French racecourse saves security costs by switching to ASSA ABLOY SMARTair® access control

Racecourse managers at the Hippodrome Côte d’Azur faced a familiar dilemma – one that was solved by ASSA ABLOY SMARTair.

This dilemma was how to stop duplicatable mechanical keys jeopardising security for employees and visitors? And how to drastically reduce the time they were wasting in getting locks replaced when someone lost their key?

The racecourse’s 63-hectare site incorporates tracks used for many equestrian disciplines. Roughly 30 workers are employed full-time, but during meetings it welcomes up to 1,000 horses and 3,000 participants.

Many stay in one of 130 onsite rooms and on race days, grandstands and spectator areas hold up to 11,300.

The racecourse chose a SMARTair® Update on Card access control solution for this complex site. They now control and secure access points more efficiently and effectively than with their old key system.

Projected long-term cost savings and significant key management workload reduction convinced Hippodrome managers to choose this wireless solution.

With SMARTair® Update on Card, security staff encode user credentials directly for convenient access management.

From among SMARTair®’s long menu of compatible RFID technologies, Hippodrome managers chose iCLASS®. They can delete users or lost cards instantly and collect audit trails when needed. Easy, flexible credential management enables them to program fine-grained, individual access to around 200 doors in six separate structures.

Bernard Arnaud, Supervisor for Accommodations at Hippodrome Côte d’Azur, explained that in the long term, SMARTair® access control is ‘cheaper than keys to manage’.

Multiple devices, mobile credentials

Tough, durable, battery-powered locking devices are deployed cost-efficiently at different types of opening around the Hippodrome site.

During 2018, approximately 100 rooms and technical areas were equipped with SMARTair® readers, wireless escutcheons and wireless cylinders.

Access to the accommodation building is controlled with a SMARTair® wall reader. Previously, people who had lost their key had forced their way in by kicking the entrance – now, a SMARTair® device secures it.

The access control upgrade continued through 2019 and into 2020, in racecourse offices and grandstands. Managers also plan to trial the SMARTair® Openow™ app.

With Openow™, administrators can send virtual ‘keys’ directly to a visitor’s smartphone — convenient for racecourse guests arriving late at night.

Contact ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions EMEA Digital and Access Solutions

Dukes Court/Dukes Street
Woking
GU21 5BH
United Kingdom

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Phone: 0049 30 8106 2970

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