Security Products Magazine has featured Talkaphone deployment at the Indianapolis International Airport in its November issue. Below is an excerpt from the "Keeping in Touch" story by Ralph C. Jensen. The full version can be found at www.security-today.com.
About five years ago, the Indianapolis Airport Authority pulled up stakes and moved to the other side of the city’s airfield with new facilities and new security systems. Among them, a group of call boxes was installed to offer customers peace of mind and security. Located 16 minutes from downtown Indianapolis, the airport averaged about 140 flights per day in 2012, serving approximately 7.3 million passengers. It accomplished this by serving 32 nonstop destinations on eight major airlines.
As one of the first new airports to open in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, Indianapolis International Airport (IND) is a 1.2 million-square-foot complex just off Interstate 70, which is strategically located from several major U.S. interstates, including I-65, I-865, I-69, I-70 and I-74, all of which connect to the city’s I-465 beltway.
The newness of the airport also means it is a destination and launching pad for both commerce and community. As the eighth largest cargo center in the United States and the home of the second-largest FedEx Express operation in the world, more than 2 billion pounds of cargo were managed at IND in 2012. This is a key economic catalyst for development in central Indiana and the Midwest.
As impressive as these economic numbers seem, however, it is the customer that gets top billing from airport authorities. At the old airport, travelers who needed assistance only had a telephone in the box to call for help. It worked...most of the time. Today, travelers who need immediate help simply pick up a receiver on a Talkaphone call box to be connected to guest services or, if it is a medical emergency (or worse), they are connected to the airport’s 911 services.
“The transportation industry is one of our core markets,” said Sam Shanes, chairman of Talkaphone. “We’ve been involved in several airport installations, including airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, and many others. Ensuring the security of passengers in the travel sector is something we take very seriously.”
One layer of security that IND airport officials installed are call boxes in numerous common areas within the parking structure: the parking garage, in surface parking areas and strategically placed at gate access points.
“Having these call boxes is another service we are pleased to provide to our passengers with as an added sense of security,” said Airport Operations Center and Emergency Operations Center Manager, Andy Burnett. “The system at the old terminal was a telephone in a weatherproof box. Our design team planned for reliability and reputation in planning for this solution.”
Though the call boxes serve more than one function—in short, for non-emergencies— operators patch the call through to guest services and are able to assist passengers with common questions about locations and general services.
Airport officials also worked diligently with Talkaphone to produce aesthetically pleasing call boxes, and passengers are able to spot the towers and know that there is shelter there, as well.
“This is one more layer of security for our passengers,” Burnett said.
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