Situated on the sun-drenched beachfront of the Gulf of Mexico lies Florida's Gulfarium, the world's oldest marine show aquarium. The park hosts a variety of marine shows and animal attractions, including the famous Top Deck Dolphin Show featuring trained bottlenose dolphins performing in over 500,000 gallons of filtered water.

Last year, there was a potentially dangerous security breach at Gulfarium when several students celebrating Spring Break illegally entered the park after hours and swam around in the tanks with the sea animals, endangering both themselves and the marine life. Although one of the students left a wallet behind, authorities were unable to prosecute because they lacked documented evidence.

This incident prompted administrators at Gulfarium to implement a surveillance system to secure and protect their marine animals, some of which are federally protected by law. The camera system would also serve as a tool to share and diagnose animal behaviour and ailments. Trainers and veterinarians would have broader insights into animal health issues while park officials would have a better method of monitoring the animal life from a central office without constantly having to patrol the grounds.

Lastly, the staff at Gulfarium wanted to be able to share streaming video of its marine animals in action on its website to help promote the park.

To find the right security solution, the marine park engaged a locally-based audio-visual company, the Petermann Corporation, that consulted with D-Link, a world leader in computer network solutions for business and homes. As a result, Gulfarium’s new surveillance system includes seven D-Link® cameras – four DCS-6620G Wireless G 10x Optical Zoom Network cameras, three DCS-3420 Wireless Day & Night Internet cameras -- and a D-Link DES-1228P Web Smart Switch.

“When you're dealing with a marine park of this size you're dealing with liabilities and we wanted the comfort of having a security monitoring system in place,” said Don Abrams, Gulfarium partner and general manager. “We house federally protected animals here and we need to monitor them closely. If there is an incident in the middle of the night, such as an animal having a seizure, we can go back the next day and review what happened. It could potentially save an animal's life.”

“With seven acres and five major pools where animals are housed, we needed to implement an affordable and reliable surveillance system to monitor the premises and keep an eye on the marine life,” Abrams added.

“This system provides a total solution for Gulfarium. As far as administration, it is easy for one person to operate and monitor. You basically set it and forget it. We turned it on and it started going, and it’s been going ever since,” said Abrams. “The cameras are absolutely flawless and give us great low-light capabilities. When the sun goes down, it turns to black and white for better resolution. It’s a terrific, robust system.”

“With the harsh environment of the oceanside location, the area is prone to storms and hurricanes, so the housing and access points had to be durable and robust. The location has extreme elements such as salt water and Florida sunlight, so the system needed to be able to withstand the forces of nature,” said Marvin Holdman, Petermann senior producer.

“We like the fact that, because D-Link has such an extensive line of products, we were able to implement an entire system from a single manufacturer,” Holdman said. “All of the D-Link products are integrated – the switches, the power and access points are all thought out and tested so they work together.

“We installed seven cameras but the system will support 16 and the switch will support even more. That was a key factor when choosing a system, should we need to add cameras to other areas of the facility, we needed to be able to implement them easily and not be locked in to specific hardware,” he added.

“The camera signal strength is very good. The cameras are clear and the visual is excellent,” said Abrams. “The ability to monitor the animals gives us peace of mind and enhances our security measures. When you’re dealing with liabilities, it is really comforting to have a security system in place.”

About D-Link
D-Link is the global leader in connectivity for small, medium and large enterprise business networking. The company is an award-winning designer, developer and manufacturer of networking, broadband, digital electronics, voice, data and video communications solutions for the digital home, Small Office/Home Office (SOHO), Small to Medium Business (SMB), and Workgroup to Enterprise environments. With millions of networking and connectivity products manufactured and shipped, D-Link is a dominant market participant and price/performance leader in the networking and communications market. D-Link Systems, Inc. headquarters are located at 17595 Mt. Herrmann Street, Fountain Valley, Calif., 92708. Phone (800) 326-1688 or (714) 885-6000; FAX (866) 743-4905; Internet www.dlink.com.