When you think of what might be the greatest access control innovations from the show floor at ASIS this year, your first thought was probably a neat way to open doors with an iphone or a solution that resides in the clouds. But what you didn’t think of might have been the most innovative: a simple LED light on a pole; or something more technological, like “jumping” power across a door frame.
All of these access control innovations could be found at the show, and here’s a roundup of some of the interesting technologies that caught my eye.
Cast Lighting’s LED perimeter lighting system may be simple, but as it is with many innovations, a simple idea has the rest of the industry saying “why didn’t I think of that?”
“Typically, to light a perimeter fence, you need a very tall pole with a floodlight that is very expensive to install,” Cast Lighting marketing director Steve Parrott said. “With trucks, cement, lifts and labor, you can be looking at thousands per pole.”
As an alternative, Cast’s ASIS Accolades-winning low-voltage system enables users to place a full LED light every 20 to 30 feet directly on the fence posts themselves. Ideal for remote perimeters and huge fence-lines, the product’s launch means that now it won’t take a cement truck and a crane to erect a perimeter lighting system for access control. The units can then be daisy-chained to cover up to 500 feet of fence line with one power wire. The solution is possible thanks to advances in the last five years in LED lighting brightness and power. It only takes 7 watts per fixture to illuminate the lights, meaning users only need 200 watts of power for 25 fixtures on that 500-foot fence.
Beyond the fence, Assa Abloy placed two products in the ASIS Accolades, with the HES K 100 battery-operated Cabinet Lock and the Securitron ICPT Wireless Power Transfer. The cabinet lock can communicate wirelessly with existing access control systems and offers real-time communication without the inconvenience of wiring. The power transfer moves power wirelessly and invisibly across a door gap to run electrified hardware on the door. Able to be installed at the latch side or hinge side of the door, it transfers power without pins or wires, eliminating wear and tear of moving parts.
Two companies continued to tout their capabilities to open doors with mobile devices. HID Global continued its foray into the NFC space by announcing a new provisioning process portal – a way to manage the mobile credentials on the web by dropping new keys onto a phone or removing them. And Viscount used a mobile phone to open a door using only a QR code. The code is mounted above the door, and the user need only scan the QR code to be granted access.
Of course, access control is a technology that is cloud-applicable, and Brivo displayed its new CloudPass system, which provides government users with a hosted access control solution. The web-hosted product complies with FIPS 201, FISMA and HSPD-12.
Finally, Ingersoll Rand was getting back to basic in its booth, touting its innovation at the core of access control – the mechanical hardware itself. According to company spokesperson Joseph Vaida, IR is on a mission to educate its users on the virtues of using the proper mechanical door hardware solution for particular markets. For example, he said that the healthcare market should be deploying more quiet lock and door hardware solutions, so as not to disturb patients. “Sometimes, users just look at a door as just a door,” Vaida said. “We want them to see how to tailor that access control solution to fit their particular needs.”
