PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Date February 23, 2011
Contact:
Tiffany Ciambrone
Newton Security Inc
425-251-9494 x106
Victoria International Airport in B.C. Boosts Terminal
Security with T-DAR Intrusion Prevention Systems
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - Officials at Victoria International Airport in Canada, which serves over 100,000 passengers a month, are preparing to introduce a security upgrade of advanced access control technology with the installation of a T-DARŪ stereo vision system developed by Newton Security Inc.
The T-DAR systems are installed at two employee-only access locations leading into baggage handling areas. Airport security and public safety is increased by identifying and preventing any occurrence of "piggybacking" or "tailgating" at these sensitive sites.
These two innocuous-sounding terms are actually serious, well-recognized security threats. Piggybacking occurs when an authorized person holds a secure door open for another person who is perceived to have approved access. Tailgating is the act of an unauthorized person walking through a door without consent, following an authorized person who is unaware of the other's presence. Both of these violations avoid electronic authorization and bypass the capability of a security system to detect and reject a suspicious individual, or someone using an invalid or fraudulent identity pass.
Ian West, Victoria Airport Authority's Director, Security and Terminal Operations, states: "The addition of
T-DAR technology at Victoria International Airport is a positive step forward in the evolution of access control for employees, tenants and contractors. Its installation will result in improved access, while minimizing the threat of piggybacking or tailgating. It will also result in significant cost savings by replacing site security staff through the use of technology."
The problems of piggybacking and tailgating are solved with a mantrap, or security vestibule, an enclosed area with one door in the public area and another door to the secure area. In the area between doors is an access control reader and the overhead T-DAR stereo vision camera. T-DAR, which stands for Tailgating Detection Alarm and Recording, is a patented combination of stereo vision and sophisticated software which has the ability to identify, tag and track the human form within the mantrap, insuring that there is only one person at a time. The patented T-DAR system only tracks humans and ignores carts, luggage and parcels.
The T-DAR mantrap operates without the need of monitoring or approval from security personnel and manages the flow of authorized airport employees between public and secure areas by ensuring that both electronically interconnected doors cannot be opened at the same time. Only when the access control reader validates a pass, and the system detects only one person in the mantrap, is access granted. At that point, the T-DAR system locks the public-side door and unlocks the secure-side door, allowing one person into the secure area. Normally the entry-validation-exit process can be as short as 15 seconds. If more than one person is detected in the mantrap, a warning is sounded and the addition person is instructed to leave.
The T-DAR system has been approved and specified by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority and has been installed at five other sites: Edmonton International Airport, the James Armstrong Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg, London International Airport in Ontario, Kelowna International Airport in B.C. and the Quebec International Airport. An additional major benefit to each of these airports, beyond tightening security, are the savings they accrue by not having the high cost of employing 24-hour security personnel to monitor those sensitive terminal locations now covered by a T-DAR system.
In addition to many international airports, the T-DAR solution is utilized globally in government buildings, data centers, research laboratories, financial concerns, power-plants, manufacturing sites, unmanned immigration and virtually every other category of secure areas.
About Newton Security Inc.
Seattle based Newton Security Inc is a privately held developer and the global leader in the manufacturing and supply of machine vision, single person detection systems. Newton Security products are designed to allow the quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness of computer technology to replace the human element in those security applications where the tedious nature of the job and the high cost of personnel make it difficult to maintain the necessary 100 percent effectiveness of today's security requirements. Additional information may be found at www.newtonsecurityinc.com.