GTSI, an IT enterprise infrastructure solutions and services provider to government, announced that it has partnered with Sagem Morpho to increase the safety of the Port of Miami. GTSI and SMI provided The Port of Miami with fixed biometric readers integrated with a Physical Access Control System (PACS). The readers authenticate Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC) smart card holders via a contactless interface. The Port of Miami is the first U.S. port to implement this system. This solution enhances the safety of the Port's cruise passenger terminal and expedites the verification of dock workers entering secure areas around the ships.
GTSI, an IT enterprise infrastructure solutions and services provider to government, announced that it has partnered with Sagem Morpho to increase the safety of the Port of Miami. GTSI and SMI provided The Port of Miami with fixed biometric readers integrated with a Physical Access Control System (PACS). The readers authenticate Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC) smart card holders via a contactless interface. The Port of Miami is the first U.S. port to implement this system. This solution enhances the safety of the Port's cruise passenger terminal and expedites the verification of dock workers entering secure areas around the ships.
"The Port prides itself in doing business safely, effectively, and efficiently. By eliminating the need for a contact reader, we not only expedite the time it takes for an authentication transaction, but we also eliminate the need to maintain magnetic stripe and contact readers," said Louis Noriega, Chief of Seaport Information Systems in the Miami-Dade County Seaport Department.
With Department of Homeland Security funding, and utilizing GTSI's U.S. Communities contract, the Port of Miami deployed the biometric devices as part of the TWIC program mandated by the U.S. Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Under the TWIC program, workers who need access to secure areas of U.S. ports and vessels are being issued tamper-resistant smart cards containing their own unique biometric identification information.
The Port contracted GTSI Corp. of Herndon, Va., to implement the TWIC-card readers and collaborate with Seaport Information Systems to integrate the devices with an existing Lenel physical access control system. GTSI selected Sagem Morpho's OMA521 TWIC biometric readers because they are the first fixed biometric readers to demonstrate the ability to meet TSA TWIC specifications for all Maritime Security levels, including real-time card verification and authentication of biometric data. SMI's biometric reader also offers fake-finger detection technology.
The Port of Miami finalized deployment of the biometric smart-card readers in early November. With integration of the TWIC readers into the existing access control system now completed, the smart-card system is scalable and expandable. The system can be modified to accommodate additional biometric readers at other access points throughout the port facility.