
Fira de Barcelona (Barcelona Trade Fair Centre) is a powerful platform of activity and economic promotion at the service of companies and their international expansion, which generates wealth for Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain. It has a tradition going back over 100 years, starting with the 1888 Universal Exhibition.
Fira de Barcelona organises 80 trade fairs attended by 30,000 exhibiters. And each year it receives some 3.5 million visitors. It is Spain's leading organiser of industrial and professional trade fairs, and has fifteen events that constitute points of reference in Europe.
At the end of 2006, Fira entrusted ICNITA with designing, executing and implanting the access-control system for the organisation's new centre on Barcelona's Gran Via.
We had to come up with an access point that covered all the needs of the various kinds of visiting public and different types of trade fairs.
An access point was designed, managed by an internal controller able to operate On-Line and autonomously (I-axess); each access point had the following components:
The various devices permit many forms of accreditation for various types of trade fairs and people.
The system is managed by software based on a Web environment that configures the access points and constantly monitors for proper operation of the devices.
Access statistics generated in real time on the applications server allow immediate response in the event of overcrowding or poor functioning of the system.
The project comprises 80 points of access to the Gran Via precinct; 40 in a first phase, and a further 40 in a subsequent phase.
Via the access points managed by Iaxess, Fira de Barcelona has complete control over the precinct's entrances/exits. The system-generated data means that new business opportunities can be detected and internal precinct transit managed in order to provide exhibitors and visitors with greater added value.