Due to expansion and changing working practices, The Wellcome Genome Campus required a communication solution that would aid security, health and safety, and facility management services.

About The Wellcome Genome Campus
The Genome Campus is a 130 acre scientific research campus built in the grounds of Hinxton Hall. The campus is owned by the Wellcome Trust, and its largest component is the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI) which employs around 900 people. It is also the site of the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), the bioinformatics outstation of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), which currently employs around 540 people. In addition to the research institutions, there are facilities on the campus dedicated to training and conferences; these include the former Hinxton Hall buildings.

The solution.

The Wellcome Trust tested a number of digital systems before going out to tender. Radiocoms Systems Ltd offered a Sepura DMR solution and was awarded the contract. Radiocoms has supplied four repeaters with uninterrupted power supply facilities, over 100 hand-portable radios − including Sepura SBP8040 keypad/display device for the security team and SBP8340, non-keypad hand-portables, for use by other staff with specific talk groups, such as engineering and facilities management. Each talk group uses a different coloured front bezel to easily identify their own radios.

Radiocoms has also provided the security team with SICS eXpress dispatcher and mapping software. The Sepura SICS eXpress dispatcher software package operates on a single PC and provides radio call logging, message handling, automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic person location (APL) for use with Sepura’s DMR family of radios.

Mark Blythe, Sales Director of Radiocoms Systems, said: “Sepura’s complete system solution is a superb fit for the Wellcome Trust. The four repeaters provide eight simultaneous talk channels – one for each group – and the handsets are fully featured and robust, with outstanding loud, clear audio, making them ideal for each of the talk groups’ differing needs.”

The result.

To improve health and safety, all hand-portable radios are equipped with Lone Worker, Emergency Button and GPS features so that in case of an emergency, the security team is alerted instantly, with calls being logged and mapped on the application software package for quick and efficient response and resolution.

Cliff Davies, DMR Business Development Manager for Sepura says: “We are delighted with this contract win as it demonstrates our ability to deliver fully featured radio systems that really can make a difference. Wellcome Trust has chosen a conventional digital system that can easily be upgraded to a trunked digital system, for even greater efficiencies, as their comms requirements grow. With Sepura’s DMR solutions, this is a simple process that will allow them to capitalise on their current investment.”