Time & Data Systems International Ltd.

Beirut is emerging as a choice destination for those seeking waterfront leisure activities, making the most of reliable weather and excellent navigable access to the Mediterranean Sea. To capitalise on this potential, Lebanon’s largest city has seen a number of developments including the newly opened Zaitunay Bay waterfront marina – which offers a stunning anchorage for pleasure craft looking to enjoy visiting the area and for guests looking to visit the 17 restaurants, seven retail shops, hotel and assorted attractions at the site (including a Champagne bar, a yacht club and a jeweller).

The ambitious 215,000-square-foot development, designed by the architect Steven Holl, literally grew out of the stabilised landfill which was reclaimed and rebuilt after the 1975 civil war. One of the centre pieces to the development is the Zaitunay Bay Hotel, which offers guests a high degree of luxury. Whilst the setting is ideal for such an establishment, such a high profile development inevitably offers its own set of security risks. To address this potential security issue, Zaitunay Bay’s development company turned to Polaris Automation Systems, a complete security solutions provider dealing with various fields of electrical and communication engineering, to specify and install a comprehensive, intelligent and highly secure access control system. Polaris Automation Systems specified access control specialist TDSi’s range of solutions as the ideal and preferred systems to protect the hotel and surrounding complex.

TDSi’s solutions allow for full integration of access control locks and readers – making sure that security personnel are quickly aware of any potential intrusion and are able to rapidly react and protect against any potential threat. Polaris Automation Systems’ Head of Sales, Maroun Nassif elaborates, “Using TDSi’s products gives the flexibility to control and manage access remotely across the complex from a key control room, especially in sensitive areas such as the VIP rooms and apartments. From an installer’s point of view, we already know that TDSi offers superb integrated systems but they also offer us ease of installation and integration with all the other building services systems (such as Home Automation, environmental, CCTV and biometric entry technologies), to offer a truly joined up approach to access control, using TDSi’s excellent EXgarde PRO software.”

In total 83 doors are controlled by the access control system installed by Polaris Automation Systems. The facility has a total of 500 users who are granted access by TDSi’s EXprox card readers, which offer robust and reliable contactless authorisation – up to a range of 90cm. In turn, the access control network of readers use TDSi’s MICROgarde II access control units to control each door way and report back to the EXgarde PRO installed in the central control room, where pre-defined actions can be enacted or security staff can take control of the situation. To keep installation simple and fully integrated, Polaris Automation Systems also specified and fitted TDSi TCP/IP converters.

Maroun Nassif continues, “Flexibility is one of the key strengths of using TDSi’s Exgarde PRO software. For example, designated members of staff can easily be granted access to areas such as the spa, gym, swimming pool and technical areas, whilst equally maintaining effective security in these areas from unauthorised individuals.”

The first phase of the Zaitunay Bay waterfront marina was opened at the end of 2011 and a further phase, which will also feature TDSi access control systems installed by Polaris Automation Systems, is expected to open by the middle of 2013.