Ganesh R. Iyer, Head of Sales & Business Development at Comsec Security Systems Ltd., had a number of significant security hurdles to overcome when designing a CCTV overhaul for Puma Energy’s Head Office & Depot facility in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania. This Puma Energy facility, consisting of both an office headquarters complex and an oil processing depot, is Tanzania’s largest oil refinery.

Dar-Es-Salaam, the nation’s biggest and richest city, underscores the importance of the facility’s larger relevance in the region. However, installing a CCTV solution wasn’t simply a hardware issue.

As Mr. Iyer explained, "Of course, combating issues such as theft, as well as safety, were paramount. However, this solution was asked to do something more: help change an unfortunate cultural norm that readily looks the other way in issues of theft."

Mr. Iyer looked to Hikvision to help in four ways:
 (1) To upgrade a pre-existing and underperforming CCTV system;
 (2) to take into account the stark differences between the office and depot environments;
 (3) to design a unique, two-pronged, CCTV method for both environments;
 (4) to combat a larger cultural acceptance of theft that is gradually ruining the economy.

Originally, Puma Energy purchased this facility from British Petroleum. With the facility, Puma Energy also acquired BP’s existing CCTV solution.

However, the new owners found the previous analog system unsatisfactory. Thus, Tanzanian-based Comsec Security Systems Ltd. was contracted to act as turnkey contractor of a new CCTV solution to dramatically improve overall video quality. […]