Valerus licensing was less expensive than all the other VMS systems we looked at, and it does everything the hospital needed,” says OCS’s Senior Estimator Jeff Birchler. “We really like Vicon’s licensing structure; there is no subscription or monthly fee to contact them,” adds Abby Lauck. The hospital opted to purchase Vicon’s Upgrade Protection Plan, which provides them with all new features as they are rolled out.

With the Valerus system now fully operational, Jeff Williams at MHP is pleased both with his decision to hire OCS for this project, and with OCS’s recommendation to install a Vicon Valerus solution. “We could not have done this without Open Control Systems. They were able to keep pace with an everchanging construction schedule and deliver exactly what we needed,” he says. As for Valerus, “The quality of the cameras, indoor and outdoor, is outstanding and we are able to retrieve evidence at a much more rapid pace through the Valerus interface. In addition, the centralized management, remote access and customizable user interface helps our team use the
system to its maximum potential and function more efficiently.”

The Valerus network will be expanded to two additional buildings by the end of 2017. Based upon the initial installation experience, both OCS and MHP feel confident that as the project’s size and complexity continues to grow, Vicon’s Valerus solution will still offer a simple, scalable and cost-effective approach that is up to the task.