IT & Access Control Convergence Market: “Open” becoming the operative word

Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies is a sector of Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited, a global provider of products, services and solutions to industries as diverse as transportation, manufacturing, food retailing, construction and agriculture.
Ingersoll-Rand Security Technologies makes a wide array of security and safety products and accessories for residential, commercial, and industrial use.
To keep up with the growing attention to access control, Sunny Kim, Editor of SecurityWorld INT’L, has interviewed Steve Down, General Manager of Commercial Locking Products for Ingersoll Rand Security Technology, to discuss today’s access control technology and its future.

Steve Down, General Manager Commercial Locking Products, Ingersoll Rand Security Technology (Photo by Ingersoll Rand Security Technology)

Please introduce your company and update our readers on your latest, breakthrough products.

Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies is a leading global provider of products and services that make environments safe, secure and productive.  The sector’s market-leading products include electronic and biometric access control systems; time & attendance and personnel scheduling systems; mechanical locks; portable security; door closers, exit devices, architectural hardware, and steel doors and frames; and other technologies and services for global security markets. 

Schlage has introduced bright blue, a Web-based access control system that lets users access, monitor and manage their access control system from any computer running a standard Web browser.  Designed for applications with 1-32 doors, such as small commercial buildings, K-12 schools and institutions, bright blue is the most intuitive access control system on the market today. 

With over 70 percent of all access control systems being 1-25 door applications, bright blue from Schlage satisfies the market need for an easy-to-use, affordable, Web-based system for customers with 1-32 doors and up to 5,000 cardholders.  With no special software or dedicated PCs needed, installation is simple.  Users just connect the panel to the network and a power source and it’s ready to go.  Likewise, training takes only hours, not days.

The bright blue from Schlage system uses state-of-the-art embedded intelligence technology.  The system application is embedded on the control panel, which is network-ready and connects easily to the user’s existing network.  Once installed, authorized users at the school, business or facility can use any networked online computer to access and manage their system.  With easy-to-use configuration wizards and help tips, even novice computer users can set up and navigate their access control system.  Adding and deleting personnel, setting up doors and assigning access based on time schedules is straightforward.

How do you feel about the low-price competition from Asia?

Ingersoll Rand Security Technology recognizes that we are in a competitive environment in which pricing is just one variant.

Do you have any plans for further geographical expansion in the near future?

Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies is already a global company and we will continue to expand our global footprint.

Please give your view on the access control technology industry today.

The growing sophistication and broader spectrum of choices available in electronic access control is leading to greater integration with total building controls and systems, with a consequent increase in the economic value of a door opening that goes beyond security concerns.  The burgeoning adoption of electronic access control technology is also redefining the meaning of the term “total opening” in the security market and beyond.

As electronics play an ever-increasing role in managing a building? entrances, the added initial investment is more than justified by the increased economic value that the so-called total opening generates.  Access security and egress safety features are being combined into systems that also generate data for asset tracking or personnel tracking.  These and many other applications are reshaping the role of the opening and providing solutions that can be “polarized”.  The resulting economic benefits are making electrified solutions more easily affordable by generating a much larger payback.

What do you see your clients are most worried about?

They are worried whether or not they are investing in the appropriate technology.  It is our job to assure that they are able to invest in open architecture platforms that provide flexibility for growth.

What is the future of access control security?

Shootings on school campuses, incidents at travel venues, bombings on the streets, disgruntled ex-employees going on rampages -- violence seems to be escalating and security managers are not sure in how much security they need to invest nor which kind.

Even if a security manager had the opportunity to install an access control system during new construction only several years ago, it would have been very difficult to predict what the access control systems of today and the near future demand.  Not only will the security objectives of the facility evolve because of these outside events but a host of issues created by standards and regulations will generate even more new demands. 

In today? more complex world of IT and access control consolidation and new regulations being instituted for almost every market, “open” becomes the operative word.

Sunny Kim is Editor of SecurityWorld INT’L.  Send your comments to kbs@infothe.com.

     Economic Slowdown and Government Tech Budgets

     Reactive vs. Proactive: Does the Distinction Matter?