The Last Word

Locked Tight

IT'S a simple enough request at most companies -- the last person to leave the office should lock the doors. But many times, one of the most basic tenants of access control can be compromised by something as simple as a forgetful employee.

That was the case for Reston, Va.-based 3H Technology.

The IT company offers a wide range of products and technical services to high-profile customers, including the Army and Navy, General Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Treasury, as well as many local governments and commercial businesses.

Some of the products the company has created include the eSnap business corporate portal and the Electrolease enterprise document imaging solution.

In its former leased space, the company used a standard lock and key system to control access. And when if the last person out of the office forgot to lock up on Friday, the office remained open to thieves and anyone else until Monday morning.

In 2006, the company grew to more than 250 employees. Officials then made the decision to relocate to a new building, giving the company more room to grow and expand its business.

When the expansion and relocation decision was made, shifting assets and personnel out of the old leased space to the new office location took several weeks. During the transition, 3H's facilities manager, Dan Aide, needed to oversee and manage both locations.

Turning to the Web
Integrator Advent Automation suggested 3H turn to the ACS WebService from Brivo to help ease access control concerns. After installing six ACS4000 and ACS 5000 panels that control more than 20 readers, Brivo's system secures external and internal doors and manages access for employees, sub-lease tenants, vendors and visitors.

And with the system, 3H was able to evolve its access control system from a lock and key to something heard frequently today in security circles -- convergence.

With ACS Web service, access control can be administered through the Web. The system also is able to give 3H installation flexibility. Users of WebService can use fully-native TCP/IP technologies like secure wireless wide-area networking, wired Ethernet connections, Wi-Fi or satellite connections to tie the system together. There also is no software installation or server setup, allowing panel programming to happen faster than with other types of systems.

And with the openess of today's systems, information security is always forefront in the minds of users. The control panels at 3H connect to Brivo's hosting center via secure, 128-bit SSL encryption, allowing the safe flow of information, no matter what type of connection the company uses.

"The Brivo system is very user friendly and intuitive," Aide said. "I programmed the system to send a daily e-mail summarizing all the previous day's access activity. When I come in each morning, I do a quick check to follow up on any suspicious or irregular activity. It takes five minutes, it's not time consuming or tedious at all. We're a software company and this is a great application. We've been very pleased with the effectiveness and ease-of-use of the system."

With the summary e-mail, Aide is able check the previous days activities and access information like who came in late at night, who the first person in the office was and what time they arrived, which areas were accessed and at what time.

The company set up the system to provide access to specific doors and areas at certain times to several different groups within the company and those needing access to the building. The entire system can be checked from any Web connection, even a remote one.

For extra added peace of mind, the system is also programmed to send Aide a text message to his cell phone when certain events transpire. If an unauthorized attempt to access a sensitive area is made after hours, Aide receives a text message within one minute of the event.

"I regularly check the system from home," Aide said. "Once I saw that someone, a contractor, was in the building who shouldn't be. I drove down, asked the person to leave, and promptly change their card to reflect the correct access privileges."

This article originally appeared in the February 2007 issue of Security Products, pg. 85.

About the Author

Brent Dirks is senior editor for Security Today and Campus Security Today magazines.

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