Finlay’s' Pontefract site - Access control biometric system

Securitas Technology, one of the UK's leading security providers, has installed a biometric access control system at beverage company Finlay’s' Pontefract site to protect its server rooms.

A company with over 265 years heritage, Finlay’s owns and operates tea estates, extraction facilities for tea, coffee and plant extracts, packing facilities and R&D laboratories across four continents.

The Requirement

Finlay’s already had a PAC access control system in place for exterior doors, and number code locks were fitted to the doors of their server rooms but, reviewing security, Finlay’s wanted to improve the level of security for the latter. The key requirement was to ensure access to the server rooms be controlled by Finlay’s IT department only. IT staff work standard office hours so should access be required to the server rooms outside of this, the code for the locks would have to be shared with others or a member of the IT team would have to return to site.

Finlay’s had ruled out a card/tag-based access control system due to the inherent issues with lost, stolen or borrowed cards, and had decided a biometric system would be the right solution for them. Several security companies were approached, including Securitas Technology, which were awarded the contract. "It's a name we knew, and we have a lot of Securitas Technology product on site," states Chris Richardson, Finlay's Group IT Support Engineer. "We also have a PAC system which shares the same software that the Securitas Technology biometric system runs on, so it meant we could easily add to the existing system and view both using the same software, although they are run as standalone systems for added security."

The Solution

Securitas Technology installed ievo® biometric fingerprint readers to four server room doors at Finlays. The system features advanced image reading sensors that take a detailed scan of a finger from the surface and subsurface levels of the skin, to capture a highly accurate digital image whilst protecting against fake and spoof fingerprints. Specific data from the image is converted into a digital template used for fingerprint identification. Providing a user presents a finger that matches a stored user template, then access will be granted. ievo captures clear, clean images, even when surface features are absent or hard to distinguish due to age, dirt, finger pressure and skin or environmental conditions.

Finlay’s are pleased with the new biometric access control system as it provides the company with the security required but also convenience, as Chris comments: "now, IT has full control of who enters the server rooms and there is an audit trail. We don't have to worry about who has keys to the IT office and who knows the code for the server rooms door locks. What's more, IT can open any door on the system remotely should it be required, rather than having to return to site. With one of the racks on our server belonging to someone else, that's an important consideration should they need to gain access out of office hours.