Founded in 1959, Abraham Kriel Children’s Home in Nylstroom has been caring for children that have been orphaned or taken out of environments where they were not being cared for properly. Situated on 20 hectares of ground donated by the municipality, the Children’s Home has 14 residences to house the children, seven each for boys and girls.
Understandably, security is paramount in this environment, and the Abraham Kriel Children’s Home elected to install CCTV in each of the residences to monitor the children’s safety and wellbeing. This installation was
conducted by ViewaVision, with networked hardwired links between the houses and the principal’s office.
The installation entailed microphones in each house in addition to CCTV equipment and digital video recorders, all of which streamed to a monitoring PC in the principal’s office. However, Highveld thunderstorms played
havoc with the links.
ViewaVision’s Johan Mare explains that as a result of the damage caused by the thunderstorms, the specialist electronic security equipment distributor elected to change the installation to a wireless setup in order to
ensure constant uptime.
“We import and distribute CCTV equipment, related accessories and a full range of Coaxial and Pow-Ax cable, so the original installation was completely in-house. When we decided to go wireless, we started looking
for a reputable company that specialises in wireless products in order to offer the best solution,” he says.
As a result of its wide range of products, expertise, and superior customer service, ViewaVision chose Miro as its wireless partner on this project, and the partnership has since extended to include other installations
where ViewaVision has had wireless requirements.
“We have since done four or five other wireless jobs, incorporating our CCTV, and have a large installation in a school in Polokwane coming up,” says Mare.
For the installation in the Abraham Kriel Children’s Home, ViewaVision elected to use the Ubiquiti NanoStation for its low cost, high performance, and small form factor.
“The NanoStation has a revolutionary design comprising of a hi-gain antenna system, and a high power output Wi-Fi interface. Also included as standard is an external SMA connector, which proves to be exceptionally
useful when you need to attach a larger antenna to the device,” says Riandi van Niekerk, marketing manager at Miro.
“Its features, as well as its fully weatherproof enclosure that can be used indoors or outdoors, made it a great solution for this installation.”
According to Mare, one of the main reasons ViewaVision chose the product was its ease of installation.
“There are no confusing configuration setups and it’s really simple to install. We therefore set up the network with the NanoStations providing the links between the houses and the last connection back to the
principal’s office, with a power bridge on each end. This has proven very effective,” he says.
“Our vision is to assist in the protection of people and property by providing cutting edge quality, innovative products of the highest possible standards, including the latest in IP and HD on the market, thereby ensuring
a safe and secure environment for all. Our partnership with Miro fills the gaps where we don’t have the equipment in-house, allowing us to provide even more complete solutions to our customers.”