Featuring Bluetooth
- By Deb Spitler
- Jan 01, 2015
Vanderbilt University in Nashville
has earned many distinctions
including Princeton
Review’s top ranking for colleges
with the happiest students.
In an effort to serve
its students, the university
recently conducted a pilot
program with HID Global of
Austin, Texas in which approximately
15 participants used
their smartphones to open
doors at one or more of six
possible campus entry points,
including one parking garage.
Entry points were equipped with mobileenabled
iCLASS SE readers that were configured
to work with existing iCLASS smart
cards as well as HID Global’s Mobile IDs. The
pilot program validated the use of smartphones
as a convenient and compelling new
way to open doors with a “tap” or using the
company’s patented “Twist and Go” gesture
technology for opening doors and gates from
a distance.
Vanderbilt University’s pilot was implemented
using HID Mobile Access, which supports
Bluetooth Smart and includes Mobile
IDs, Mobile Apps, mobile-enabled iCLASS
SEÒ readers, and its HID Secure Identity Services
portal for provisioning and revoking
Mobile IDs to a variety of Apple and Android
mobile devices.
“A critical element of HID Mobile Access
is its ease of issuing, managing and revoking
Mobile IDs to smartphones, and the pilot
results reflect our achievement in creating a
user-friendly experience for customers via
our HID Secure Identity Services portal,” said
Anthony Ball, senior vice president, Identity
Access Management with HID Global. “The
university provided positive feedback on the
Mobile ID issuance process, citing that the
portal made it fairly straightforward and provisioning
was fast and easy. The university’s
system administrators particularly liked how
they could see the status of the invitation and
each device all the way through the registration
and provisioning process.”
Vanderbilt University already uses
CBORD’s CS Access solution with integrated
VertX access control panels from HID Global.
CS Access is a fully integrated component of
the CS Gold campus card solution in use on
campus. No changes were required to the
CBORD system in order to facilitate the use
of Mobile IDs on smartphones for access. Participants
used their own smartphones in the
pilot to include Apple iPhone 4S, 5, 5C and 5S
devices, and Android-based Samsung Galaxy
S4 and Mini 3S handsets.
“Vanderbilt University is a long-time
CBORD client with a very innovative campus
card and integrated security program,” said
Max Steinhardt, president of CBORD. “Bluetooth
Smart is a powerful new technology
making the student experience more convenient
and secure. We’re really pleased to partner
with Vanderbilt and HID Global in this
exciting pilot program to further demonstrate
the value of mobile credentials in the university
environment.”
In a survey of Vanderbilt pilot participants,
respondents cited convenience as the top
attribute of HID Mobile Access, since their
smartphones are always with them and they
are less likely to lose them as compared to
their access card.
Respondents further pointed out the benefit
of using their phone as a backup in cases
where their cards were lost or stolen. Pilot
participants indicated they absolutely loved
using HID Global’s “Twist and Go” gesture
technology to open the garage parking gate as
they drove up to the reader, including the
convenience of not even having to roll down
their window as they approached. In addition,
they validated the efficiency and simplicity of
installing and registering the HID Mobile
App, citing that it required five minutes or less
to complete the process, and it was a selfexplanatory
and intuitive experience. Respondents
also stated that HID Mobile Access is an
innovative alternative to access cards.
For new buildings, Vanderbilt University
will install iCLASS SE readers so they can
leverage the valuable new capabilities of mobile
access in the future, while
still retaining interoperability
with legacy card
technologies.
This article originally appeared in the issue of .
About the Author
Deb Spitler is the vice president of strategic alliances at HID Global.