Case Study | Bangkok Metropolitan Administration

Bangkok Metropolitan Administration IP Video

Surveillance System
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) install a high capacity city wide video
surveillance system built around Allied Telesis advanced switching technology.
 Case Study | Bangkok Metropolitan Administration

Introduction
PROFILE Bangkok
With a population of 9 million people, and large volumes of public Thailand
and private transport using city roads, the Bangkok Metropolitan
Administration were looking for ways to improve both efficiency and
safety for commuters.
Using leading-edge technology was seen as a key enabler to improve
the safety and effectiveness of transportation around Bangkok. Allied
Telesis was chosen to provide an IP video surveillance system capable of
providing real-time images and information from thousands of locations
around the city.

Customer Profile
Citizens in Bangkok vote to elect their governor, and the local
government is called the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, or the
BMA.
The administration’s roles are to formulate and implement policies
regarding the management of Bangkok, these include: transport services,
urban planning, waste management, housing, roads and highways, security
services and the environment.
The government of Bangkok has considerable responsibility with the
city split into 50 districts. Within this framework, along with all of the
transportation and other city infrastructure, the BMA administer:
• 50 district offices
• 445 Schools
Bangkok is the capital, and largest city of Thailand. As one of the
• 9 Hospitals major cosmopolitan centres in Asia, Bangkok offers a contrasting
• 68 medical and compelling mix of dazzling temples, eclectic markets, gleaming
centers palaces, modern shopping malls and vibrant nightlife. Add in traditional
transport in a tuk tuk, and the aroma and spice of Thai cuisine and
it’s easy to see why Bangkok enjoys a large influx of visitors each year,
being voted the “World’s Best City” in 2008.
Size: Bangkok City
1568 square kilometres
Wider metropolitan area
7760 square kilometres
As both public and private transportation increases in Bangkok, and
congestion on the roading system escalates, the BMA have a continual Population: Bangkok City
responsibility to keep abreast of the latest developments in traffic 9.1 million
management and control.
Wider metropolitan area
11.9 million

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Customer Requirements
Roadways authorities everywhere are facing a similar set of challenges,
with the need to design roads and systems that work together to
reduce traffic congestion, lower accident rates, facilitate faster emergency
response times, and reduce pollution.
The Allied Telesis advanced Layer 3 switching products provide high
availability with features such as dual load-sharing hot-swappable power
supplies and fan modules, for maximum uptime. Two key technologies at
the network core and distribution layers ensure a highly resilient network
design guaranteeing continuous access to critical real-time data.

The traffic and transportation department of the BMA list as part of their Network Core:
mission to: At the core of the new network are Allied Telesis SwitchBlade x908
• Formulate effective policy for traffic volume control modular gigabit switches. The SwitchBlade x908 industry-leading modular
switch is the ideal solution for the modern network core where resiliency,
• Ensure a seamless and effective public transportation system
reliability and high performance are the key requirements, facilitated by
• Enable a convenient, fast, and pollution-free traffic system virtual chassis stacking technology.
• Develop the traffic and transportation information system for VCStack provides excellent resiliency by allowing you to create a single
planning and public dissemination. "virtual chassis" from two physical devices. VCStack provides a network
with no single point of failure, and allows the two units to be managed as
To cope with congestion, highly efficient and sophisticated electronic
a single device.
traffic systems are required – a task which requires an extremely robust
and high-functioning data network. Reducing congestion requires the BMA used 5 pairs of SwitchBlade x908 switches, each pair connected
ability to control traffic. Effective traffic control requires accurate real- as a VCStack, and all interconnected with industry leading 10Gigabit per
time information about traffic, for example, where and when queues and second links. This powerful core solution is both high performing and
densities are occurring; accident locations; and the location and duration extremely resilient.
of road maintenance work.
Distribution Layer:
Video surveillance was seen as a key technology that could provide
real-time information and images from around Bangkok to enable more The distribution layer of the network
effective use of city infrastructure, which in turn would help achieve the required high speed connectivity, and
department’s mission. the ability to cover large distances
around the city’s 1600 square
One issue facing BMA was the size of the network required to provide
kilometres, while still being very
sufficient real-time information and images from around Bangkok to
enable appropriate planning and traffic management. The network was reliable. x900 switches are connected
required to cover the nearly 1600 square kilometres of the city, and together in 11 separate gigabit
encompass 3000 IP cameras. Some of the switches would be installed rings using Allied Telesis Ethernet
in outside cabinets to connect with cameras situated at intersections, Protection Switched Rings (EPSR)
and other public locations, requiring the ability to cope with the climatic technology.
conditions. EPSR allows Allied Telesis products
It was also imperative that the new network provide high availability from to form a protected ring of switches,
the edge to the core, to ensure the fast reliable transfer of video data and the multiple ring design used
at all times. A system that would be simple to manage and maintain was by BMA provides extremely high
also required. performance with rapid recovery (as
low as 50ms) - essential for reliable
The Solution video transmission and remote
BMA chose an Allied Telesis solution to meet the demanding device control.
requirements of this large citywide network. Excellent multicast features AT-9424T switches are used at the edge of the network connecting to
support streaming a large number of real-time video feeds from cameras the IP video cameras.
to BMA district offices.

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 Case Study | Bangkok Metropolitan Administration

The new BMA network (as shown in diagram 1) consists of:

• Core: 10 SwitchBlade x908 switches, installed as 5 VCStack nodes
• Distribution: 39 AT-x900-24XT switches connected in 11 separate EPSR rings
• Edge: 224 AT-9424T switches connecting to 3000 IP video cameras
• Management: AlliedView EMS and SNMPc are used for centralised management
This powerful solution provides BMA with the performance, reliability and resilience they require in their network, to successfully manage the Bangkok
transportation and roading system.

SBx908
5 x SBx908 virtual chassis
(VCStack) core units

11 x EPSR rings comprising

of 39 AT-x900-24XT
distribution switches

AT-x900-24XT

AT-9424T 224 x AT-9424T edge

switches supporting 3000
CCTV cameras

Diagram 1: BMA IP video surveillance network

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Benefits of the New Solution
Uninterrupted network service
Having unrestricted access to citywide information and IP video streams
is imperative for BMA in managing the substantial traffic flow around
Bangkok. Real-time images that are always available ensure moment-by-
moment decisions, along with forward planning, can be made to ease
traffic congestion and improve travel around the city.
As more services are converged over roadways networks, the smooth
operation of the roadways system becomes more dependent on
network availability. The new BMA network using Allied Telesis advanced
high availability features, such as VCStack and EPSR, guarantees access to
information when it’s required.
High Performance
Even brief network outages can lead to unresponsive traffic lights, delayed
response to emergencies, less efficient running of public transport, and
so on. Hence, high performance is a key criterion in the BMA network.
Using a resilient network design, along with the fastest available Ethernet
transmission speed of 10Gigabits per second, ensures no delay in data
and multimedia transfer across Bangkok.
High reliability is essential in providing the uninterrupted access to images
and data that BMA require. The excellent hardware redundancy built-in
to the Allied Telesis switches complement the resilient network design.
Dual redundant hot-swappable power supplies and fan modules, along
with hot-swappable expansion modules ensure no network interruptions
during maintenance or reconfiguration.
A “Healthy City”
One part of BMA’s 5 year city plan is adopting the “Healthy City”
development framework, set by the World Health Organization – a
guideline for turning Bangkok into one of the world’s most liveable cities.
A key part of implementing this “Healthy City” approach encompasses
the availability of citywide information and real-time images to facilitate:
Page 5 | Allied Telesis Case Study: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration
• Reducing traffic congestion
• Making the public transport system more efficient
• Faster emergency response times
• Reduced transport accidents
• Reduced crime
The new 3000 IP camera surveillance network installed by BMA, provides
substantial and time sensitive information where and when it’s needed.
Ease of Management
With such a large and distributed network infrastructure, BMA have
implemented centralised management of network devices. Allied Telesis
network management system, AlliedView, allows BMA to manage and
monitor all of the geographically spread switches from a single location.
VCStack also simplifies management, as the 5 network core nodes, made
up of pairs of SwitchBlade x908 units, are each managed as single virtual
units.
This simplified management structure, along with the reliability and
value of Allied Telesis switching products, ensures a low Total Cost of
Ownership (TCO) for BMA, assisting in their drive for efficiency and
effectiveness.
Future Proof
The network BMA have implemented has room to grow, with the ability
to add further capacity without any disruption to the critical IP video
steams traversing the city.
The core SwitchBlade x908, and distribution x900 switches, have high-
speed expansion bays, providing a high level of port flexibility. The ability
to add more copper or fibre ports (right up to 10Gigabit Ethernet) as
required provides a future-proof network ready to expand at any time.
www.alliedtelesis.com
Ongoing Plans and Partnership
Future plans for BMA’s new network include adding additional bandwidth,
with plug and play upgrades that won’t disrupt the current data traffic a
powerful and simple way forward. Additional switches and IP surveillance
cameras will increase the ability and effectiveness of BMA in managing the
transportation system around Bangkok.
Allied Telesis look forward to continuing to support BMA and their
current and future network, providing a world-class surveillance system
around one of Asia’s leading cities.
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www.alliedtelesis.com
© 2011 Allied Telesis Inc. All rights reserved. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. All company names, logos, and product designs that are trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. C618-18019-00 Rev A
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