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India's Reliance uses Cardax FT

Cardax FT has been implemented as the platform of choice for one of the largest integrated security systems in the world at India’s Reliance Group.

The Reliance Group, founded by Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), is India’s largest business house with total revenues of over US$ 22.6 billion, cash profit of US$ 2,8 billion, net profit of US$ 1,4 billion and exports of US$ 3,6 billion. Reliance Group’s revenue is equivalent to 3,5% of India’s GDP. The Group contributes nearly 10% of the country’s indirect tax revenues and over 6% of India’s exports.

The Group’s activities span exploration and production (E&P) of oil and gas, refining and marketing, petrochemicals (polyester, polymers, and intermediates), textiles, financial services and insurance, power, telecom and Infocomm initiatives. The Group exports its products to more than 100 countries. Reliance emerged as India’s Most Admired Business House, for the fourth successive year in a TNS Mode survey for 2004.

From late 1999 to 2002 Reliance built the backbone for a digital India – 60 000 kilometres of fibre-optic backbone, crisscrossing the entire country. Reliance Infocomm (RIC) network is a Pan India, high capacity, integrated (wireless and wireline) and convergent (voice, data and video) digital network, designed to offer services that span the entire Infocomm value chain – infrastructure, services for enterprises and individuals, applications and consulting. Reliance Infocomm HQ, Petroleum HQ, National HQ and a number of other organisations are based at the Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) which is like a university campus spread over 150 acres with 15 buildings in total.

The DAKC security automation project is one of the largest integrated security systems in the world. The statistics from this site are impressive. The DAKC has over 100 000 cardholders, 222 Cardax FT Controllers, 736 doors, 841 access zones, and 266 alarm zones.

* Total access events for six months to March 2005 were 36 365 796 with an average per day of 241 302.

* Total events for six months to March 2005 were 43 095 392 with an average per day of 321 601.

Amidst this huge volume of traffic, and in keeping with their guiding principles, Reliance succeeds in making site security unobtrusive and invisible through integrated access control, alarms management, and DVR systems all managed through one core system, Cardax FT, from Gallagher Security Management Systems.

Rajan Luthra, head of security technology with Reliance, states Reliance chose Cardax FT because it was manufactured and marketed by a leading company in the security market and, on a feature-to-feature basis the system was “by far superior to any other system at the time”.

Luthra adds, “We do not have any regrets with our choice”. Reliance, an early adopter of technology, implemented its Cardax system in 1999 with the F2K and Sewree sites. Initially the system was challenged to meet the load placed on it, however, with the implementation of Cardax FT Version 4.10 performance improved dramatically.

In the face of significant physical distance and time difference between India and Gallagher Head Office in New Zealand, Rajan Luthra comments, “I was impressed with the overall dedication and commitment of the Cardax technical support team.” Gallagher Security Management Systems was able to effectively provide assistance remotely through a high level of interaction between Reliance staff and Cardax technical staff, and through assistance from a very hands-on business development manager.

A key issue in Reliance’s choice of Cardax was its ability to meet their current and future requirements. Seamless integration with CCTV and video cameras for event linked video has been achieved. Video integration with alarms and events provides an audit trail of events. Cardax FT interfaces with a number of systems at Reliance.

Cardholder data from the Cardax FT system is shared with other systems to streamline processes and maximise efficiencies in cardholder management. When an employee joins the company, their personal data is put into an ‘e-joining’ HR module in SAP, Cardax Photo ID captures their image and their ID card is produced. Reliance’s interface between Cardax FT and SAP saves time in the card issuing process. Cardholder data flows into the Cardax system from SAP on a daily basis. Data from DVR cameras and Cardax readers is captured as people enter and exit each building through turnstiles. Reliance extracts this information collected in Cardax for time and attendance verification and utilises an output for Cardax FT into their payroll system for accurate payroll management.

Centralisation of control and use of smartcards also facilitates control of property. Reliance once had 60 hard disks removed from the sites by an internal maintenance person and these were recovered within 48 hours as the thief’s identity was verified using Cardax access logs and video images. The Cardax system has proven itself time and again as it facilitates detection of any crime against company assets.

Reliance today has over 1000 doors networked across a number of sites controlled with Cardax. There is now only 0,5% to 1% incidence of tailgating. Every access control event into security zones is audited for transgression using the recorded video clip. If a cardholder allows someone else to enter an area the incident is recorded and they are sent an e-mail advising them not to do it again. A copy is sent to their head of department. This no-nonsense stance on access enforced by the corporate chief of security and vigilance of Reliance Group has resulted in a new company culture in which all employees as well as housekeeping staff appreciate the importance of security and access control and adhere to requirements.

Reliance is growing at a fast pace which means there are ever growing demands on the Cardax system. While their system currently has divisions partitioned and a couple of sites integrated, in the future Reliance plans to integrate multiple sites and extend their visitor management system.

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