At their heart, the major corporate hub sites that operate the world are centers of operations, so require access control that is flexible, intuitive, reliable, and absolutely effective in enabling employees, guests, vendors and materials access while securing all of your valuable and sensitive data and intellectual property. Assessing the dependability of card access systems should therefore be a crucial concern for any facilities manager or security director, and should not be treated as a purely technical exercise.
System Architecture and Redundancy
A reliable card access system starts with its underlying infrastructure. Larger, centralized organizations often need intelligent distributed systems, where access decisions are made on each door instead of a remote server. This will help keep the facility secured in the event the network becomes inaccessible, allowing the doors to remain online individually.
The architecture of an effective system design uses backup and redundant power supplies, fail-open/fail-safe designs, and backup communications. During selection of a system, make sure that your controller will support on-board credential storage, the average system will hold 100,000 cardholders and 500,000 log entries, to enable functionality without a network. Whether or not the system also offers a cloud interface for remote monitoring and diagnostics is another point worth considering. "How well the system handles a surge of users without any lag or failure, like a Monday morning in a corporate headquarters, is how you can truly measure the quality of the engineering that goes into the system," according to one professional in the field.
Credential Technology and Anti-Tamper Features
What a credential is a proximity card, smart card or mobile credential is what dictates how secure it is as well as how convenient. With increasing movement in to secure office space, corporations are quickly transitioning from older 125 kHz proximity cards to more secure 13.56 MHz smart cards that provide encrypted transmission and mutually authenticate between reader and card to further diminish the potential for duplication which is a weakness commonly seen with prior credential technologies.
Besides the basic credential technology, look at the anti-passback and anti-tamper measures used by the system. Sophisticated anti-tamper devices use circuitry to activate alarms if a reader has been disturbed, and multi factor authentication can be used in high security applications by requiring credentials, such as smart cards, along with personal identification numbers (PINs) and even biometrics. If an enterprise has particularly stringent security requirements, take a close look at credential solutions with dynamic keys on the mobile devices which reduce opportunities for attackers to intercept or duplicate credentials, according to industry security professionals.
Integration and Scalability
Security systems, particularly access controls, shouldn’t exist in a vacuum, they must be integrated into all aspects of building management systems. Linking video surveillance, intruder detection systems, and visitor management software enables a complete security environment in which building events automatically instigate system reactions. If an employee swipe card at a reader after normal hours, lighting turns on in the corridor while surveillance systems begin to record the event from adjacent camera feeds.
Scalability is also important at corporate locations, where the number of employees can ebb and flow, and floor plans change from month to month. Ensure your system can easily scale from one building to multi site enterprise facilities without having to replace your core infrastructure. Today, several access control platforms can accommodate tens of thousands of doors and hundreds of thousands of card holders, a requirement for global corporate campuses. “Be sure the software can accommodate the current number of users and doors, and project future requirements because changing software systems midstream is going to be far more costly than purchasing an adequate amount of scalability to start,” as noted by an industry insider.
Supplier Track Record and After-Sales Support
A truly reliable card access system means looking further than the hardware and software components and consider the support system as well. While reviewing potential suppliers, inquire about their years of operation and the company’s knowledge of access control systems. Suppliers that have been in the automatic door business for over 10 years most likely have established rigorous quality control systems and supply chains to assure your orders are met with no interruption.
Check out the manufacturer's ability to make its own in-house products, with quality certifications readily available. You'll want full traceability from the parts through serial number, this allows you to easily find the product's manufacturing lot if problems arise. Also find out how long warranty lasts and whether spare parts are readily available. Find out whether manufacturer provides complete OEM/ODM services and customization options like branding and software modifications that match with corporate image. As pointed out by Procurement Best Practice Guidelines “a 24/7 technical support line and the provision of complete and up-to-date documentation give considerable comfort to many especially if the transaction is an international one that may be difficult to get to at a fast pace.”
Summary
Reliability of card access for corporate centers depends on how well system architecture, credential technology, system integration and credential technology perform collectively. Facilities Managers can develop access control systems and safeguards for physical assets and streamline operations by using suppliers who excel at customer support, can support systems on long terms, and whose solution works in harmony with other technology.
