CEM secures £5m departure lounge BAA Southampton

Belfast-based security and access control supplier CEM Systems has successfully secured the new departure lounge at BAA Southampton airport, recently voted as ‘Top UK Airport’.

The redeveloped departure lounge is now fully secure and open for business following the £5 million investment project which doubled the size of the lounge area and added new catering facilities and seating capacity.

Having used the CEM AC2000 AE (Airport Edition) system for over a decade, the Airport has extended the system to secure the balcony level departure lounge using CEM’s new S600e card readers at each door control point, including the 'Business Express' fast track access point.

Richard Fulton, General Manager at CEM Systems said: "In an airport environment where change is the only constant the AC2000 AE system provides airport authorities with a long term solution offering flexibility and an endless scope for development.

"This is reflected in CEM’s approach to continuously produce industry leading technology, such as the S600e card reader, that meets our clients needs."

With on-board Ethernet connectivity, graphic LCD display and an internal database, CEM hail the 600e is one of the industry’s most advanced and future proof card readers. The reader communicates directly with the central system Server without the need for additional hardware. This provided the Airport with an easy to install and cost effective way to expand their system to the new doors.

The reader’s internal database can hold more than 100,000 cards in offline mode ensuring that card access validation is always provided even if it is offline from the central system. This is particularly important in an airport environment where airside doors need to be secured and monitored at all times.

The flexibility of the reader is further enhanced with the ability to be remotely programmed from a host computer without having to physically replace reader firmware. This ensures that changes and operational parameters that will be required over time are quickly and easily downloaded to the installed readers.

Having recently announced their 25 year blueprint for the future, BAA Southampton is planning to grow further as one of Europe’s leading regional airports. Using the AC2000 AE system and with these developments in mind, the airport can continue to expand and secure any future developments with ease.

CEM Systems, part of Tyco Fire & Security’s Access Control and Video Systems business unit, designs and manufactures integrated security management systems including the advanced AC2000 system.

For further information on CEM Systems visit www.cemsys.com.

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