UniArgus Secures Cyber Cafes in Shanghai

Taking advantages of the latest digital surveillance technology, new administrative systems help run cities and keep them safe. Over 200 cyber cafés in Shanghai city have installed security systems that are integrated by UniArugs to enable the owners to perform monitoring and recording, and the police to conduct central monitoring of all sites to prevent crimes in the city.

As the populations continue to grow and the crime rate rises, city governments often have a hard time responding to the numerous emergencies.  Undermanned and unable to quickly respond, the police are unable to perform their jobs efficiently. UniSVR and China Telecom have worked together to provide digital surveillance solutions for various “Safe City” projects to help resolve the issues since October 2005.

The 21st century is a time of incredible changes and progressions, particularly to China. A startling number of cyber cafes have begun to appear due to the growing popularity of computers and the Internet. However, the rise of cyber cafes also brings the rise of crime and the cafes are forced to follow strict guidelines imposed by the Ministry of Public Security including the installation of security system and the keeping the customer data for 60 days.  Also, minors are also barred from entering cyber cafes by law. In order to enforce this law in the past, police officers had to patrol cyber cafes often.

 UniSVR and Shanghai Telecom, a subsidiary of China Telecom, have worked together to provide a total solution. It allows both café owners and local law enforcement to monitor live videos of important areas, such as the cash register and the front door, and to ensure that no minors are present in the cyber cafes. Between the Qingpu, Minhang, and Zhabei districts, over 200 cyber cafes have adopted the technology to increase security as well as to save resources.

Central management and distributed processing are two keys to bring to the success of the project.

• Distributed processing
  Every cyber café is equipped with a DVR and minimum two cameras. The cameras are usually installed in front of cashiers and gates. The recorded  videos are stored on DVR and kept at least 60 days, in case videos are needed as evidence in police investigations.
  
  
• Central management
  UniArugs servers are operated by Shanghai Telecom. Local law enforcement can conduct central monitoring and get live videos from DVRs of any cafés through UniArgus servers. User privileges are also defined for local enforcement to serve the management purposes.

Today the police are able to respond much faster than they could in the past, and digital monitoring reduces the efforts of police officers to patrol the cyber cafes. The solution was a major success - however, it does not end here and more cyber cafes and shops in Shanghai and other cities are installing the system for effective security.

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