Part of the Home Office, the UK Border Force is responsible for border control. Previously part of the UK Border agency (UKBA), its presence at Heathrow Terminal 5 includes; interview rooms, holding rooms, admin offices and staff facilities spread around the terminal building. Prior to the opening of Terminal 5 in March 2008, all UKBA secure areas within the terminal building were fitted with Mifare card readers backed by a Norpass2 access control system.
In August 2013, the Border Force had become aware of the range of additional features available in Norpass3, Nortech’s latest access control system, and contacted their security provider, Universal Security Systems, to request a system upgrade to Norpass3.
It was necessary to upgrade the firmware in 20 door controllers installed around the terminal building, and transfer the whole system onto Norpass3 management while keeping disruption for its two thousand card holders to an absolute minimum.
Nortech’s technical team transferred the systems database over to Norpass3 in advance of the upgrade, and Universal Security Systems engineers worked together with Nortech’s technical support engineers to systematically carry out the upgrade across the entire terminal building, while working around the Border Force staff and avoiding disruption to normal operations.
"My client UK Border Force upgraded to Norpass 3 without any disruption to their security. The technical support from Norpass was outstanding. Their technical support team attended site to deliver a smooth changeover and were very accommodating to my client’s needs in changing the whole card database to suit their requirements. My client has found Norpass 3 very user friendly for all their security needs" - Peter Brown, Direct Service Support Technician at Universal Security Systems.
