Growing airport security without limitations
London Heathrow Airport expands the use of Genetec solutions to meet new business requirements, increasing the value of their investment across airport operations.
The company
With four passenger terminals and one cargo terminal, London Heathrow is the UK’s busiest airport. Every year, nearly 80 million passengers and 14 million tonnes of goods pass through the airport. With so much on the go, operational efficiency is paramount. Over 76,000 employees work around the clock to manage 1,300 daily take-offs and landings, support 89 airlines that fly to 239 destinations across 89 countries, and secure the expansive 1,227-hectare site.
The challenge
“We’re essentially running a small city operation that happens to be called Heathrow,” explained Danny Long, IT Product Owner at Heathrow for physical security products. “Alongside the traditional airport security functions, we’re responsible for the monitoring of roads, retail space, three train stations, a bus terminal, offices, a church, fuel stores, a high voltage electrical network, and all the other associated infrastructure that maintains passenger flow.” To stay on top of everything, the team needed a flexible solution that could support a huge range of applications and provide reliable visibility across all airport operations.
The solution
Unified airport operations
The Heathrow team has combined various business and security systems into one platform. This provides various personnel with real-time insights that can enhance decision-making.
Flexible SDK expansion
The team can choose from an ecosystem of over 900 compatible security solutions and integrate other airport systems with Security Center using the Genetec Software Development Kit (SDK).
Scalable and adaptable platform
Genetec™ Security Center now provides 90 stakeholder groups across 110 distinct control rooms with unified visibility. All of these groups have very different access rights and requirements of the system.
Customized user dashboards
The team can create custom dashboards for different users and applications. For example, operators monitoring baggage belts can receive automated alerts if a bag falls off the carousel.
“I’d say our usage of Genetec is 50% for security and 50% for operational efficiency. My job is to translate business requirements and business challenges into workable solutions and Genetec provides me with valuable tools with which to achieve that."
Danny Long, IT Product Owner, Heathrow Airport
Results
The collaboration between Heathrow Airport and Genetec began in 2016, with the deployment of 2,000 cameras across the site. Today, the companies continue to work together on scaling and evolving the Security Center platform at Heathrow. Every year since the start, the Heathrow team has added over 500 cameras and upgraded an average of 1,500 cameras. Currently, there are 9,000 cameras deployed with plans to ultimately reach 10,000.
Genetec Security Center now provides airport security teams and third parties across its 90 stakeholder groups with unified visibility. This helps streamline passenger flow and the overall traveler experience across the airport. For instance, operators now monitor over 150km of baggage belts to ensure there are no process disruptions. They also use the AutoVu™ ANPR system, to keep track of over 150,000 vehicles entering and exiting Heathrow each day.