Page 34 - Security Today, July/August 2019

Relying on Power
Mohegan Tribe surveillance operations seek bold network connectivity MBy Ralph C. Jensen
ohegan Sun is a premier gaming and resort destina- tion covering 185 acres of reservation land along the banks of the Thames River in the foothills of southeastern Connecticut. First opened on Oct. 12, 1996, Mohegan Sun can truly be classified as a me-
ga-resort. It features an impressive 300,000 square feet of gambling floor space that anchors two luxury hotel towers with 1,564 rooms, two world-class spas, 130,000 square feet of retail space, over 40 res- taurants and bars, two indoor pools, a 17,500-square-foot outdoor sun terrace, a three-story crystal mountain and a 55-foot indoor waterfall.
Add to that the 10,000-seat capacity Mohegan Sun Arena, home of the New England Black Wolves of the National Lacrosse League and the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, as well as a 400-seat Cabaret Theatre, the 300-seat Wolf Den, and 275,000 square feet of meeting and function space. The classic rock radio station WMOS is also located on-site.
The gaming floor at Mohegan Sun is impressive in its own right with nearly 5,000 slot machines, and more than 300 gaming tables. Additional gaming attractions include a state-of-the-art race book that offers live horse and greyhound racing from around the U.S., as well as from Australia and England. It also offers wagering on jai-alai from Florida.
From a Security Perspective
Needless to say, there is a lot to look after at Mohegan Sun from a safety and security perspective, which is largely the responsibility of Roland Ocampo, director of the Surveillance Technical Group for the Mohegan Tribe. Ocampo is responsible for all technical aspects of the surveillance, access control and security systems at Mohegan Sun and its surrounding tribal properties. He reports to the executive director of Public Safety, Joe Lavin, who coordinates the activities of the Mohegan Tribe reservation’s police chief, fire chief and director of surveillance, who is responsible for surveillance operations across all gaming operations.
Keeping the extensive surveillance, access and security network running smoothly and up-to-date is a huge task. Doing so is Oc- ampo’s Surveillance Technical Group team of 10 technicians, three supervisors, a project manager, system administrator, and a security engineer and technical specialist, who handles all system service.
“Our team works under the premise that any solution we imple- ment has a ‘lifetime warranty,’” Ocampo said. “We know how we wanted systems built, and exactly how they’ve been implemented, so there should never be any reason why our networked system doesn’t perform to the highest levels.
“All of our systems are networked to provide us with com- prehensive oversight of all activities,” Ocampo said. “It initially started with surveillance, and as we grew over the last 22 years, all related systems were integrated on a single dedicated network. This provides our safety and security staff with the advanced tech- nologies needed to maintain constant situational awareness, sup- ported by technical operations to ensure all systems perform with
the highest levels of performance and reliability.”
Thousands of Cameras Deployed
Mohegan Tribe has thousands of surveillance cameras and access controllers already deployed with additional devices being added as needed to accommodate special events and continued expansion.
“What’s interesting is that our resort is one building that houses multiple casinos that’s equivalent to 30 to 40 connected buildings,” Ocampo said.
The sheer size and layout of Mohegan Sun and reservation proper- ties can be daunting, but Ocampo and his team have a firm grip on it.
One of the biggest technical challenges when implementing an integrated surveillance and access control networked solution at a facility as expansive as Mohegan Sun relates to power distribution and data transmission over long distances. Ocampo’s team overcame these issues with innovative solutions from Altronix.
“I’ve been in the industry for more than 30 years, and Altronix has consistently been a go-to for us,” said Ocampo. “Altronix really stepped-up their game from being just a power supply company over the years. They offer versatile solutions that allow us to install and scale our networked systems with the environment. They’ve been really great in assisting with system design and deployment issues, helping us work through some unusual situations that come up now and then.”
Deploying the Mid-span
According to Ocampo, Altronix NetWay mid-span injectors are de- ployed throughout the properties’ interior locations across the res- ervation. Specific models include the NetWay8GP 8-port mid-span that provides up to 60W power per port to power PoE/PoE+/Hi-PoE
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