As Newport County get ready for perhaps the biggest day in their recent history, behind the scenes, staff and volunteers at Rodney Parade have been working tirelessly to ensure that everything goes off, without a hitch. The recent Aston Villa friendly game, was an excellent test for all of the Rodney Parade systems.
OSSC Ltd, IT Partners to both County and the Dragons, have developed a ticketing and access control system that is more Premiership than Football League. OSSC MD Paul Hilder said, 'when we started working with Rodney Parade two years ago, Mark Jones, Head of Operations at Rodney, knew what he wanted, but didn't know how to get there. It was a difficult task to take existing Victorian turnstile technology and to blend it together with the latest cloud based technologies, to provide a 'state of the art' access control system, but we have done it.'
On match days, each turnstile is fitted with a Windows 8 mini computer, a screen and an infra red scanner. As fans enter a turnstile, their ticket is scanned and the steward on the gate can read the details of the ticket on a screen. If the ticket isn't valid for that game, or for that turnstile, then a red error message is displayed and the fan is advised to go to the correct turnstile or to the ticket office for assistance. All turnstile screens are now viewed live, in the Control Room, so Mark is aware of any problems as they happen and OSSC staff can resolve any IT issues, directly from the control room, without having to go to the actual turnstile.
Paul continued, 'As far as we aware, this is the most advanced use of access control technology, in the Football League. Most clubs, including many in the Premiership, have deployed expensive new automated turnstile systems that simply either let people in, or prevent their access without a ticket. Control rooms merely count the numbers, as they come in, electronically. It was important for Mark that we retained the human interaction and friendliness of Rodney Parade staff, to all visitors at Rodney Parade, whist at the same time ensuring that the access control systems were inexpensive, easy to use and efficient.'
