Jhon Connolly, Chairman of the Board, G4S Security Services India Ltd
F or nearly half a century, the Tampa International Airport (TPA) in Florida has grown to become one of the preeminent airports in the world. The airport is an award-winning facility averaging approximately 225 daily aircraft departures with a reputation for noticeable ease of travel functionality. To remain a leader in the aviation industry and to keep pace with the ever-changing security challenges and concerns, TPA is dedicated to improving upon and updating terminal and airside infrastructure. In 2011, G4S Technology was selected to complete the design and installation of a major security upgrade at TPA. The 18-month, $8.7 million project was completed in April 2013 with a solution presented by G4S Technology that included upgrading the existing CCTV surveillance system in the terminals, security check points and baggage screening areas. The new video surveillance system covers all grounds of the airport, from landside to airside, and involved converting the previous analog system to an enterprise-class Internet Protocol (IP)-based system. The 455 new IP network cameras added resolutions, ranging from 1 to 10 megapixels, and 289 existing analog cameras were replaced with digital via highdensity encoders. Additionally, new cameras and upgraded emergency phones were installed in the long-term and shortterm parking garage structures on the airport’s campus, as well as the economy parking facility just slightly offsite. The upgraded camera system has immensely bolstered the quality of surveillance and protection at TPA. “We’ve gone from a technology that gave us low-resolution images to a high-resolution megapixel IP system with nearly complete CCTV coverage of the airport and surrounding areas,” said Safraz Samad, TPA’s manager of access control and CCTV, in a recent interview forAirport Improvement Magazine. Image quality has significantly improved with deployment of the new system -- crucial in terms of enhancing the airport’s security and monitoring capabilities. “These new megapixel cameras produce far more detailed images than what would have been possible with older analog camera technologies,” said Frank Soltero, senior security systems consulting engineer for G4S Technology, to Airport Improvement Magazine. “By switching out an analog camera with a megapixel camera, you’re able to cover a much larger area with a single camera and capture exponentially more detail. You can go from recognizing there’s a person in the area to being able to identify…facial details.” TPA’s surveillance system uses fixed digital cameras -- instead of pan/tilt/ zoom cameras -- to capture clear, high-resolution images while reducing maintenance costs and maximizing area coverage without losing data. In order to support the drastic increase in video data with the new surveillance system, G4S expanded the airport’s existing Ethernet local area network (LAN), and regionalized the SAN to reduce overall impact on the network. Since the airport didn’t have a separate network for its security system, installers worked within the corporate LAN by regionalizing data storage in five regions throughout the airport. This way, the only time the video is forced to move through the core of the LAN is when personnel outside a data storage region requests access to archived video. Designers successfully minimized the impact of the new CCTV video surveillance system on the airport’s LAN, with a less than 10% increase in overall bandwidth observed across the network core.
Other crucial design elements of the upgrade in addition to the enterprise-class video surveillance system include an upgrade of the airport’s existing access control system to Software House’s advanced C•CURE 9000 security and event management system, and a regionalized storage area network (SAN) system. A new Video Management System (VMS) was also implemented throughout the facility with a new video display walls, as well as new workstations and servers in the Airport Police Command Center. When integrated with the updated access control system, the VMS allows the airport to provide its operators with single-seat alarm notification, identification, and verification without having to dispatch security personnel to investigate every alarm. The VMS also boasts a stateof-the-art video display system, using off-the-shelf commercial servers and video cards to drive three largeformat LCD display walls, several discrete displays and a project system in the Command Center. The system encodes discrete video feeds from television tuners, media players and the airport’s legacy train and monorail systems, and can be preconfigured with scenarios to trigger a remap the display system with images relevant to the event. The security upgrade and the expertise exhibited by G4S Technology has exceeded the expectations of airport operations staff and security personnel at TPA. “Our airport police absolutely love the new system,” Samad said. “They are getting real-time and archived information when they need it. They are able to close cases faster because they are able to get the information more quickly. “Our operations staff loves it because they are able to access camera views on their desktop,” Samad continues. “They can zoom in on recorded or live video. Several people can look at images from the same camera but zoom into different areas of that image simultaneously. They can view it, manipulate it, and even run basic analytics on the video.” Overall, TPA has been immensely impressed with G4S Technology’s proficiency in performing all engineering, deployment, project management, turn-up and testing of the system. “G4S Technology is pleased to have been chosen to support the Tampa International Airport with their security upgrade endeavors in the past and for years to come,” said Sam Belbina, president of G4S Technology. “We are diligent about keeping their travelers and employees safe by equipping the airport with the best security solutions available.”
G4S joins forces with REC to drive standards in recruitment
G4S, the world’s leading global integrated security company, has reaffirmed its commitment to best in class recruitment practices by signing up to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s (REC) Good Recruitment Charter As one of the world’s largest employers, G4S was asked to participate in the development of the charter, aiming to encourage good recruitment practices covering flexible working, candidate experience and extending good practice equally to permanent, temporary, contract and part-time workers. The REC Charter will give companies access to advice, guidance and research on the latest innovations in recruitment good practice, as well as self-assessment tools to evaluate recruitment processes and identify areas for development. Recruiting over 200,000 people a year, G4S was able to offer best practice guidance from across the globe, covering over 120 countries. Colin Minto, Group Head Resourcing and HR Systems at G4S plc, and member of the REC advisory panel, said: “G4S employs over 618,000 people in over 120 countries, so making sure we have the right people
for the job is crucial to our success. Attracting and retaining the top talent across our business starts with a best in class recruitment process, and the principles of the Good Recruitment Charter are a strong foundation on which to build better recruitment practices for all companies. “We were pleased to be able to offer a broad range of examples and best practice from across the regions and territories in which we operate.”
About The REC
The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) is the professional body for the recruitment industry. The REC represents 3,506 corporate members who have branches across all regions of the UK. In addition, the REC represents 4,744 individual members within the Institute of Recruitment Professionals (IRP). All members must abide by a code of professional practice. Above all, the REC is committed to raising standards and highlighting excellence throughout the industry.
G4S cuts cash in transit vehicle emissions
G4S, the global integrated security company, has achieved a seven per cent reduction in emissions from its 2,234 UK cash in transit fleet since 2012 With cash in transit vehicles accounting for around a third of the company’s total carbon emissions in the UK, G4S has invested heavily in initiatives to reduce its overall carbon footprint. In 2012, the size of the fleet was reduced by 84 vehicles. Two fully electric cash in transit vehicles, the first in the world, were rolled out, saving 4,974kg CO2 per year per vehicle. 210 vans were fitted with photovoltaic ( PV) panels, which provided additional power and helped to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from running engines idle in traffic or by leaving engines running when parked. New state of the art telematics technology allowed for tracking, mapping and feedback of driver behaviour, which improved fuel efficiency and reduced traffic accidents and engines running idle. These initiatives enabled G4S to lower total mileage of its fleet and reduce the amount of money spent on fuel in 2012 by 13.9%, a saving of £1.13 million, whilst maintaining customer service levels. Running engines idle was reduced by 40%. Darren Bell, Head of Fleet Management at G4S UK and Ireland, said: “We are delighted to have achieved such a significant reduction in emissions from our fleet. By continuing to use the latest innovative technology and operating our fleet as efficiently as possible, we are confident that we will be able to further reduce our environmental impact.”