End Users '20 under 40' 2015—Edwin "Eddy" Collier

Edwin “Eddy” Collier, 32

Director, surveillance technology, MGM Resorts International

Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS—Eddy Collier has been part of a team that created the corporate surveillance department for 10 MGM Resorts properties here and others nationwide, managing technology design, purchasing, installation and maintenance of CCTV and digital systems.

His background is in computer and network engineering. He initially wanted to get into IT, he said, but found the field to be “overcrowded,” so he started his own CCTV business. Soon after, he went to work at The Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas as a surveillance technician, overseeing everything related to access control, he said. His position grew, and he then became involved in security installations at the multi-facetedARIA resort on the Strip. He then was promoted to the corporate team.

Analytics applications are a special interest to Collier, he told Security Systems News. “We're really depending on the technology of cameras. A lot of people think we use cameras to mainly watch people. With superior cameras, we primarily use our surveillance system to analyze our games,” he said.

He wants to expand new applications to all MGM Resorts casinos, and he has tested a number of facial recognition systems.

Facial recognition works at airports where there's one person going through the security line at a time, he said, “but at a casino it's really hard.”

One of the biggest challenges he faces is integrating and implementing new technology. “I have so many companies bring me so many cool things. But how do we implement it? It's not always that easy, even if it's a really cool device.”

Still, he says, MGMResorts has been preparing for future security needs. “One of the biggest things for a long time was storage, but we're getting away from all analog equipment to be all IP-based.”