"Even though there are only 15 cameras, we can cover a great deal of area," he said.Dechaineux was also seeking a system that was automated.

"If an event occurred at 3:30am, you just click on the bar and up comes a picture for that event," he said.

"We also have a DVD recorder so we can download a particular event for further investigation or to hand over to the police.

"We specified that we wanted to have a 30-day holding period for all 15 cameras before they started recording over previous space, which also meant that we needed a server with enough memory in it to provide that kind of support - over 100 terabytes all up."

While each camera has an IP address, Dechaineux said the airport is pretty remote from town and is linked by copper telephone lines, so broadband does not really work.