For people interested in picturesque beauty and outdoor activities like hiking, camping, and fishing, this lakeside county in the Midwest is hard to beat. The county features one of the world’s largest arrays of freshwater lakes—1,318, all formed by glaciers—as well as 73 rivers and streams. This paradise offers hundreds of thousands of acres of public land and nearly 90 recreational trails that are enjoyed by bikers, hikers, and other outdoors fans.
It is no surprise that tourism is at the core of the country’s economy. Logging, forestry, construction, and government also help support its population of over 23,000. The bucolic county was founded in 1893.
In this lakeside county, governance is centered in its main city, a popular vacation and retirement spot. The city houses essential government facilities like a courthouse, jail, and others, all backed by a local data center. Initially relying on VHS cameras proved impractical due to the need for frequent tape replacements, making the process cumbersome, time-consuming, and costly.
The county transitioned to digital cameras, storing surveillance footage on an HPE MSA storage device when the technology became available. However, the IT Director noted that the HPE solution was expensive and lacked the necessary throughput as they expanded their camera network, posing challenges for the county with budget constraints.
The county firstly replaced its HPE system with a 4U, 24-bay QSAN XCubeSAN 3224D system. “QSAN platform is very cost effective for the amount of storage we needed and also preserves abundant performance and scalibility to support our future expansion ” said the IT director. “There was nothing on the market close to it for the price-performance ratio. Once we saw how great it worked and its value, it was easy to buy additional units as our storage demands grew.”
The county now has four QSAN XS3224D systems, three at its data center and one at a facility several miles away that serves as backup. The county has nearly 200 digital cameras at its jail and courthouse continuously covering every hallway and corridor as well as the grounds outside. The county is replacing its current cameras with high-definition 4K cameras, with some able to record audio as well as video.
The video footage is sent to the Milestone system, which stores it on two QSAN XS3224D systems for 14 days and then compressed and kept for 121 days in compliance with the statutes of the state. These devices store over 600 terabytes of surveillance files.
For even greater security, the county deploys its third QSAN platform for disaster recovery, and uses Veeam software to back up its important files and records on the fourth QSAN device at the remote site. The county performs full backups weekly and incremental backups over the course of each week.
We’re here to help you find the best, most cost‑effective solution for your business.
