To prepare San Diego citizens during seasonal flooding, San Diego County is preparing to use the self-contained Dotworkz D3 XERO camera housing systems to provide real-time flood warnings to local communities at risk from flooding by recording and web broadcasting flooded harbors, waterways, public highways and property. This is in addition to the existing ALERT system already in place.

San Diego is known for having 200+ days of no rain and warm temperate conditions, but when it does rain it hits hard and impacts everyone.

In San Diego County, a partnership has evolved between the Flood Control District (FCD), the NWS, and the County Office of Emergency Services (OES). The FCD is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the ALERT Flood Warning System. When flooding conditions develop, the FCD evaluates the flooding potential presented by the ALERT data and advises the NWS and OES on possible flooding in the County. The NWS will complete the assessment of flooding potential using their resources and will issue a forecast update, special weather statement, flash flood watch, or flash flood warning. OES will pass along the NWS warnings and watches to relevant agencies within San Diego County and will coordinate Disaster Relief Operations whenever necessary.

An ALERT system is characterized by its real-time nature, accomplished by the instantaneous transmission of weather events primarily by radio transmission, and to a lesser extent by satellite, telephone, and cell phone transmission. To expand on this the County needed self-contained, semi-portable complete camera solutions. After reviewing the Dotworkz D3 XERO solution the system features made choosing Dotworkz an easy decision.

The D3 XERO is a complete video system that includes an onboard Windows Embedded 500GB NVR that can be loaded with almost any Video Management Software such as Milestone, ONNSI, Axis or Sony video recording software. The open platform nature of choosing your own premium recording and management software option opened up the features needed to store and manage video long term. Since the D3 housing can protect the camera, NVR and wireless AirCard 3G router the installation was able to be performed by internal County staff in hours by simply installing the camera and supplying low voltage power. The units were installed on existing light poles and outfitted with powerful Sony PTZ cameras.

In addition, the D3 cargo space has room for components that make the solution ideal, not only to provide real-time flood warning, but can also monitor water resource parameters such as: winds, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, groundwater levels, soil moisture, fuel moisture, water temperature, water quality, and evaporation. ALERT field transmitters inside the enclosure can also perform physical functions such as activating low water crossing flood warning gates and signals, raising flood control barriers, or setting off warning sirens.

For information on how to create an ALERT system contact us at Dotworkz (866) 575-4689 and choose Technical Support.

Since we are in the business of protecting outdoor deployed live video cameras and providing blazing fast NVRs for recording, we want to show off all of our solutions to you in our Dotworkz Training Center in live streaming IP video.

We installed the Dotworkz Studio Camera to help our partners, distributors, and remote sales reps easily learn about our extensive product line without having to leave their offices. Our setup is similar to WebEx, but with a more personal feel. All you need is a PC with internet connection to watch the training session and a phone line to listen, learn and ask questions about our products. This system is powered by our own USRelay.com, which broadcasts and transcodes the live feed into Flash Video format so that the camera can be viewed across all browser platforms worldwide.

The popularity and usability of this system is growing so rapidly that we hold at least two sessions per day. Our live training sessions are available by invitation, however we can create a spontaneous live broadcast on request during most business hours.

If you are a Dotworkz partner and would like to set up a live studio cam for training and promoting Dotworkz products please contact us to find out more.

Check out our Live Dotworkz Studio Camera and Training Center Page.

Hey integrators... this one's for you:

Before I dive into our crazy cool new product, I will first introduce myself: I'm Dotworkz Operations Manager. I've been involved in the integration business for 11 years. Needless to say I'm an install snob - it needs to be easy and it needs to look good. I have seen some really ugly installs and would personally like an end to the madness.

My job is all about details and while I'm not always interacting with integrators directly my team and I work hard to make your life easier. Dotworkz D2 and D3 camera housings have so many different applications, additions and options available - it's mind blowing! We've seen it all: wireless 3G, mounted strobe lights, one-way speakers, antennas, power packs, mini NVRs, solar panels... you get the point. I know you integrators thrive on the challenge of installing the newest security gadget to our housings. So I felt it was about time to help you master minds out in the field.

Our team has developed "Integrator's Kits" to help ease the headaches of complex integrations and in turn give you more time to tuck in those wires and plan your next Dotworkz install. These kits include everything that is needed to build and adapt to any option you want to add to your Dotworkz housing.

One of my personal favorites is our strobe light kit. This kit includes an outdoor-rated blue strobe light, external mounting bracket (which can also be used for mounting antennas), internal power supply mounted on an accessory tray and all the hardware you'll need to do the job without stepping foot into a Home Depot. Not only does a strobe light increase the effectiveness of your system, now it's really easy to install. And most important, it looks good.

We have numerous other kits to help you increase the value to your integration while keeping it simple and clean.

Here's a list of our new and amazing kits:

• KT-STBB - STROBE LIGHT KIT: includes strobe light, raised rear accessory bracket and cabling
• KT-CDR2 - D2 COOLDOME 12V OUTDOOR POWER PACK POLE MOUNT KIT: includes outdoor rated 110/220 to 12v power supply, pole mount power bracket, pre wired plug and play system
• KT-CDR3 - D3 COOLDOME AND XERO OUTDOOR POWER PACK POLE MOUNT KIT: includes 2 outdoor rated 110/220 to 12v power supply, pole mount power bracket, pre wired plug and play system
• KT-CDRST - S-TYPE COOLDOME OUTDOOR POWER KIT: includes outdoor rated 110/220 to 12v power supply, pole mount power bracket, pre wired plug and play system
• KT-SU24DC - POWER STEP UP 12DC TO 24DC UPGRADE KIT
• KT-XERO - NVR-XERO D2/D3 INTEGRATION KIT: includes everything needed to integrate the xero nvr into any of dotworkz environmental housings
• KT-XERO-XL - NVR-XERO-XL D2/D3 INTEGRATION KIT: includes everything needed to integrate the xero-xl nvr into any of dotworkz environmental housings
• KT-WACC-HV - COMPONENT WIRELESS ACCESSORY KIT: FOR 15 V UNITS, 12 V UNITS and 5V UNITS

Please send pictures of your latest install to me at integrators@dotworkz.com. There's nothing that makes my day better than spoting a good looking Dotworkz Enclosure at work. Oh yeah, you can find these kits through any of our amazing Distributers.

Click Here for a Detailed Product List (Google Docs Spreadsheet)
Click Here to Send Me Your Pictures and Feedback

The Dotworkz Ladies are kicking some major butt so far this year, and it's not just in production, marketing, and business development. Since our office is located directly next to San Diego's Throwdown Elite Training Center we like to keep our minds and bodies active before and after office hours by participating in one of the many MMA classes available.

Our favorite class? Kickboxing/Muay Thai where our instructor works us out for an intense hour of throwing blows to punching bags and padded partners. The class gives us a chance to get in shape, physically and mentally, so that when the work day begins we're ready for anything that comes our way.

Some other classes our team partakes in are Boxing, where we enforce our Shipping and Receiving practices by boxing it up; CrossFit, which teaches us proper muscle Management skills; Yoga for Accounting on our bodies' assets; Assembly at Kettlebells, which promotes a build as tough as our Enclosures; and Abs Conditioning for a strong Sales core.

But Tiffany Ferris, Kristin Jensen, and myself (pictured) keep each other motivated by attending classes regularly and encouraging our colleagues to come Kick It at the Throwdown.

So the next time you think of Dotworkz rugged camera housing systems don't forget that the team behind them know what tough means!"

To learn more about Live Video streaming check out the USRelay eLiveStream page.