Lock? What Lock?

Access Control Takes on New Dimensions

 by Steve Cooper

“Katy, bar the door!”

Right out of an old movie script, that phrase describes access control.

Now, understand the door has two sides. Katy can be barring the door to keep people from entering, or Katy can be creating an internal barrier that denies egress. Obviously, if we were trying to create an absolute barrier, we’d build a wall, but we’re not. However you define it in your application, with access control we’re trying to keep the bad guys on one side of our barrier and allow the good guys to cross to the other side.

With ever-increasing improvements in technology, we have learned to automate the process of acknowledging the privilege granted to those who deserve it. Depending upon microprocessors of one type or another, the business of Access Control has become quite sophisticated.

Here’s one example. Remember when you were in high school making the mad dash between classes with a quick stop by your locker. Can you still remember the lock’s combination number? The next generation of students in many schools will not have that joy. One major locker manufacturer in the USA has developed the hardware/software combination to allow students to swipe the ID card they carry through a card reader to pop open the locker door automatically. And, of course, that solution can be applied wherever lockers need to have controlled access.

Think of the obvious benefits in the overall security plan for the institution. Computerizing the process makes an archive of system activity available to be used in a variety of ways. Given current security concerns in school environments, a major benefit comes with the capability to spring administrative individual or group locker checks with only a few keystroke commands in the software.

Regardless of the reason Katy needs to bar the door, or what you need to safeguard, a control system can generally be devised to not only accomplish the task, but to automate the process. Computer programs can be written to control an endless list of electrically operated locking hardware and electronic authorization acknowledgement devices. How do you choose what will work for you?

As with many items, you can contract for a completely custom-written, individually designed integrated system made especially for you, or you can adapt off-the-shelf components to a homegrown plan. The questions of source, value, and appropriateness always apply as with any anticipated purchase. The best advice—before you go shopping, make a plan!

Know what you want to accomplish. You may work with a consultant, a supplier’s representative, or the installer who best meets your needs. You need to be able to communicate clearly the who, what, when, where and why of each area you expect to protect.

Look at this example. As lifestyles have changed, self-storage facility owners have seen the market change, creating new demands for the use of rental space. The industry has matured from offering simple, open storage and pre-fabricated ramshackle metal bins to providing modern buildings, multi-story in many cases, with clean, comfortable climate-controlled environments. While driveway access control has been a staple security feature for many years, additional tools now add to the appeal and security offered by the more sophisticated facilities.

Operators in places as diverse as Walnut Creek, CA; Denver, CO; and Hilton Head Island, SC have added wine lockers for the convenience of customers. This fascinating niche created a need for second and third stage access control and security devices to further protect the high dollar goods placed in storage. Additional access controls help guard the internal storage spaces and even the elevators that give tenants access to those special areas.

These owners had specific goals in mind for adding newer, greater security features. The objective included adding the controls necessary to give their marketing program a boost as they expanded their product line. More than the fact of security, they needed to impact their prospects with the impression of greater protection.

As you begin your plan, you too may have various reasons to be adding controls. Make sure you have all objectives clearly defined, and then communicate them.

With those expectations stated, a supplier can help you match function to expectation and scale to capacity. A gate operator that must move a two thousand pound hunk of metal at a high security prison driveway only twice a day will have quite different specifications from one that must allow two thousand cars to enter and exit a downtown parking garage twice a day. While that may seem to be stating the obvious, each device and component incorporated into an integrated system has a capacity or usage rating. Many problems in access control can be overcome through knowing your demands will be well matched by those capabilities.

As you prepare for your shopping trip through the latest trade magazines or a browser sweep of all the web sites found by your search engine, know the questions you want to ask about installability, maintainability, and serviceability. New products will not have a track record that you can confirm through checks with the references provided by the supplier, but each will have a list of design specifications you can review. Do it. Spend the time it takes to make sure you have at least a simple understanding of the theory of operation and the characteristics showing what you should be able to expect from the device or system.

The events of September 11, 2001 shook our society, changed perspectives, and created an urgent need for responsible authorities to make decisions and take actions to enhance security everywhere. Un-repaired gates that have been languishing unused alongside industrial driveways are being refurbished. The demand for governmental and business offices to be outfitted with surveillance and access control systems has the security industry screaming into 2002 with the throttle wide open.

If you are in that number, if you are feeling the pressure to update, upgrade, and up-fit, don’t let that be an excuse to make hurried decisions without doing your homework. Be conscientious and create the cost-benefit spread sheet. Your investment in making the effort will pay handsome dividends.

Measure the tangibles and the intangibles. Capture the information that will help you make the right decision. Keep in mind the who, what, where, when, and why of what you’re trying to accomplish as you calculate the real value to your organization:

While some things change, others don’t. Prudent shopping will help ensure you will be able to accomplish your objectives in spite of a bewildering mix of suppliers, systems, and methodologies, an environment that keeps expanding with every innovation that adds microprocessor capability to everyday devices.

We used to say, “Lock it up and throw away the key!” Now, there may very well be no key to throw away. It’s more likely to be what is known as a smart card, a plastic card with an embedded chip that can pass your entire life history to the microprocessor in a second split so fine it can hardly be called time.

If what you want to protect is important enough, computers can even be trained to read your body parts—not just fingerprints, handprints, and footprints either. Facial recognition devices already help authorities screen the multitudes at airports in major cities. Retinal scanners are becoming commonplace in secured facilities. And, don’t let it surprise you that more than one development company is dreaming up ways to provide instant DNA comparisons.

In the security industry the lines are also blurring in the light of change. Gate and fence contractors are becoming access control companies. Access control companies are becoming security companies. Security companies are becoming system integrators.

The technology-driven industry innovates possibilities daily. As an example, engineers and planners are tapping the computing capacity of their newest generation of Digital Video Recorders to allow programming its video signals to be used as a trigger to operate virtually any controllable device, even from a remote location.

As always, technological improvements allow us to do more with less. System integration in access control provides many opportunities for you to meet your objectives in making premises secure, whether your space is as small as a locker or as large as a military base. You will likely gain additional benefits as well, including administrative checks and balances, marketing and promotion capabilities, and greater resource allocation.

 So, look at access control as a business tool, know the specifics of what you want to accomplish, communicate them and build an alliance with the supplier that proves to show the best value on your cost/benefit spreadsheet. With the effort comes the benefit of knowing your situation is under control. You don’t have to be like the fictional cowboy waiting until the last second to keep the Indians at bay when he shouted, “Katy, bar the door!”

Steve Cooper consults on possibilities as part of the Sales and Marketing Team at Digitech International, Inc., providing World Class Access Control and Security Solutions for a variety of applications including specialties in school security and in serving the self-storage industry.