Vangel Paper Puts Port Networks Systems To Use In New Way

Vangel Paper Inc., which manages office recycling programs for businesses throughout the region, is using digital video cameras and servers packaged by Port Networks to maintain electronic records of its document destruction efforts.

The move represents an expansion of Port Networks' wireless Internet business. General Manager Hugh Bethell is hopeful these new applications -- video over the Internet and the increasingly popular Voice over IP -- will drive demand for the bandwidth his company's wireless network is set up to deliver.

Vangel Paper, meanwhile, avoids having to buy an expensive closed-circuit television system to maintain video records of the documents it destroys, as many account agreements require.

"Now we have a way to monitor, record and replay everything that goes on in our secured shredding facility, right from our desktop [personal computers], at a very reasonable price," Account Manager Jim Blanchard said.

Port Networks' system costs Vangel about $100 a month, the two companies said.

Images from each camera are stored on a hard drive and are available to customers for three months.

Closed-circuit television systems are widely used for security, surveillance and safety purposes -- monitoring highway traffic, for example.

"We've packaged some of the newest video-over-Internet technology into a powerful, easy-to-use system," said Bethell. "I think the days of analog CCTV systems are numbered now that digital video and network storage have become so affordable." American City Business Journals Inc.