NEW APPROACH

Consider this common scenario: the facility manager of a manufacturing plant wants to control access to two doors separated by a football field’s worth of distance, and tie the doors into the existing access control system.  The problem is, the manager discovers that the system operates solely with multi-door panels; consequently, adding even one door requires the purchase of a four-door panel.  In most manufacturing operations -- or any company, for that matter -- where profit margins may already be razor-thin, this additional expense is a waste of valuable financial resources.

But that’s only the beginning of the problem.  Besides utilizing multi-door panels, most access control companies also require that the panels be installed in a central location.  This creates more-involved cabling work, as well as the associated costs.  Now those razor-thin profits are sliced a little bit thinner.

The bottom line is that all access control firms are capable of controlling levels of access.  They can all accommodate time zone users.  Most are capable of supporting a variety of reader technologies.  And virtually all of them can offer products for operation on a wide spectrum of computer platforms.

However, few incorporate single-door technology into their systems, which allows all of the necessary information for a single door to be stored in an intelligent controller right at the door.  Imagine the benefits of this cutting-edge technological approach.  The user can expand the system one door at a time, which means there is no need to expend excess dollars for unwanted or unneeded capacity.

There is also the issue of cabling.  Using single-door technology, expansion entails adding only a twisted pair of wires and power routed to each new access point; most technologies require running multiple conductors for all of the readers, door strikes, and alarm contacts. 

ENTER MILLENNIUM

The advantages of single-door technology in an access control system are evident.  More importantly, the technology is not a pipe dream.  It serves as the building block of access control systems from Millennium Group, Inc.  Headquartered west of Boston in Natick, Massachusetts, the U.S., Millennium was created in 1991 as a spin-off from a company called Marlok, whose claim to fame was a mechanical key that utilized optical properties.  The company was originally founded to provide hotel locking systems and did indeed perform a significant volume of hotel work in the 1980s and 1990s, including such world-renowned establishments as The Mirage and Bellagio in Las Vegas.  Also in existence at that time was an offshoot of the hotel system, a host-based access control system called Marlock ML-3000.  Computer-based access control in some form had been offered by Marlock since the early 1980s.

After deciding that there were more lucrative markets that had yet to be tapped, a few company entrepreneurs set about to find a way to exploit those markets.  Armed with their extensive experience in the hotel market, their expertise in maintaining communication with large numbers of doors, and their unique single-door approach, they began to develop Millenium. 

EVERYTHING AT THE DOOR

Forming the company’s foundation was a small commercial product called Marlock Millenium, which provided access control for a single site up with to 100 doors.  By 1993, the company had enhanced the product with multi-site capabilities.  One of Millenium’s first contracts was for Southern New England Telephone (SNET); to this day, most of the facilities and central offices in Connecticut continue to utilize the Millenium system, with over 700 access points controlled throughout the state and centrally managed.

The company also works with a number of industrial facilities, including BP Oil in Toledo, as well as boasting an expansive residential business in Florida.  In fact, because there is generally not a central location for installation in these condominium properties, the single-door technology is a highly cost-effective solution; normally, it will be located in one of the unit’s closets, right next to the circuit breaker. 

Regardless of the type of software package, it is the single-door technology that comprises the heart of each Millenium system.  As Millenium’s Director of Sales and Product Strategy Brian Bagus points out, all access control systems perform the same basic function; the differentiator is the architecture of how you do it.  “Unless you spend money and buy a master panel, and your information isn’t at each door, essentially you have master panel and a slave panel,” he said. “If the master panel goes down for some reason, your doors recede into degraded mode.  We put everything at the door.  We even have an installation method that requires no wiring.  We just install the controller, download it from a laptop and it’s ready to go.”

Bagus added that the company’s controllers are flexible enough to allow the end user to centrally locate them if they so desire.  Some customers even employ a combination, placing some in a central location and others directly at the door.  There are several mounting options; it’s up to the customers to decide which one -- or ones -- they want to utilize.

The ease of learning to use a Millenium system is another major plus.  “We believe our software is more user-friendly than other manufacturers’s systems,” said Bagus.  “Our dealers tell us, that when they conduct end-user training, they run the attendees through the menus for 10 or 15 minutes, and that’s it.  With other products, just to create a card for someone and get them through the door, you have to open about 10 or 15 menus and configure all kinds of parameters.  With Millenium, all the information flows from left to right, in an ordered manner.  Users normally can be granted access with just one click.  “A dealer can understand any system,” he added.  “Ultimately, it boils down to making it easy for the end user to comprehend.” 

According to Bagus, Millenium will continue to delve into new markets or increase its presence in existing ones, such as healthcare, education, and retail.  The company’s R&D efforts will also gain momentum, as Millenium engineers introduce software enhancements, new hardware, and improved controllers.  One thing that will surely not change: the single-door technology that distinguishes Millenium from the pack.  In that respect, you might say that the company stands alone.

Gregory Goldman is CEO of Millennium Group, Inc (www.millennium-groupinc.com).