When we were contacted by a food pantry, they were utilizing a residential grade wireless router to serve their networking purposes. In addition, they had no security cameras. The initial request from the customer was to install some security cameras to cover the main interior and exterior areas of the facility. After completing a site survey and discussing their current and future needs, it was determined that an IP security camera system would be the best solution. Since an IP security camera system needs a good network, we then discussed with the customer the importance of upgrading their current network prior to the camera system installation. The network upgrade would also provide a solid data network for the future IT (information technology) needs of the food pantry.
The first phase of the project involved the installation of around 2,000 feet of Cat 6E network cable, a network rack in a new wiring closet, a new network switch, 2 wireless access points, and a number of hard-wired network ports in each of the offices. Once that was completed, additional Cat 6E network cable was installed for each of the eleven IP security cameras, and a new NVR (network video recorder) server, a POE switch to power the new IP security cameras, and four exterior and seven interior IP security cameras were installed.