Didcot Railway Centre

Vintage machinery is often protected by vintage tech.  And whilst that may be commonplace, it’s certainly not good practice.  Especially if your assets are a prime target for thieves – like those at Didcot Railway Centre.

With high value vintage locomotives, expensive restoration tools and huge volume footfall, DRC wanted to replace its legacy security system with something more appropriate, future-proof, and secure.  Something that would give the team a clearer picture of break-ins and simplify their whole security process. 

Enter:  boxxe and our new partner, Verkada.

Let’s set the scene first… Hikvision (a Chinese government owned video surveillance supplier) is used across the globe.  After the news that it poses significant threats to national security, the UK government issued a ban on use in ‘sensitive sites’.  With an active imports, sales and usage ban in the US, many experts are now calling for the same measures in the UK.

Which means there’s no time like the present to take advantage of American-made, next-generation, physical IoT security.

We decided that Verkada’s innovative, cloud-based, IoT CCTV cameras were the right solution to all of DRC’s CCTV struggles.

This was a speedy project all round.  DRC trialled the cameras for a few weeks to see them in action. The team were pretty impressed and keen to embrace this innovative new tech, so we went ahead with a site visit to map out the area and decide on camera positioning. 

The proof is in the… footage!

Within 2-3 weeks of installing the cameras, DRC had a break-in.  All three intruders were caught on film and the footage was shared with the police.

DRC now has a full dashboard giving them insight into employee and customer movement and footfall, and the ability to monitor places and persons of interest.

With Verkada’s intuitive software and fully cloud-based storage, DRC can find specific footage in seconds, then download and send clips to relevant persons via mobile.