Case Studies

ICC’s IP intercoms

by Mark Rowe

A UK conference centre is using two-way IP intercom. The system is in use for entry and exit of vehicles and visitors at the £200m International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham, pictured, which hosts more than 300,000 delegates a year.

The installers Vindex Systems chose Castel’s Maylis platform for communication between intercom panels and master stations/IP telephones at the site which offers 3,050 square metres of exhibition space.

Maylis is described by the manufacturers as a system management solution that enables operation of intercom stations, entry panels, related video surveillance equipment and SIP telephone network connections on one platform. Its open protocol allows IP/SIP management and remote health checking. Installers can design systems in star or bus configurations and work with simplex, half-duplex and full duplex formats. Users can have a range of entry stations and up to 20 simultaneous communication networks. They have local or remote operation of barrier release and benefit from IP interfacing to communicate with other sites.

At the ICC, Maylis is being used with Castel’s single-button vandal-proof entry stations. When they reach barriers or gates at the conference centre, drivers or out-of-hour pedestrian visitors can contact security officers using the entry stations which feature a stainless-steel panel and offer impact resistance to IK09. The stations give protection against the elements to IP54 and are the makers say suited to environments with high levels of dust. They can be flush or surface-mounted and Castel adds that it will always work with installers to provide the client with bespoke posts if required.

A principle of the Maylis platform according to Castel is to allow the widest possible exchange of information from an open architecture. The hybrid star bus network system uses topology associated with Ethernet switches as well as older coax networks.

The products comes with PC application diagrams, and installers can work with clients to achieve optimum configuration. There are optional extras to assist system designers as physical security becomes increasingly centralised and acquires edge intelligence, the product company says. Add-ons include ambient noise detection, sound diffusion (alarms) and forwarding of telephone messages.

Atmane Bensghir, Business Development Manager at Castel, said: “A conference centre such as the ICC is both a commercial and leisure venue and makes wide-ranging demands on security equipment. Our Maylis platform is maximising the client’s options for integrating an array of peripheral devices and creating sub-networks with priority call management. Maylis is developed in its entirety around Microsoft technology and evolves with Microsoft release schedules.”

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