An integrated access control system provides sophisticated services at the ETO Park sports complex, an entertainment and shopping centre in Györ, Hungary.
Györ is a city with 125,000 residents in northwest Hungary, around halfway between Vienna, the capital of Austria, and Budapest, the Hungarian capital. The city's former ETO FC football stadium was redeveloped into a full-blown sports and leisure complex a while ago. ETO Park, as the ultramodern site is now known, houses a shopping mall and entertainment centre, a hotel and a residential soccer training academy as well as the local football club's rebuilt stadium. It can currently accommodate 16,000 spectators to UEFA standards, or nearly double that number if further developed.
It has heated turf and a water management system to provide the best possible playing conditions come rain or shine. In addition to hosting football matches in the warmer season, the stadium is also a venue for concerts, shows and cultural events the year round. Access control and e-ticketing at the ETO Park complex were once barcode-based. Much of that has now been replaced with a G4S WinAccess access control system that integrates multifunctional LEGIC technology.
It was a complex project that covered vehicle access, public access to event spaces, e-ticketing as well as a customer loyalty scheme for restaurants, a beauty salon and a children's play centre operating inside ETO Park. All were tied into a LEGIC based system - and this during the height of the football season. It meant integrating the previously installed and operating Kaba full-height turnstiles, long-range G4S LEGIC readers linked to vehicle barriers and an external e-ticketing system. The programmable system components used in the project (access controllers, LEGIC readers, etc.) were developed by G4S Security Systems Ltd for multifunctional integration tasks like this one.
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| Access control and e-ticketing at the ETO Park complex were once barcode-based |
The tried-and-tested Interticket e-ticketing system continues to be used for issuing regular barcode tickets to football matches, while season tickets have been converted into LEGIC cards - resulting in a parallel application of barcode and LEGIC contactless credentials for event access. LEGIC cards can be used in the soccer club's catering facilities, where G4S LEGIC desktop readers link the stadium's restaurants with the access control system. In the complex's mall section, specially designed SAG LEGIC soft wristbands with Velcro have been introduced to the children's play area and the beauty salon.
The system integration has been a success, and the recently implemented LEGIC based loyalty functions are operating smoothly in the stadium's restaurants and shops. The story is set to continue, with specifications and plans now in development for electronic wallet functions to be used with a connected restaurant management system and for multifunctional access to the stadium hotel.
