The Kentucky-based Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) redesigned their security operations center (SOC) to reflect the technology and security strategies necessary to protect the passengers and cargo that travel through its facilities.

SDF is ranked third in the United States in terms of cargo traffic volume, handling all international packages shipped via the United Postal Service (UPS). According to a whitepaper from SDF and Sentinel, the airport experienced a boom in cargo traffic during the pandemic, despite a reduction in passenger presence.

Prior to the SOC redesign, the airport was outfitted with a communications center and police dispatchers, but the facility lacked other updated security technologies. When designing the new SOC, the Louisville Muhammad Ali Airport security team focused on two factors as top priorities to airport security:

• Updated security technology: The airport added more surveillance cameras, bringing their total to 541. SDF also needed to replace their access control system, which secured 600 access points throughout the facility.
• Seamless transition to the new system: Due to the high volume of critical tasks performed at the airport, a shutdown for any amount of time was out of the question when installing the SOC and security technologies. By timing the transition and keeping legacy security systems operational until the new technologies could take over, SDF avoided interruptions.

For more information on the airport SOC redesign, click here.