Chris Lane, co-founder of Envirocoms’ head company Coastalcoms, says they were doing IP streaming before IP cameras existed, incorporating the Milestone open platform into its monitoring system due to its flexibility and robust levels of support. “We have long believed that IP was the way of the future. So it was logical that we would gravitate to the software platform leading the IP video revolution which is Milestone. It supports so many different cameras and we can really dig into the software to tailor it to our specifications.”

Lane and his team have used Milestone Xprotect software in their solutions since 2009. The system primarily monitored wave heights, measured shoreline erosion and calculated beach population density. This has been done internationally in partnership with various coastguards and city councils to improve beach safety and analyse risk prevention tactics. Envirocoms customers include Coastalwatch, Surf Life Saving, port authorities and governmental departments, and other specialised consultancy groups.

“We use the Milestone software rules engine to drive cameras based on time profiles,” says Envirocoms senior application developer Nigel Sim. “We glean recordings for those profiles where our video extraction and processing (VEAP) system digs through the workflow and processes the results.”

Envirocoms has been using Amazon cloud-hosted infrastructure since 2007 which allows Lane and Sim to run cameras on beaches across California, Hawaii and Australia and quickly push video to a command centre without needing individuals on each beach manning the equipment. “Choosing the right cloud infrastructure was an important piece of this puzzle,” Sim says. “And we love how well Amazon and Milestone work together. We’ve never had any issues when it comes to storage.”