General Electric

General Electric is a global infrastructure, finance, and media company taking on the world’s toughest challenges. GE is a company with a great heritage. Founded in 1878 by Thomas Edison, it is the only company on the Dow Jones Index that was in the original list in 1896. Over 100 years of GE global research has earned two Nobel prizes and thousands of patents. GE is imagination at work. From jet engines to power generation, financial services to water processing, and medical imaging to media content, GE employees worldwide are dedicated to turning imaginative ideas into leading products and services that help solve some of the world’s toughest problems.

GE South Africa

Present in South Africa for almost a century, GE has played a key role in major infrastructure and localisation projects, including the establishment of CNBC Africa’s broadcast headquarters in Johannesburg. Today, more than 500 GE employees are located in South Africa, driving growth in the energy, security and healthcare industries, and helping the country tackle some of its greatest challenges.

Pre-existing situation & UTCFS’s role

GE South Africa moved into its new corporate headquarters based in Midrand, in the Gauteng province, in 2005. The facility is occupied by leading GE businesses including Corporate, Consumer & Industrial, Energy and Healthcare. GE South Africa wanted to adopt the standard access control system used by GE across the globe enforced by a strong element of video surveillance. Having established and clearly articulated its requirements, it turned to the experts at UTCFS.

UTCFS’s solution

GE South Africa implements UTCFS’s Picture Perfect system, a market-leading access control system used in nearly all GE Corporate facilities worldwide. It operates 81 door readers throughout the South African site, registering the details of anyone who passes through. The Picture Perfect software application links GE South Africa to the company’s central server in Cincinnati, Ohio. This means that GE employees from any part of the company’s global operations are able to access the facility using their staff access cards, greatly streamlining administration of the building’s security. UTCFS met the requirement for video surveillance by installing 26 cameras at strategic points throughout the building. These are both fixed and pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ), and all link back to UTCFS digital video recorders. Finally, three FP fire detection systems protect not only the facility but also provide a secure environment for the employees.