| On site, all keys and electronic cards are tagged with Traka’s management systems to ensure access to the building |
With the increasing demand for internet-related services, BT’s flagship International Data Centre in Cardiff is leading the way to transforming the company from a telephone supplier to a leading IT provider.
Occupied by 250 highly trained staff managing the sensitive requirements of BT’s customers worldwide, BT Cardiff is a 60,000 sq. ft. facility comprising a 30,000 sq. ft. data centre made up of three 10,000 sq ft. data halls and 30,000 sq. ft. of office space with many different areas and rooms that only authorised personnel are allowed to access.
The centre is backed up by the highest levels of security. On site, all keys and electronic cards are tagged with Traka’s management systems to ensure access to and within the building is controlled, as only authorised users gain access to keys, with clear audit trail capability.
Says Philip Richards, BT Security: “There is no doubt of the extensive demand for internet-related services such as web and content hosting, web design and data management across homes and businesses, on a global basis.
“The BT data centre in Cardiff stands as a globally inspiring ‘hub’ of creativity and development. As such, it has a multi-layer security mechanism, both physical and logical, enabling us to provide the extremely high levels of security demanded by many of our customers.
“Every element of the security is critical, but perhaps the most resource-heavy is key management.
“We have invested in the most sophisticated, internet enabled biometric scanning system possible, but essentially, if keys go missing, then security is swiftly breached. Traka was a critical component to protect the key systems in place and maintain overall security on site.”
| Traka cabinets run with powerful software and can be networked across numerous locations on sites |
Traditionally, keys had been stored in a basic key box and managed manually by management using a log book. Businesses like BT are incredibly busy and the role of IT is increasingly vital, so management access to key IT equipment with such a time-intensive process, liable to security breaches from lost keys to unauthorised staff mistakenly gaining access, was therefore not efficient.
Traka's solution means all keys on site are permanently attached (using a tamper proof security seal) to a metal iFob, to effectively ‘electronically tag’ the keys with unique identities.
The iFob, with keys attached, locks into a receptor strip within a key cabinet until released by an authorised user via a fully automated and audited process. Traka cabinets, as installed at BT Cardiff are run with powerful software and can be networked across numerous locations on sites, while being managed by one central administrator.
Since installing the Traka system, BT has seen vast improvement in its access management. Not only are keys misplaced less, but the time spent managing the process has been greatly reduced and the overall security of equipment improved due to the automated authorisation system. Personnel simply cannot access areas or use technology they are not authorised.
A further benefit is that user profiles uploaded to the Traka system contain training details for all staff. This alerts managers when machine licences need to be renewed and staff re-trained, avoiding time-intensive manual tracking of staff qualifications.
Paul Mazaher, Major Accounts Sales Manager of Traka concludes: “As data becomes more business critical for BT customers and for the company itself, the need for failsafe secure data centres to create and deliver new IT solutions is critical.
“Even when it came to security systems, BT Cardiff looked for inspirational technology, and Traka systems have been an integral part of the security infrastructure for over a decade. The benefit to BT is the significant cost and efficiency savings for the security team, as every key and electronic card is accounted for, at all times, even without the team being on site.”