Case StudyLondon Heathrow Airport
Achieving a unified view across large-scale airport operations
NameLondon Heathrow Airport
Industries
Transportation
LocationLondon, UKProducts
Genetec Security Center, Genetec
RSA Surveillance, Genetec Mission
Control, Genetec AutoVu, Genetec
Clearance

London Heathrow Airport drives increased value from investment in Genetec solutions to meet newbusiness requirements
With four passenger terminals and one cargo terminal, London
Heathrow is the UK’s busiest airport. Every year, nearly 80
million passengers and 14 million tonnes of goods pass throughthe airport. With so much on the go, operational efficiency isparamount. Over 76,000 employees work around the clock to
manage 1,300 daily take-offs and landings, support 89 airlinesthat fly to 239 destinations across 89 countries, and secure theexpansive 1,227-hectare site.
“We’re essentially running a small city operation that happens
to be called Heathrow,” explained Danny Long, IT Product
Owner at Heathrow for physical security products. “Alongsidethe traditional airport security functions, we’re responsible
for the monitoring of roads, retail space, three train stations,a bus terminal, offices, a church, fuel stores, a high voltage
electrical network and all the other associated infrastructure thatmaintains passenger flow.”
Having these various locations requires constant and real-timevideo monitoring. However, Heathrow Airport also needed a
flexible solution that could support a wide range of applications
and provide reliable visibility across all airport operations.
The security team at Heathrow understands that the value of a360-degree operational view can extend well beyond security. For
this reason, they engaged with Genetec™ to design a system that
could keep pace with the full scope of their ambitions.

Optimising Security Center for various
use groups
The proposed solution was built on a robust and flexible
foundation— Genetec Security Center. This unified security
platform ensures that the Heathrow team can manage allcameras, sensors, and other security technologies through asingle interface. This leads to significant efficiencies as all users
have just one software platform to master and maintain.
Since Security Center is highly granular, the Heathrow team isable to customise the platform to meet the needs of various usergroups. Now, different teams and users only have access to thesystems and applications they require to do their job. This helps
them stay focused on their tasks, while also strengthening data
privacy and cybersecurity compliance.
“We have to cater for about 90 different stakeholder groups
working across 110 distinct control rooms, all of whom have very
different access rights and requirements of the system,” explainedLong .“Beyond those directly employed by Heathrow, we also
had to consider the many third parties who require some formof system access. For example, law enforcement, government
agencies, airlines, and retailers.”
The innate flexibility of Genetec Security Center helped
Heathrow achieve these goals. The team can choose froman ecosystem of over 900 compatible security solutions andCase Study | London Heathrow Airport

integrate other airport systems with Security Center using theGenetec Software Development Kit (SDK).
Custom dashboards can also be created for different users andapplications. For example, operators monitoring baggage belts canreceive automated alerts if a bag falls off the carousel. Operational
staff can be informed when security queues are growing too long.
IT staff get access to system health monitoring dashboards, alertingthem to cameras that fall offline or require a software update.

Expanding Security Center to meet newairport needs

Genetec Security Center now provides airport security teams andthird parties across its 90 stakeholder groups with unified visibility.
This helps streamline passenger flow and enhance the overall
traveller experience across the airport. For instance, operators now
monitor over 150km of baggage belts to ensure that there are noprocess disruptions. They also use Security Center AutoVu™, theautomated number plate recognition (ANPR) system, to keep trackof over 150,000 vehicles entering and exiting Heathrow each day.
All video and data comes back into one platform, providing
personnel with real-time insights that can enhance decision-making.
Having a single unified platform also prevents vendor complexities
that can occur when many solutions from different providers
are combined.
“I’d say our usage of Genetec is 50% for security and 50% foroperational efficiency,” said Long. “My job is to translate business
requirements and business challenges into workable solutions andGenetec provides me with valuable tools with which to achieve that.
Our experience with Genetec has been very positive. We’re only
looking to expand in terms of the size and usage of the system.”Growing airport security without limitations
The close partnership between Genetec and Heathrow has helped
the airport maximise all technology investments. The Heathrow
team has been able to combine various business and security systems
into one platform, all whilst ensuring various users can benefit fromthe data and video they’re collecting to achieve different objectives.
This has led to increased operational efficiency, stronger security,
and a smoother experience for passengers and personnel acrossthe airport.

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info@genetec.com@genetec

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Moving forward, Heathrow plans to keep expanding the Security
Center deployment. With the flexibility to choose from an evergrowing list of compatible technologies, the Heathrow team knows
they can keep up with continuously evolving requirements.
“We’ve got cameras 80 metres in the air on top of our control towerthat must withstand extreme weather conditions. We’ve huge
numbers of regular cameras operating throughout the terminals
and we’ve low-light cameras in baggage areas that are in darkness
99% of the time. Bringing all of these together inside one platform istransformational to our operations,” concluded Long.

Infrastructure at a Glance
Genetec Security Center: a unified security platform that blends IPsecurity systems in one platform to combine video monitoring, access
control, licence plate recognition, intrusion, and more.
RSA: uses radar, LiDAR, fence intrusion detection and video
analytics to detect potential intruders and drones to strengthen
security across the varied airport landscape.
Genetec Mission Control™: a decision management system that
simplifies response coordination between stakeholders and speeds up
incident resolution.
AutoVu: automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) that vastly
simplifies parking management, monitors traffic flow and brings
added security.
Genetec Clearance™: a digital evidence management system that
simplifies compliance, enabling authorised personnel to securely shareevidence with third parties in a controlled fashion.

“My job is to translate business requirements
and business challenges into workable
solutions and Genetec provides me withvaluable tools with which to achieve that.”© Genetec Inc., 2024. Genetec, Synergis™, Omnicast™, and the Genetec logo are trademarks of Genetec Inc.,and may be registered or pending registration in several jurisdictions. Other trademarks used in this document
may be trademarks of the manufacturers or vendors of the respective products.

UPDATED:09-13-24

The collaboration between Heathrow Airport and Genetec began in
2016, with the deployment of 2,000 cameras across the site. Today,
the companies continue to work together on scaling and evolving
the Security Center platform at Heathrow. Every year since thestart, the Heathrow team has added over 500 cameras and upgradedan average of 1,500 cameras. Currently, there are 9,000 cameras
deployed with plans to ultimately reach 10,000.