Credit Union Gets Good Grades
Open architecture easily allows company to transition to upgraded security
- By April Noblitt
- Feb 01, 2012
Teachers Credit Union, headquartered in South Bend, Ind., is the
largest credit union in the state, reaching from inside the Michigan
border from Niles, Mich., to Greenwood, Ind. The institution has
51 locations, including a four-story corporate office, and continues
to buy and build additional branches. For access control, Teachers
Credit Union (TCU) had been using offline computer-managed locks. They were
placed at strategic locations such as outside entrances, the door to the teller line
and access to the vault room.
While these self-contained locks had been easy to install, they required significant
resources to manage. Data that controlled access was downloaded to each
lock individually, using a PDA. Audit trails and other information were uploaded
to the PDA and transferred to a computer. The database itself was managed on the
computer, allowing for response to personnel changes, lost credentials and changing
access requirements.
However, with each branch having its own computer-managed standalone access
control, the growing number of branches and the widening geographic coverage
of the credit union were starting to create big problems for Mike True, TCU’s
director of security.
“Every time an employee left the credit union or another employee was hired, we
had to drive out to that branch and reprogram all the locks,” True said. “It was costly
in time, mileage and hotels. It just wasn’t working anymore. We were scrambling.”
It also meant that security was compromised from the time the need was reported
until the lock was reprogrammed. True knew the credit union needed to upgrade
but didn’t want to replace all its electrified door equipment, including power
supplies, closers and exits. The company just might have to continue working with
what it had. However, Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies gave the credit union
a demonstration of its Schlage bright blue™ IP-enabled security management system
along with the new AD-Series locking system
Ingersoll Rand provided TCU with wireless access control. Importantly, instead
of having a proprietary design, Ingersoll created a system using open architecture,
giving installers the flexibility to work with TCU’s existing electrified
door hardware.
“This unit did everything that I wanted it to do,” True said. “Most importantly,
since it was open architecture design, we could keep our current door hardware
intact even though we were going to be integrating a Schlage wireless system.”
With bright blue, the credit union’s authorized personnel can access, monitor
and manage any lock from any computer running a standard Web browser. The
system’s plug-and-play design made configuration easy, and the embedded application
eliminated the need for special software, a dedicated PC or IT resources.
The unit connects to the network and a power source and is ready to go. The
installed door hardware was left untouched.
The modular, open-architecture AD-Series system enabled the credit union to
customize door openings with options such as credential reader type, networking
and the types of finishes and levers to create a perfect fit. TCU chose wireless
locks using proximity cards, knowing that, if business needs change, it can quickly
switch to new credential technologies, a variety of network protocols, increased
security levels and system expansions. Upgrades can be as simple as interchanging
a module. The AD-Series electronic locks are compatible with all popular exit
devices and include a wide variety of finishes and levers.
With the wireless locks solution, True and his team have simplified control of
who goes where and when because they interact with bright blue in the same way
they do with any Web page on the Internet. The system application is embedded
on the control panel that connects easily to the credit union’s present network.
Adding and deleting personnel, setting up doors and assigning access based on
time schedules is straightforward. If there is a new employee or an employee leaves
the credit union, True and his staff can simply add or delete that person from their
computers without getting out of their chairs.
“There is an access control unit at each branch,” True said. “They are connected
into our IT network. All I have to do is pull up the IP address of the particular
branch and make the changes.”
At TCU, three logon levels—user, operator and administrator—provide different
sets of access rights to the system, ensuring that system users will access
only the functions management wants them to manage or view. All user IDs and
passwords are protected with security encryption, providing safe access to monitor,
control and manage sensitive personnel data, transactions and activities. Since
the controller is built on a Linux operating system, it is very stable and sheltered
from external threats.
Why Wireless instead of Wired?
The credit union originally went with the standalone locks so that it wouldn’t have
to pull wires throughout its facilities. Likewise, wireless electronic locks from Schlage
eliminated the need to pull wires to each opening while still providing online access
control. This approach also made instant access control data changes possible from
headquarters and the branches available at every lock.
“Now, we don’t have to drive to the branch to reprogram locks if someone loses their credential,” True said. “And, if we
don’t get a credential back when someone
leaves, we can disable their access
instantly. This is absolutely improving
our operations.”
Wireless also provides the company
with the flexibility of extending its cardbased
access control system. With wireless,
it can migrate the present access
control system so that it can be used for
mobile mustering, remote areas, gates,
elevators and other unique applications
that heretofore have been either impossible
to install or way too costly.
For instance, consider employee
parking. For outdoor applications,
such as vehicle and pedestrian gate
access, wireless links will bridge up to
1,000 feet, eliminating costly trenching.
As such, wireless systems are ideal
for garages and parking lots. They are
especially cost-effective for controlling
gates around a facility. Optional directional
or gain antennae are available
for still longer distances, up to 4,000
feet away.
With wireless access control, people
can enter the parking lot just like they
enter the front door—with their credential.
No guards are needed to keep
unauthorized cars from entering, and
no trenches need to be dug to provide
what can be installed with a wireless solution
quickly.
In addition, lockdowns can be important
but they have everything to do
with the wireless technology being deployed.
This issue is major with wireless
access control. Usually, with Wi-Fi, access
control decisions are downloaded
by the host into the lock five to six times
per day, rather than five to six times per
hour with 900-MHz solutions. Access
control decisions also may be managed
within the locks—as is the case with offline
locks—to minimize communication
from the lock to the host and conserve
batteries. However, such limited,
non-online connectivity with the host
limits the locks’ ability to receive urgent
commands from the host. For instance,
even with a 900-MHz platform, a direction
to immediately lock down could be
ignored for more than 10 minutes.
However, with the AD-Series locks,
a new Schlage patent-pending “wake
up on radio” feature works in parallel
with the 10-minute heartbeat. Without
waking up the entire lock, it listens for
complementary commands every one
to 10 seconds and responds. Thus, 10
seconds is the longest it will take to initiate
lockdown.
As the credit union adds branches,
through building or acquisition, they
too will be brought online. According
to True, the changeovers are transparent
to the branch managers and their
employees.
“This was such a simple solution,”
he said. “My team loves it and so does
the IT staff because they know, with
wireless access control, it takes only
a couple days to switch over from the
standalone locks. When I’m at financial
institution conferences, I like to tell
others about it. Their reply is usually,
‘I’d like to go with something like that
myself.’”
This article originally appeared in the February 2012 issue of Security Today.