APT ACCESS TECHNOLOGY KEEPS TIGER FANS ROARING
Sophisticated people access control technology, designed and installed by APT Skidata, is helping fans of the Leicester Tigers gain a speedy and safe entry to the ground on matchdays – and avoid the problem of bottlenecks at the turnstiles.
The Premiership rugby club, which plays its home games at Welford Road, has already successfully used the technology in a match against the Newcastle Falcons. The tie attracted a gate in excess of 24,000, and more than justified the Tigers' decision to opt for the new technology as Chris Rose, the club's Head of IT explains:
“There were several reasons behind the decision,” he says. “We wanted to reduce the number of turnstile operators required, but without hampering the ingress of fans to the stadium or creating any health and safety issues. The introduction of new technology from APT Skidata, including new ticket readers and automated turnstiles, has led to a marked improvement in getting fans into the ground quickly and safely.”
Some 18 ASx70i V2 card readers were installed during the close season in the old stand, where an operator allows entry via a foot pedal. For the new stand, 16 readers have been installed integrated to the existing turnstiles to allow automatic entry. Entry for corporate or disabled spectators is monitored using handheld devices.
The Club's ‘traditional' paper season tickets have been superseded by ‘mifare' smartcards, which allow further benefits as Chris explains: “We are now also able to use the card for a loyalty scheme in the club shop and it has allowed us to save quite a substantial amount against issuing the usual card season tickets.”
APT Skidata technology is deployed at numerous football stadia and some of the UK's best-known theme parks and leisure attractions. Its hardware includes fast-operating and highly reliable turnstiles controlled by the Compact FitAll Reader that recognises both the smart card or barcoded ticket as it is presented. The reader is designed for indoor and outdoor applications requiring fast ticket authentication and fast processing of large visitor volumes. Networking is based on the common, stable Ethernet industry standard.
Its software, meanwhile, is designed to seamlessly operate with providers of other software solutions as part of a complete business IT solution to include such areas as Ticketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Loyalty, Retail and Food and Beverage.
Leicester Football Club has been the most successful English club of the professional era, winning the Heineken Cup twice and the league five times under the captaincy of Martin Johnson, all in the space of seven years.
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