SUBMISSIONS for Sydney Airport Corporation Ltd’s integrated 3500-camera IP CCTV, access control and visitor management systems at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport’s domestic and international terminals close early April.
Submissions for a working solution came after a request for expressions of interest was released by SACL late 2015 and there’s plenty of interest in and speculation about this solution from all quarters of the market.
Same as every airport, Kingsford Smith serves many masters and in the case of CCTV there are 3 primary systems – one owned and managed by SACL and others owned by Australian Customs and by Qantas, which is the largest airline operating from Sydney Airport. While these arrangements fracture functionality to some extent, they are internationally typical. In terms of system scope, SACL handles the entire premises and manages spaces throughout the entire site, including retail areas in terminals operated by Qantas and others.
There’s been plenty of speculation around SACL’s choice of preferred systems, which will come in the months after submissions close. Preferred solution providers will be asked to demonstrate their systems before a decision is made. Obviously, much depends on the existing subsystems, including alarms and access control, and whether or not budget exists to take these solutions into an IP ecosystem. If not, the new VMS and supporting components will be required to integrate with and provide an interface to the existing Honeywell EBI system.
In terms of scope, last year’s EOI included VMS, access control and management of visitors and contractors in a PSIM-type environment. The nature of the system may end up being similar to the full-IP application going on at Auckland Airport but it’s impossible to be certain at this stage. Functionally, there’s an existing fibre backbone and in terms of the integration, SACL will be handling the network side itself. This is also typical – airport IT teams are large and capable.
The overall SACL contract is set to be awarded on June 30.
* No suppliers, integrators or consultants made comment in relation to technical speculations about the SACL upgrade included in this story, which are based on our editor's general knowledge of the Sydney Airport solution and assumptions drawn from airports we've covered editorially since 1991, including Auckland Airport, Sydney Airport, NADI, Brisbane Airport, Heathrow Airport, &c, &c.
Technical speculations about the integrated nature of this system are based on operational priorities of and challenges faced during the ongoing security upgrade at Auckland Airport, and our considerable coverage of large electronic security solutions currently under construction, which by default combine CCTV, access control, visitor management, automation and process control in segregated, integrated, networked environments. – Ed.
