Security Dealer & Integrator

JAN 2013

Find news and information for the executive corporate security director, CSO, facility manager and assets protection manager on issues of policy, products, incidents, risk management, threat assessments and preparedness.

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as well as glass, monitored and scheduled doors, gates, elevators and in portable solutions. Facilities spread across 800 acres Since 1998, Mount Holyoke has partnered with Heartland Payment Systems (Princeton, N.J.) for a one-card campus solution. Although the student numbers are small, the quintessentially New England campus covers a disperse 800 acres. The hardwired system was becoming a logistical nightmare. According to Doug Vanderpoel, director of Auxiliary Services for Mount Holyoke: "The college uses the student cards for vending machines, to do laundry and obtain meals. We even have a dozen off-campus merchants that will honor the card. They are also used to access all 20 residence halls, which are scattered throughout our grounds. That was our problem." Wired locks were becoming too big of a problem. Vanderpoel related how it was a real balancing act to coordinate the numerous trades people needed to install wired locks for their access control system. "You need an electrician to install the conduit for the wire," said Vanderpoel. "Then, a communications person pulls the wire while a carpenter must hang the door, a locksmith mounts the lock and the low-voltage technician connects everything. But, that's not the end of it. If a door is not hung properly, the carpenter must come out again. To do the job, the wire must be cut and so on. Our staff has enough to do without going through that over and over again." One solution was to implement standalone locks at the doors. However, that idea was dismissed. "We had done that in the past but we had real issues as far as updating the doors in a timely manner," Vanderpoel explained. "We wanted to use card access on the doors. There had to be a way to let students access their dorms with their student identification card. The good news is that we already knew how and were actually using the right solution." The flexibility of using wireless access control locks was leveraged by Colorado Mesa University (Grand Junction, Colo.). When renovating its oldest classroom building, the uni- versity had to move its offices to temporary buildings. To secure the temporary offices, Locksmith Preston C. Ellis used Schlage AD 400 wireless locks to simplify installation. Once the renovation was complete, he used the locks on other buildings. "Wireless signals are able to penetrate concrete or cinder block walls, plasterboard walls, brick walls and many other non-metallic materials for simplified system designs."—Karen Keating Wireless access control is also being used at Colorado Mesa's Hamilton Recreation Center and El Pomar Natatorium. Here they solved a different problem. When the natatorium was built, conduits were not installed for access control and, like at the University of New Hampshire, the amount of concrete made it impossible to add them later. Instead, wireless access devices and trim were easy to install without wiring. Wireless locks are used throughout Colorado Mesa University. www.SecurityInfoWatch.com | SD&I; | January 2013 37

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