Using open platform video in heart of Nashville

With nearly 3,000 rooms and 15 restaurants, the 700,000-square-foot Marriott Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center offers a wide range of attractions, including an outdoor golf course and nine acres of indoor gardens — all underneath climate-controlled glass atriums.  

Risk management is critical at this enormous property located in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee's country music scene, according to Greg Pezzo, Director of Safety and Security for Gaylord Opryland Resort.

Pezzo and his team work to ensure the safety and security of the 2,500-member staff and hundreds of thousands of guests each year at the Gaylord Opryland and at the nearby 300-room Inn at Opryland.  

After conducting a risk assessment four years ago, management invested in additional security staff and new security vehicles. They also committed to investing nearly $2.5 million in a new video surveillance system, which included new cameras, system servers, and video analytics — all managed by the open platform Milestone XProtect^® Corporate video management software (VMS) from Milestone Systems.

With the pandemic, Pezzo’s team has not only dealt with a reduction in visitors and guests, but also reduced staffing. The new video system allows the smaller security group to continue to cover the entire property. Pezzo has dispatchers around the clock who monitor the video system in real-time, as well as an investigator who reviews recorded video of anything out of the ordinary, such as a car parked in a restricted area or a trespasser in a back-of-house area. The motion detection tools built into the Milestone VMS help with this type of surveillance.

"We never had motion detection before, and it has helped us greatly with our staffing levels," said Pezzo.  

Milestone’s Smart Wall system also helps each shift of operators easily manage their camera views.