The Virginia Port Authority has acquired a situation management software suite from Orsus that will allow it to integrate 250 video cameras that are used to monitor 10 miles of fencing around three shipping terminals in the Hampton Roads area. Orsus installed its Situator product suite last month in the Port’s main command center and two field centers that are used by the authority’s 90 member police force. The assortment of video cameras currently isn’t integrated. The new system has the flexibility to allow the port authority to integrate additional sensors and solutions in the future and provides a response management capability that faster than current operating procedures, a port authority spokesman tells TR2. The command center can now automatically alert various port officials about a situation, emergency or otherwise, and can continuously update them, the spokesman says. Previously it took multiple phone calls to broadcast alerts, he says. The port authority also likes the fact that Situator will allow the port to add custom features in the future, such as information on docking schedules and even the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, he adds. For Orsus the Virginia Port Authority represents the first installation of Situator in a U.S. port, Gal Oron, president Americas at Orsus, tells TR2. The company’s primary customers for Situator in the U.S. have been commercial and industrial firms, he says. The National Guard has also acquired the system for use in two states, he adds.
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