25 Jan 2010

The home of Australian cricket goes for a fast, seamless upgrade of its access control system

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), built in 1853, is not only one of the most famous arenas in the sport; it also rates as one of the world's most well known stadiums, ranking alongside Lord's Cricket Ground, Wembley Stadium and Yankee Stadium.

Because of its popularity as a sporting and exhibition venue, the ground is under 24-hour guard, yet its security and access systems were seen as  old fashioned and out of date. The existing software and hardware solutions were complex, the cabling was poorly documented; and the whole system required substantial training for all its users.

Time for an upgrade – but a clever one, for the ground is in constant use, every day of the year. The solution needed to be very easy to learn and reliable; the installation would have to be quick and seamless.

HID was chosen to provide an open, IP-based solution that would allow an easy upgrade path for the MCG at any stage in the future. HID's proposal featured the OPINTM platform on VertX hardware, which meant that existing security cables could be utilized along with much of the existing IT infrastructure.

The overall proposal proved to be a very simple and effective solution from a user's point of view while maintaining all of the power and functionality expected in a world-class control platform.