Solvay

Case Study

Solvay : Unipass, the Logical Choice !

Protecting Growth

Ensuring the safety of the workforce and the security of assets and intellectual capital is essential for any company, and all the more so for a research centre.

In addition, the ability to identify at any time all the people present on an industrial site is now a legal requirement.

The Solvay company, therefore, did not want to leave anything to chance, and sought out a system that could be depended upon at all times. It chose UNIPASS, the access control software from IDtech.

Solvay is an international chemicals and pharmaceuticals group which employs over 34,000 people in 46 countries, well known for its diversified activities in the fields of chemicals, plastics, transformation and pharmaceutical products. In 1997, the group's worldwide turnover was 7.7 billion euros. At the same time, it confirmed its objective of growth through innovation, by maintaining its R&D budget at more than 300 million euros. Its 2500 researchers are spread out across research centres in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, the USA and Japan.

The Solvay Research & Technology Centre in Brussels is the main research centre of this Belgian chemicals giant, with 1100 people working at one site in Neder-Over-Heembeek (or NOH for insiders). This is also where the company's global research strategy is decided. Solvay concentrates its efforts on the selected areas in which the group aims to ensure its leading position. Solvay is the world's leading producer of sodium carbonate, hydrogen peroxide and per salts, barium carbonate and strontium and of polyethylene fuel tanks. It is recognised for its expertise in fluorinated products, the environment and its four therapeutic areas: gastroenterology, psychiatry, cardiology and gynaecology.

These results are the fruit of the experience, expertise and skill of its staff, which constitute a sum of knowledge accumulated over 135 years, rare and difficult to acquire, which the society owes it to itself to protect.

The requirements

Solvay Solvay's primary R&D unit, the NOH Research & Technology Centre operates with an annual budget of 100 million euros. It is also the Solvay site with the largest number of managers and highly-qualified staff (doctors, engineers and graduates). It is thus the keystone of the Group's development. Its engine for progress. The guarantee of its future despite the competition. Which makes it all the more important to protect it against intrusion. This is far from being an easy task. NOH is a campus of 12 buildings, representing 100,000 square metres (over a million square feet) in a 22- hectare (54-acre) park ! 1,100 employees work here, accompanied by 200 external staff, and they receive almost 80 visitors every day. These figures make NOH Belgium's largest research centre.

And perhaps one of the hardest to control ! For a site like this, a consultant's study recommended a fence punctuated with video cameras. While the fence was a good idea, installing cameras would have proved to be a costly solution. And ultimately somewhat impractical for the purpose of covering the whole park in order to be able to identify any intruders. NOH therefore opted for a solution in which the site is completely enclosed and access is controlled and verified at a single building on the edge, so that the people present on the campus can always be known. Going beyond identification, the UNIPASS control system also needed to improve the way visitors were received, helping them to find their way through the labyrinthine campus. The final aim was to ensure the safety of the workforce with regard to stored chemical materials and to protect current research and the intellectual capital contained in patents and archives.

Plenty of food for thought for the installer of the control system.

UNIPASS : the logical choice

There is no question that these were challenging constraints. Especially since the stakes to be defended left no room for the slightest mistake. Security is no joke at NOH. Especially since this is the headquarters of the company's innovations. A system had already existed since 1992, but its technology and the services it provided were only a partial and imperfect response to requirements. So Solvay NOH began the search for new solutions. Solutions that would be more effective and more reliable. Six companies were approached. Only two remained in contention. Of these two, it was IDtech that won the contract, thanks to the technical advantages of its UNIPASS product and the consistency of its solution, which remained constant throughout the two years of negotiations. IDtech's UNIPASS system enables a networked approach, simplifying cabling. It is based on Windows XP™, a modern computing architecture. It is also more open due to its use of Oracle databases. And easier to implement over a local area network (LAN). Finally, this architecture is completely consistent with the Group's standards. And the product was offered by a company based nearby: an extra guarantee in the event of problems.

Solvay The equipment used in the installation supplied by IDtech is CE approved, and offers considerable hardware information options. In software terms, the potential is wide-ranging, in terms of both configuration and integration with existing tools. And last but not least, the interfacing software is SAP-certified. These advantages, among others, show the professional nature of the solutions perfected by IDtech's engineers. As it always does, the team studied in detail the workings of the centre in order to gain the best possible understanding of its needs.

And the price of the finished product was in line with the quote.

Simple and effective

The UNIPASS solution from IDtech was universally accepted from the beginning for its simplicity and user-friendliness. The badge is just presented to the reader, without even having to take it out of your wallet, thanks to proximity technology. And the product is a complete solution. Coupled with the access control system, a visitor management program makes it easy to record visitors' comings and goings, and to prepare for their arrival. What is more, the installation of badge-insertion readers at the exit enables visitors in cars to record their departure, return their badge and trigger the opening of the exit barrier at the same time without leaving their vehicle ! With UNIPASS, everybody is correctly identified and monitored thanks to the intermediate access controls at the entrance to each building. For its employee badges, Solvay NOH also decided to combine UNIPASS with UNICARD, the IDtech solution which personalises identification badges by adding photos of their holders. This makes the badge impossible to forge, and enables visual identification of the badge-holder. All this with just a photography and printing kit.

Another advantage of the system is its memory. UNIPASS stores all its data, and can retrieve it when necessary. This provides extra protection for the legacy and the innovation by which Solvay aims to ensure growth. This is an essential point. Because it takes time to detect breaches of security affecting a company's intellectual property. Sometimes over a year!

Now industrial indiscretion can no longer go unrecognised. Which goes to show that access control can go further than one might think. With UNIPASS, Solvay NOH can now feel safe. And as the system's characteristics show, this is not virtual but real safety.

Since the first installation in 1997, IDtech has extended UNIPASS and UNITIME to the Solvay sites in Antwerp, Ixelles, Jumet, Oudenaarde, Paris (Fr), Châtillons (Fr), Nuccours (Fr) and Laval (Fr).