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Nuclear access

Secure access to a nuclear power plant.

A heavily regulated nuclear power plant in California asked Unlimited Technology, Inc. (UTI), a Software House integrator, to install an access control system. This solution would help protect dangerous materials used to generate power at their facility, without interruption of the system’s operation.

Physical security for power plants in the USA is extremely important to comply with government regulatory commissions and to ensure the safety of the local communities where the facilities reside. In the nuclear power industry, the systems that control perimeter and internal security must maintain constant control of their assets.

A large utility company in California was searching for a reliable access control solution to manage and control physical access to various parts of their facilities while meeting the most stringent regulations and requirements set forth by the government and local communities. Many of the requirements for physical security systems are specific to NERC CIP (North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection) compliance. The system of choice would need to be fast, secure and ensure zero downtime. Failure to maintain constant control of security assets results in heavy fines and could potentially cost them their licence to operate the facility.

Solving the challenges

Some of the challenges that the nuclear power plant was facing included:

* The need to meet the government’s demanding requirements and regulations for safety and security.

* The need to select and implement a reliable access control system for their facility.

* The need to have zero downtime to prevent the company from incurring high penalties or potentially losing licensure.

Unlimited Technologies selected Marathon’s everRun MX integrated with the Software House CCURE 9000 access control system to deliver a reliable solution with around-the-clock support. UTI was familiar with the CCURE 9000 system and reviewed its capabilities and distributed architecture with the customer.

The solution offered ease of use and the reliability that they were looking for, assuring them that the fully integrated system they delivered was capable of not merely meeting, but exceeding the most stringent security requirements and regulations.

“Following some disappointments in performance of some other high-availability systems, we came across Marathon Technologies’ everRun MX product,” stated Jason Troester, manager of information systems for UTI. “We brought it into our test lab, installed Software House’s CCURE 9000 on it, and proceeded to put it through rigorous testing. We are very happy to say that it surpassed our expectations in every test. Now Marathon, equipped with CCURE 9000, is the first solution that we consider when our clients enquire about a high availability access control solution.”

The system is now fully deployed and the customer has been extremely satisfied with the installation and operation. The system has met the requirements and exceeded the expectations of the facility staff.

For more information contact Tyco Security Products, +27 (0)82 566 5274, emallett@tycoint.com, www.tycoacvs.com

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