Augusta Systems Powers Municipal Public Safety Network

Morgantown, W.Va. Selects Augusta Systems Products for Wide-Area Surveillance System That Integrates Public and Private Security Assets

Morgantown, W.Va. -- The City of Morgantown, W.Va., has selected products from Augusta Systems Inc., a provider of intelligent enterprise network technologies, to power a municipal public safety network that supports a converged, wide-area surveillance system. The public safety network infrastructure integrates city-owned security cameras and sensors and surveillance data from private security systems into a unified network for enhanced public safety in the city.

“New technologies can allow for quicker response times by our law enforcement personnel and increased public safety,” said Philip Scott, Morgantown’s chief of police. “Augusta Systems technologies enable us to link current surveillance systems with new cameras and sensors into a unified safety and surveillance network throughout the city, including within our downtown, business district. This network will increase the safety of city residents, visitors and businesses, while also providing our police force with an important new tool for crime fighting and emergency response.”

The public safety network, featuring an intelligent network communications infrastructure, geospatial display center software and information sharing tools, allows the city and downtown businesses to leverage their various surveillance system investments and share important information. The network, which enables local and state law enforcement personnel to selectively utilize public and private surveillance devices and systems to accelerate real-time responses to potential unlawful activities, was advocated by Main Street Morgantown Inc., a nonprofit organization focused on downtown business district improvements. Recently, Main Street Morgantown provided matching grants to private businesses interested in installing surveillance systems and sharing the information from these systems with local law enforcement agencies. Many of the grant recipients are providing the use of surveillance data from their systems for this municipal public safety network.

“From the perspective of downtown business owners and their customers, leveraging private and public resources for a comprehensive public safety network is a win for everyone,” said Terri Cutright, executive director of Main Street Morgantown.

The network infrastructure, which provides a flexible architecture to support integration of existing and future security devices and systems, is built upon Augusta Systems platform technologies: SensorBridge software development components, EdgeFrontier middleware and SensorPort intelligent network appliances. These products enable the intelligent convergence of data from diverse edge assets and support the building and management of converged enterprise solutions for security, monitoring, automation, asset tracking and other applications. The technologies are used by numerous military, industrial and public safety clients.

“Morgantown’s public safety network is very forward thinking,” said Patrick Esposito, president and chief operating officer of Augusta Systems. “As municipalities and their residents and businesses deploy increasing numbers of disparate surveillance devices and systems, these community stakeholders are challenged with finding ways to leverage these investments and share information. By utilizing Augusta Systems technologies to intelligently converge data, Morgantown is maximizing the value of its surveillance assets, resulting in better information, enhanced security and increased public safety.”