Only 15 to 20 of Barnet Council’s 3,000 cameras were operational before the council replaced its ageing infrastructure with i-PRO’s edge-AI cameras — a decision that cut the projected five-year cost by an estimated £600,000 and turned a security network into a live urban-analytics platform.
The London borough, the capital’s most populous with close to 350,000 residents, partnered with i-PRO and systems integrator DSSL on a phased upgrade centred on i-PRO’s X-series AI Processing Relay Application, integrated with an upgraded Genetec video management system. Rather than routing footage to central servers for analysis, each camera processes analytics locally — people counts, vehicle movements, heat-maps — and transmits only metadata, reducing network load while enabling faster data retrieval.
“A key factor in the decision was the ability of i-PRO cameras to serve as multifunctional sensors, capturing both security footage and valuable urban analytics. The cameras are used for people and vehicle counting, feeding real-time data into Power BI for internal council reports,” said Aaron Stephens, Managing Director at DSSL Systems. The same capability extends to fisheye cameras installed in the borough’s unmanned libraries, where heat-mapping and automated people-counting support lockdown procedures.
The deployed estate so far comprises 127 X-series bullet cameras, 10 fisheye units in libraries, and dual-view 5G re-deployable cameras used at festivals and outdoor events to track attendance. All comply with NDAA cyber-security requirements; the system does not use facial recognition.
Forensic investigation also benefits from the tight Genetec integration. “The i-PRO forensic capabilities are directly embedded within Genetec Security Center, which enables control room operators to quickly find specific objects or events by filtering through attributes and characteristics captured by the cameras. This speeds up the investigative process and enhances collaboration with the Metropolitan Police,” said Benjamin Durrant, Account Executive at Genetec UK & Ireland.
Cost and scalability drove the camera-level processing choice. “Unlike traditional server-based AI technology, which place a heavy burden on network infrastructure, i-PRO cameras process analytics on the edge, transmitting only metadata rather than large video files,” Stephens explained. With a £1 million initial outlay, the council avoided the server infrastructure, space, and cooling costs that a centralised approach would have required. Phase two — 60 to 70 additional bullet cameras — has already been approved.
“With an initial £1 million investment, the council has maximised existing infrastructure to expand its data capabilities without significant additional spending. Phase two of the project, which has already been approved, will see the addition of 60-70 new i-PRO bullet cameras,” Stephens said.
Looking further out, Barnet is trialling automatic number plate recognition and evaluating IoT integrations including environmental sensors, flood detection, and traffic-signal coordination. Governance approval is still required before the council publicly shares results from its analytics deployments.
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