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Securing luxury

Effective access control secures £4 billion development.

Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort (MBSIR) is one of the world’s most challenging construction projects and the most expensive standalone integrated resort property ever built. The £4 billion development will change the face of Singapore’s tourism industry. To secure this impressive site, Marina Bay Sands chose the CEM AC2000 SE (Standard Edition) security management system. The fully integrated access control system will allow visitors, staff and tourists to feel secure while enjoying the atmosphere of the newly built resort. The CEM AC2000 SE system was installed by CEM Approved Resellers, Certis Cisco.

Marina Bay Sands

MBSIR is one of the most remarkable leisure destinations ever created. Located along the Marina Bay waterfront in Singapore, the MBSIR includes 2500 rooms, two theatres, a nightclub, a Las Vegas style casino and a museum which will be showcasing international exhibitions. The hotel, which is made up of three, 55 storey towers, boasts a spectacular landscaped roof garden with swimming pool.

The £4 billion project required a high-end security system and opted for the CEM AC2000 SE system. AC2000 SE offers a flexible solution, providing a fully integrated access control, alarm processing and photo badging system. The system secures access to important areas such as the casino vault and specialised security departments used to survey the casino floor. CEM’s range of hardware products, including intelligent IP card readers, S610e and S610f fingerprint readers have been installed in various high security areas, with third-party readers installed at less secure areas.

IP access readers

MBSIR had over 500 S610e access control readers. The S610e reader supports all card technologies and has a large graphical LCD which is used to display a number of messages to cardholders depending on their privileges eg, ‘Access Denied’, ‘Wrong Time Zone’, ‘Card Expired’. The reader, which has on-board Ethernet connection, communicates directly with the AC2000 host server removing the need for an intelligent control pane in the system design. With an internal database, the S610e gives full off-line card validation and decision making at the point of entry, even when host communication is not available.

The project also used over 100 S610f fingerprint readers to control access to restricted areas where an additional biometric layer of security is required eg, entrance into casino vault. The LCD will display predefined messages such as ‘Place Finger’ and ‘Bad Biometric’.

PoE+ technology was used throughout Marina Bay Sands. Where a high level of security is required and cabling must be kept to a minimum, the CEM DIU 230 (PoE+ Door Interface Unit) offers the ideal solution. It is the first controller in the industry to reliably supply power and communications to a complete door set via one Cat 5e/6 cable. The key benefit of the DIU 230 PoE+ is that it eliminates the need for both a mains connection and a local power supply to the door; therefore there are no door supplies anywhere within the resort.

Fully integrated

The MBSIR project required integration with a number of external systems. CEM was required to integrate with the Central Control and Monitoring System, (CCMS) the Key Management System, the CCTV system and the HR system amongst others.

The BacNet protocol was used for HLI (High Level Interface) to the CCMS system. The HLI allowed CEM to send water leak state to the CCMS. If a water leak is detected the CEM system would send alarms to the CCMS. This was an important issue because the hotel has a roof top pool therefore any water leaks could result in serious consequences.

The security team at MBSIR requested an XML interface from the HR system to the CEM access control system in order to populate basic staff information. It was important for the MBSIR security team to be able to efficiently manage employee details. The interface fields can be used for collecting uniforms, fast food access and ID badging.

The CEM Visual Imaging Pass Production System (VIPPS) allows users to produce permanent and temporary ID badges. Security staff can enrol users and capture fingerprint templates using a user friendly ID badging application. The Key Management System increases security around significant areas of the resort. CEM Systems developed an interface to automatically transmit card data from the AC2000 system to this management system. A file which contains the full list of key safe users is sent to the key system and the necessary user records are created.

The AC2000 SE system at MBSIR was also integrated with the CCTV system. The AC2000 external interface enables the administrator to specify that when a particular alarm occurs on a CEM device, a message/command is sent to the third party.

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