August 2009 - Bus Station Security
Optimum carry out sign off tests on a new Bus Station CCTV and Help Point system in West Yorkshire.

August 2009 - Listed Building CCTV and IT network Consultancy
Optimum produced the Specification and Tender, and carried out the Tender Review of a CCTV system and extension of the Council IT network for a Listed Building in West Yorkshire.

July 2009 - Berkshire Wireless Camera Extension
Optimum are reviewing the CCTV systems, upgrade to digital and possible integration into a single system for two CCTV Control Rooms in Hampshire

June 2009 - Berkshire CCTV Review
Optimum are reviewing a Berkshire CCTV system to look at the effectiveness of the camera locations and control room monitoring.

March 2009 - CCTV Control Room Feasibility and Budgetary Costings
Optimum have produced the capital and revenue costs for a Local Authority seeing to build a new CCTV Control Room in East Anglia.

Dec 2008 - Monitoring Fees Review
Optimum are reviewing CCTV Monitoring fees around the UK on behalf of local authority

Dec 2008 - Digital Video Recorder Tender
Optimum have been asked to produce the specification and tender for a Digital Video Recorder for a local authority in Oxfordshire

Nov 2008 - CCTV Strategy Support
Optimum have been asked to assist a local authority in carrying out an internal review of CCTV and preparing a CCTV Strategy

Nov 2008 - East Anglia Control Room Relocation
Optimum are carrying out a Feasibility Study into the costs and options of relocating a City Centre CCTV control room including re-routing of the private fibre network

Oct 2008 - Industrial Estate CCTV
Optimum are carrying out a Feasibility Study into the costs and options of installing CCTV in Industrial Estate near Leeds

Oct 2008 - Park CCTV
Optimum are carrying out a Feasibility Study into the costs and options of installing CCTV in large park in West Yorkshire

Sep 2008 - Wireless CCTV Camera Expansion
Optimum will produce the specifcation and tender for 3 Wireless cameras, linked on a city wide IP network to the control room

June 2008 - Private Fibre Upgrade Project
Optimum have been appointed to oversee the upgrade from copper cabling to Fibre Optics for a town centre CCTV system in the East Midlands.

Feb 2008 - Huddersfield Camera Expansion Feasibility Study
Optimum are carrying out a Feasibility Study for an expansion of the Huddersfield CCTV system

June 2008 - Oxford DVR Tender
Optimum have been asked to prepare the tender for are carrying out a Feasibility Study for an expansion of the Huddersfield CCTV system

Jan 2008 - Buckinghamshire Consultancy
Optimum have been appointed to carry out a review and tender for upgrades to digital recording for a CCTV Control Room in Buckinghamshire

Jan 2008 - Oxfordshire CCTV Partnership Contract
Optimum are carrying out a review of Public Space CCTV in Oxfordshire for each of the District Councils

Dec 2008 - Tender Evaluations West Yorkshire
Optimum are carrying out Tender Evaluations for a digital recording scheme for Huddersfield Control Room

Nov 2007 - Consultancy Contract for East Anglia
Optimum are carrying out the consultancy for the upgrades to the Yarmouth and Lowestoft CCTV Control Rooms

Sept 2007 - Leeds CCTV Managers take Level 3 Advanced Course
CCTV Supervisors in Leeds City Council are the first in the country to be trained to the new Level 3 Advanced Award for CCTV Supervisors. Optimum was pleased to deliver this new course pushing forward professional development and providing qualifications for CCTV Supervisors

Sept 2007 - West Yorkshire Control Room Technical Consultancy
Optimum has been appointed to provide technical consultancy for the relocation and expansion of a new control room in West Yorkshire

July 2007 - Phill Toghill takes over as Head of Training
Phill takes over from Terry Pearce to head up the Training Division leaving Terry to focus on consultancy projects

June 2007 - Maintenance Contract Consultancy
Optimum are to help a Local Authority in the East Midlands with the renewal of their maintenance contract and provide additional consultancy services.

May 2007 - Yorkshire CCTV Control Rooms Integration Project
Optimum have been appointed by a consortium of Local Authorities to examine a common approach to upgrading to Digital Video Recording and to allow better Control Room Integration and exchange of information between 6 control rooms in Yorkshire.
Optimum are also evaluating a range of transmission options to facilitate this.

May 2007 - New Control Rooms Feasibility Report
Optimum are assisting a Local Authority in the North of England with costings for a Control Room Relocation including building, equipment, transmission and staffing costs.

April 2007 - Camera Expansion Consultancy
Optimum will be helping a Local Authority in South West London with an expansion of their Town Centre CCTV System

March 2007 - New Training Courses Available
Optimum are now talking bookings for the new Conflict Management and Intervention and Handcuff Training courses and for the CCTV Control Room Operation Course aimed at Supervisors and Managers.
Click here for more information

March 2007 - CCTV Transmission Consultancy Project Awarded
Optimum have awarded the task of carry out a feasibility study with budgetary costings investigating alternative methods for transmitting images from cameras in a number of towns and villages in the East Midlands back to an existing CCTV Control Room

February 2007 - Digital Video Recording Consultancy Contract
Optimum have been appointed to provide the Specification and Tender for the upgrade to Digital Video Recording for the Kings Lynn Town Centre CCTV Control Room.

January 2007 - Two new Town Centre CCTV Schemes get underway
Optimum are to oversee the installation of two new Town Centre CCTV systems in Worcestershire this month, having previously carried out a full feasibility study and budgetary costing of the scheme, producing the Specification and Tender Documentation and assisting in the appointment of a contactor

Selection of Older News

December 2006 - Consultancy Contract Awarded using a Council IT Network to Transmit CCTV Images from several Small Towns
Optimum are to provide consultancy services to a Local Authority in Wales to link the CCTV cameras in a number of small towns to a central control room using the council Wide Area IT network.

November 2006 - Norwich City Centre CCTV System Opens
Optimum are proud that new £500,000 upgrade to the City CCTV system was officially opened this month.
Optimum reviewed the existing Norwich system and specified a new control room fit out, the very latest digital recording system, a new GUI and also specified City wide CCTV camera upgrades. We oversaw the tendering and then Project Managed the installation. Everyone involved at Optimum was proud to see the official opening of the new control room. A copy of the local news report can be read here

October 2006 - Optimum chosen as Finalist for the Security Excellence Awards
Security Management Today (SMT) Magazine has picked Optimum as a finalist for the Security Excellence Awards 2006.

Optimum are delighted to be picked as a finalist as an acknowledgement of all the hard work and dedication of our Training Team.

May 2006 - National Training Centre opens in Corby

Optimum has opened its new Training Centre in Corby, Northamptonshire.
The centre is used to carry out SIA Approved Public Space CCTV Operator Training Courses including the exam at the end of the course. We run courses every month from Corby.
For information on training, please look at our training pages.

Corby is located between the M1 and A1, and is between Leicester, Peterborough and Northampton.

January 2006 - Optimum has a stand at IFSEC, 8th to 11th May 2006.
Optimum will be in Hall 7 at IFSEC this year.
Please drop in to discuss SIA Training or our Consultancy, Feasibility Study, Long Term Strategy, Tendering and Project Management packages.

September 2005 - New Admin Offices for Optimum
The Optimum admin office has moved to Finstock, near Witney. The new offices have a larger meeting room facility which is ideal for presentations and training courses. Our telephone numbers remain the same. Our new address is on the contacts page.

July 2005 - Optimum awarded Training contract for the DVLA
Optimum are proud to have been awarded a 2 year contract with the Department of Transport to deliver Security Guard and CCTV Operator's training courses. 50 staff at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in Swansea will receive both courses during the remainder of 2005.

March 2005 - Itell Integrates
Previously operating as Itell Associates Training Centre with Edexcel, all of their training provision is now fully integrated and providing training services as Optimum Training Centre.

February 2005 - Colchester Claims UK first
Optimum delivered their accredited "CCTV Control Room Operation at BTEC Units 1 & 2", awarded by Edexcel, to 21 CCTV Operating staff in Colchester Borough Council. Upon completion they met the SIA standard for Public Space Surveillance Licensing. CBC Operational Services Manager, Robert Needham, (former Essex Police Officer) stated: "This has been an excellent course for our operators and follows on from the previous training we have done... we are the first authority in the UK to have completed the licensing course."

February 2005 - CCTV Operator Training: a BTEC - 'SIA compliant' - course
Optimum has worked closely with Linda Sharpe and her team in the Security Industry Authority on developing the training curriculum of competency requirements deemed as a minimum "entry-level" for Front-Line Licensing. Much of the course content previously used by Optimum Training Centre will be used by the SIA. The features of practical modules in a 'real' environment and 'sector-competent' training staff will be critical. Optimum's awarding body is Edexcel that accredits to BTEC standards.

SIA "Entry Level" Requirements:

• 30 hours training over 2 units to their specific curriculum
• CCTV Public Space Surveillance operators must be licensed by the 20th March 2006

January 2005 - SIA announce dates for licensing CCTV (PSS) Operators
The SIA has released dates for contracted-out CCTV Public Space Surveillance operator licensing. Commencement date for License applications will be 27th June 2005. An SIA License will be required from 20th March 2006. This means that operators must be fully trained to the new national training standards by an accredited training provider and have received certification and their licence by 20th March 2006.  See Training section

November 2004 - Optimum awarded Project Management for a major Tower Block CCTV/Concierge Project
Optimum have been awarded the contract to a produce the technical specification, manage the tendering process and oversee the installation of a CCTV, Concierge and Door Entry system that will network data from over 40 high-rise tower blocks and 5 other sites to a Central Monitoring Station. In total there are over 450 cameras on the fully digital system using the latest Video over IP and Voice over IP Technology.