From Outdated To Updated

Apr 1, 2007 12:00 PM

Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport — Colorado's fourth busiest — uses Brivo's ACS WebService to control access to the aircraft operating area. Protection One, a nationally authorized reseller of the Brivo system, won the contract for installation and maintenance.

Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport has more than 180,000 take-offs and landings each year, is home to a number of flight and helicopter schools, and is the North American headquarters for Pilatus Business Aircraft. At any one time, the Brivo system manages more than 2,300 active security cards being used by airport and related personnel as well as service providers to airport businesses.

The airport originally installed an access control system that was cumbersome and inefficient. The wireless component did not work, which forced the staff to perform manual uploads and downloads at each access point. When the existing access control software became outdated, the airport had to upgrade, and management began looking for a system that was user-friendly, easy to maintain — and with wireless connectivity that worked. “The Brivo system was the low bid because the wireless component kept the install price affordable,” says Brett Miller, operations manager.

Miller continues: “Given our experience, I had doubts about the wireless, but even with a really tough winter this year, we haven't had any problem. The system has met expectations in reducing man-hours and cutting overhead from an IT standpoint. Unlike our previous system, we can track and query in a timely manner.”

Brivo panels are installed at all 13 airport gates. Eleven of the gates are controlled by the wireless (cellular) version of the control panel, and two of them are controlled by IP-based controllers. Brett and his staff do a monthly audit to maintain control over the changing population of more than 2,300 badgeholders. In addition, the system is programmed to provide redundant alerts — to Miller and staff, and to the 24-hour agent-on-duty's cell phone — in the event of gate failures. Such event notifications, set up by a system administrator, may be delivered via email, phone or pager.

The airport was looking for two additional features that were quickly incorporated into the product offering for the airport: Badging and 50 customer-definable fields. Due to the hosted architecture of the Brivo solution, it was easy to take these requests and make them a reality. “Airports, particularly in the important medium-range size, are a growing market for Brivo,” says Bob Mosler, Brivo executive vice president of sales and marketing.

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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