July 23rd, 2004

Waterford Company Deploys Satellite Security System from Netwatch [Waterford News & Star]

 

WALSH'S Car Sales, one of Waterford's leading Nissan Dealerships has deployed an advanced new security technology system, developed by Carlow company Netwatch, to prevent losses from vandalism and theft.

Walsh's, which has been in business for 35 years and employs 50 people, has like many businesses, had its share of theft and vandalism over the years.  Generally these have been break-ins to the car dealership's forecourt where valuable cars are stored. The company previously protected the forecourt by means of guard dog, which was not a sufficient deterrent to thieves.  Nor did it offer sufficient protection to satisfy the requirements of the insurance company. An added security headache for the company was the fact that the open forecourt could riot be wired for an alarm.  This meant that the company was unaware of 'any acts of vandalism or theft until the forecourt was opened for business, hours after the intruders had left and the damage had been done.

"Traditional security methods act as a deterrent but because thieves and vandals know that an open area of half an acre cannot be alarmed and a dog can be distracted, they do not stop intrusions from taking place.  A 24-hour security presence on the premises was too expensive but we needed a system that would give us the benefit of 24 hour protection without the cost," says Paddy Walsh, managing director of Walsh's Car Sales.

"The new system installed, Netwatch, is an interactive system employing satellite technologies which allow our premises to be watched 24 hours a day for a fraction of the cost of employing full time security men and allows us to be aware of any attempted intrusions immediately."
   
Cariow-based Netwatch is the first company in Ireland to use modern satellite and Internet -based technologies to provide remote visual monitoring security systems to businesses throughout the country.  Netwatch is an intelligent security system, which allows the Netwatch Command Centre to watch in 'real time' any intrusion taking place at a premises and, more importantly, to speak directly to the criminals before they commit a crime.

When a break-in takes place, live pictures of the area where- the security breach has occurred are sent to the command system. 

The command centre then speaks directly to the intruder, informing them that they are on private property and that the Gardaí have been called.  Knowing that they are being watched and that the Gardaí have been notified is a huge deterrent - in 95 per cent of cases recorded the intruder leaves the premises without committing a crime.

Because the control centre can check the premises first, false alarm calls are virtually eliminated, so Garda time isn't wasted.

"We have had no serious security breaches since installing Netwatch 6 months ago. There is great peace of mind in knowing that the forecourt and showroom is under surveillance 24 hour a day.  The fact that the system provides an immediate response is critical.  Intervention from the Command Centre as an event is happening means that we are successful in preventing acts of vandalism or theft of cars occurring," says Paddy Walsh.

An added feature of Netwatch, which provides users with great peace of mind, is that if a manager or keyholder has to respond to an alarm call in the middle of the night, the command centre will keep the premises under surveillance and will let the user know when it is safe to enter the premises.  For many companies, protection of staff is even more important than preventing loss of stock.

"Walsh's Car Sales is typical of businesses throughout the country who are faced with monetary losses through theft, vandalism, false insurance claims, and so on," says David Walsh, Sales Director, Netwatch.  "A recent -report highlighted that one in two businesses (53 per cent) has experienced crime in the past 12 months. The report estimated the average cost of crime to those businesses affected at €9,425. Interestingly, only 18 per cent of businesses said they had incurred no direct expenses as a result of crime while the remaining 82 per cent still had direct costs to pay despite higher insurance premiums.

"All businesses are faced with stark choices when it comes to protecting their premises.  The Netwatch System is truly cost-effective with a basic monitoring service costing as little as €12 a day - not much more than what you would pay for one hour of a security guard's time," he said.

"Prevention is the name of the game, as it is far cheaper financially and emotionally to prevent a crime than to solve one.  With 9 out of 10 criminals leaving the premises before they commit the crime, Netwatch is unrivalled in this regard.
 
"Before installing the Netwatch System we realised that in order to meet our security and insurance requirements we needed to vastly upgrade the security measures we already had in place."

"Netwatch provided a more effective 24-hour monitoring and security system than employing security guards and had a strong record of crime prevention."

"They provided a full site survey, were happy to use existing equipment where possible and agreed a specific proposal with us."

"The real evidence that Netwatch is working effectively for us is that for the first time in a number of years we had no break in over the Christmas period."

"The security system installed was specific to our needs and has been money well spent, so much so that I am currently installing the system in my other premises," says Paddy Walsh.