Breaking Into The Access Control Market

Access control involves much more these days than a locked door and a security guard. In fact, violent acts being perpetrated in schools and office buildings on a regular basis have spurred the growth of a multi billion-dollar market. Integrated Access Systems Corp. (IAS), a Rockaway, NJ-based security integrator, realized the need for increased security early on. Today, the company has grown to 130 employees and approximately $20 million in gross sales. IAS is a single-source provider of security-related products and services. This includes systems engineering design and integration, security systems and software manufacturing, and management consulting.

"The industry isn't just about letting the good guys in and keeping the bad guys out," says Gary D'Aries, IAS president and CEO. "Access control is about the establishment of effective business controls and processes to identify and validate the identity of all people who need to gain access to a certain property."

"Using security guards alone is not an effective form of access control. A security guard could become familiar with people and not be aware of changes in personnel. If I am the CEO today and I get fired tomorrow and no one tells the guard, that person does not know to stop me when I try to gain entry to the building the next day. With an electronic security access system, access is denied as soon as the command is entered into the computer. The system makes a decision based on facts, not feeling."

D'Aries believes there is still room in the security market for VARs and systems integrators. "There is an overabundance of work in this market," D'Aries says. "Employees force management to take protective measures to retain control of the workplace. The growing number of violent incidents has been a huge factor in the prominence of the security market."

Access Control Essentials
IAS integrates any and all required technologies to meet its customers' needs for access control. These technologies include:

• ID badging
• all standard card and biometric technologies
• access control
• closed circuit televisions (CCTV)
• intrusion detection devices
• intercommunication systems
• public address systems
• communications alarm monitoring
• remote video monitoring.

According to D'Aries, access control is broken down into four components:

User interface – Typically, this refers to software.
Control boards – Control boards provide intelligence to field panels (specific security areas) that make a field-specific, intelligent decision about what's going to happen. For example, control boards determine who gains access to specific areas and who controls alarms.
Reader or pickup device – These are usually biometric devices, proximity readers, keypads, or anything that holds or transfers data to an electronic medium. This aspect of the system can be integrated with time and attendance, because it creates a time- and date-stamped record.
Hardware – Hardware is associated with locking items, such as a gate or a fence. Hardware can also be used to control who gains access to information.

For example, Boeing, the world's largest maker of commercial jets - among the top aerospace companies - hired IAS to provide security around the perimeter of its St. Louis site. "The card medium that employees use to enter the gates contains a security code," D'Aries explains. "The cards also contain the employee's photo, a magnetic stripe, and a bar code. Several different technologies are on the same card, which can be used for a variety of applications in the facility."

D'Aries estimates that 70% of IAS installations use proximity card identification, which involves radio frequency cards that can be scanned without a direct line of site. "We use proximity cards in conjunction with card technology, communication, and alarm environments," he explains.

Proximity card technology transfers digital information from the card to a transceiver, a device that can receive and send information. The transmitted information identifies which employee is attempting to gain access to an area, and the transceiver sends that information to the central system. This central system decides to unlock the door — if the employee is approved. RF transmission can also sense movement and sound differences when used as a device in different alarm environments.

IAS also uses storage systems to preserve transactions. "We have customers that are storing in excess of 200,000 access transactions each day," explains D'Aries. "Data piles up very quickly. We can store information on hard disks or CDs. We also use digital video storage, such as magnetic tapes, to keep camera footage. We would definitely use a RAID (redundant array of independent disks) system as a backup system for archiving access transactions."

"Technology is a necessity in access control," D'Aries continues. "It's a good thing that we're fascinated by technology at IAS, because if we weren't, we would be burnt out by now. If we don't keep up the pace, we aren't going to make a difference in our business arena as a forward-thinking company."

IAS implements training programs to keep employees abreast of applications the company creates or integrates. "We also send our people to seminars held by companies such as Microsoft and Novell," D'Aries adds. "We use off-the-shelf products, but we focus on how those applications apply to our business."

How VARs Access The Security Market
D'Aries believes there is enough business today in the security market to support VARs. To effectively fulfill their customers' needs, VARs must understand those needs and provide continued support.

"Many VARs recognize the opportunity in the security vertical market," he explains, "but they aren't able to provide adequate support. They would rather install a system that is easy to maintain, and outsource any additional support. Many VARs don't want to dedicate or hire new employees for continued support."

For a security system to be effective, D'Aries says, the solution must be foolproof and also palatable by the people it monitors. "Security systems can be replaced simply because employees feel that the system is obtrusive to the quality of work life," he explains. "If people don't like the system, they try to circumvent and defeat the system. VARs have to understand their customers' business cultures and the mindsets of their customers' employees." For example, at one company, it may be acceptable to close off staircases in certain areas in order to heighten security. But, in another business culture, such as a healthcare facility, employees might use stairs more than elevators to keep physically fit. Closing off the stairs could change that company's entire business culture. Rather than increase security, it would generate resentment and animosity toward security.

The Next Frontier
Not only is the Web changing the way we live, it is changing the way we do business. Like most other companies, IAS is also in a fast-paced development phase to enhance its Web site. "We see the Internet as an important part of the way we do business," says D'Aries. "The Internet allows us to provide links to our suppliers, and possibly to allow their customers to access our Web sites via links."