St. Eugene School Gets Affordable Access Control Upgrade
Munger Technical Services provided St. Eugene School with a Web-based access control system.
Each NetAXS-123 panel can be configured for one, two or three doors. To allow for scalability while maintaining simplicity with a single interface, Honeywell engineers devised Ethernet virtual loop (EVL) technology for the panel. Using a facility’s local area network (LAN), NetAXS-123 eliminates the need for dealers to run a dedicated wire loop to connect each access control panel. This simplifies installation and helps cut associated costs.
“Our model, and I think it happens to work quite well, is we have purchased the single door controller and standard Ethernet to the network. It also has enough power that comes across standard PoE that it can power that local door strike,” Munger says. “That means it’s quite easy to quote.”
Munger Technical Services will quote a single door panel for a particular entry point and if the customer wants to add a second door they would add another door panel for it as well. The EVL link then allows one panel to be the gateway panel that clients use for login in order to add/delete access credentials and other tasks. Then the downstream panels connect up through Honeywell’s protocol over a standard network.
“We mount the panel and connect it to their PoE switch. The panel powers up, we log right into the configuration. The second panel in this case was installed in the church. It connects through their Ethernet virtual link back to the panel in the school. So through a single interface you can control access to both doors,” Munger says.
Currently three doors are being protected by the new system. There are two doors in close proximity to each other in the church, which are protected with a two-door controller. The school, which is situated at a different location in the building, houses the main gateway single-door panel. Ethernet cabling runs to the controller, and then from the controller to the door strike is a standard two-conductor cable.
“This has to integrate with their existing door hardware. We are not locksmiths so we depend on the customer to utilize their locksmith,” Munger says. “On older buildings it can be a challenge to keep the hardware operational. St. Eugene’s facilities person does a lot of the maintenance on the hardware.”
The system automatically issues updates to the protected doors, so when the school adds new credentials, for example, it automatically updates itself to accommodate this new information. The integrator also installed access control readers on the school’s gymnasium door, the church door that leads to the school, and a door connecting a shared parish hallway, as well as an external perimeter door that serves as the school’s main entry point.
“The initial challenge, of course, is control of access credentials. This made it simple. We issued fobs to the people who would need them. And that it would be scalable. For instance, we started with two doors. We knew we needed one for the church and we needed one for the school, but they would be administered through the parish,” Munger explains.
Simplified System Management, Amplified Security
With multiple events and activities taking place each day, St. Eugene personnel now use NetAXS-123 to maintain a macro view of building security or drilling down to individual doors. This has been especially critical in light of the various after-hours activities taking place in the building across the three organizations, including on weekends and in the evenings, when a number of people need building access.
Previously, after-hours access to the church for a funeral, for example, involved the paris
h priest having to manually unlock the door. The priest was constantly on call, but with the new system, the appropriate individuals – such as funeral directors – can simply receive a specifically-configured access key fob if they need to enter the building outside of regular operating hours.
The system’s benefits to school security are also numerous. Parents of students enrolled at the school or in the afterschool program simply present their access fobs when they enter and leave the building. The system generates an electronic record each time a person enters, helping the school keep track of who enters the building and when. In the event a parent loses their fob, staff can disable the lost credential and reissue a new one, avoiding the chance of a lost fob falling into the wrong hands.
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About the Author
Rodney Bosch, Senior Editor
Although Bosch’s name is quite familiar to those in the security industry, his previous experience has been in daily newspaper journalism. Prior to joining SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION in 2006, he spent 15 years with the Los Angeles Times, where he performed a wide assortment of editorial responsibilities, including feature and metro department assignments as well as content producing for latimes.com. Bosch is a graduate of California State University, Fresno with a degree in Mass Communication & Journalism. In 2007, he successfully completed the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association’s National Training School coursework to become a Certified Level I Alarm Technician.
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