State-of-the-art card readers - British Airport AuthorityA BSIA member has worked with BAA to control access at its airports for over fifteen years. Today, the seven airports combined have more than 3500 card readers installed and over 240,000 active cardholders with the systems handling more than 4.5 million card swipes per month.
BAA is the world’s leading airport company at the heart of the world’s transport network and serves 128 million passengers, 67% of the UK total at its airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen).
For over ten years, the three London airports – Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted – have been networked, allowing their valid cardholders to go from one airport to another. This equates to a linked system with more than 3000 readers, handling 218,000 active cardholders, making it the largest airport system in the world. This link has now been successfully extended to include all seven airports.
From its initial installation, the BSIA member has worked with BAA to develop the system in response to each airport’s needs and to offer more than simply an access control solution. Over the years, functionality has been added to each system in response to changing legislation in the aviation industry and as the airports grow.
Today, the system provides an integrated business solution that is continuously designed to help BAA run its airports more efficiently.
From using VIPPS (Visual Imaging Pass Production System) to control the issue and invoicing of operational access control cards, to configuring readers to assist in the movement and segregation of passengers, the BSIA member company has provided BAA with a dedicated airport security management system.
The member’s readers allow doors to operate in a variety of modes as required in the airport environment. Other than simply providing individual staff access, specified readers are configured at each of the BAA airports to permit passengers to enter a controlled area and to allow airline staff to easily segregate arriving and departing passengers.
As BAA airports evolve, major development plans are commonplace and construction areas need to be secured. The BSIA member company provides a range of portable readers to assist this. BAA uses the member’s hand held reader at temporary checkpoints and for random security spot checks. The pre-downloaded database held in the mobile card reader ensures only authorised cardholders can gain access to construction sites.
In 2003, the BSIA member completed a major project to upgrade the system hardware and software across all seven airports. This ensured the systems would continue to offer an exceptionally high level of resilience well into the future.
Click here to find a BSIA member who can install state-of-the-art card reading systems.
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