Entrance technology usually starts with access control, but while there continues to be innovation in database management, cybersecurity, communications, integration and remote access, it is easy to overlook what has happened with the hardware that opens and secures the opening. Electronic security technology has moved from around the door to “on-the-door” – and it is causing a disruption of responsibilities concerning ownership of the security system.
Electrified door strikes controlled by access control door controllers have been with us for quite some time and usually include a tie with the fire alarm system to ensure needed egress. But let’s take it beyond the familiar – think of the door as a nexus where the aesthetic desires of the architect, needs of the client, requirements of the fire marshal, and recommendations of the security consultant or advisor all come together to be installed and energized by the door hardware contractor, electrician and security technician. Now add intelligence, communication, integration with multiple systems and new power choices to the mix, and it is no wonder that many of these installations are painful experiences.
Evolving Access Control Technologies
When you move the door position switch, electric strike, request-to-exit device, card reader and electronic access control onto the door – and provision Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) or unique communications protocols such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Z-Wave connectivity – new skill sets are mandatory for a successful project.
Industry-leading locking hardware manufacturers are now offering electrified door hardware with these technologies integrated, and, often, mechanical keys and cylinders are not even present. These integrated devices may serve as standalone access control systems or as network-connected integral pieces of a larger security system.
Products such as ASSA ABLOY’s Aperio and Schlage’s ENGAGE include gateways to interface the door device networks with access control systems. Cyber concerns have prompted manufacturers to incorporate encryption into device communications, and intelligence in these devices enables tailoring of device function.
Increasingly, the electro-mechanical lock, rugged and attractive as it might be, is becoming the integral package for a powerful computing and communications platform, as embodied in ASSA ABLOY’s Hi-O (Highly Intelligent Opening).
Seattle-based Aronson Security (ASG) is a 53-year-old company which has evolved from a rep and distributor of locks and door hardware. “The door is a key part of the security plan,” explains ASG President Phil Aronson. “But now it also has become a key sensor in the new data-driven world of security – with a role in the overall network-based technology architecture that will provide all-hazards risk intelligence, identification and response.
Construction Standard Re-Categorization
Recognizing the new role of the door and its sensors, the Security Industry Association (SIA), along with SecuritySpecifiers, took the lead in addressing this technology trend in recent efforts to update the Construction Specification Institute (CSI) MasterFormat listing of construction categories (see sidebar).
In addition to adding security-specific network equipment and power supplies to Division 28, a change was made to recognize the evolution of electronic door hardware into an integral component of Electronic Access Control. This involved adding several Division 28 categories, including Integrated Credential Readers and Field Entry Management, Access Control Credentials, Electrified Locking Devices & Accessories, and Egress Management Devices. It also involved re-categorizing Access Control Hardware (card key, keypad, and biometric identity access control hardware) from Division 08 to Division 28.
This is significant because the specification, bidding and coordination process – not to mention post-project warranty support – are affected.
CSI’s stated objectives do not include assigning or aligning contractor specialties, but rather maintaining the higher goal of a smooth well-coordinated specification, bidding and implementation process. Nevertheless, a common General Contractor practice is to send Division 08 hardware procurement and installation in one direction and Division 28 material in another. This has resulted in many instances where the door hardware contractor hangs the electrified lock, an electrician wires it, and the security contractor comes in later to tie it into the access control system, hoping that those before him performed their jobs properly – and hopefully, somebody remembered to provide a power supply.
Thus, you have an increasingly complex piece of the access control system whose selection and installation is often performed by an entity without the requisite training, certification and experience; or, the responsibility to make the access control system work end-end and to support it going forward.
“Over the past decades, I have had to deal with many project issues where the incorrect cabling was pulled to the electrified opening or pulled to the wrong location – in some cases, no cable pulled at all,” says industry veteran John Hunepohl, PSP, CSPM. “I have been in too many ‘finger-pointing’ meetings as to why security systems could not be commissioned due to ‘not-my-job’ syndrome. Many times, the issue was lack of understanding, education or training whereby the locking hardware was treated simply as ‘just locking hardware’ and not part of a total security system.”
As technology evolves, whether it is doors or smartphones, inevitably there are winners and losers in the marketplace. Ultimately, the only “winners” who matter in this scenario are the customers – who have their security requirements met through a process that meets performance, budget and schedule objectives.
Sidebar: About CSI MasterFormat
The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) states that MasterFormat “is primarily used to organize project manuals and detailed cost information, and to relate drawing notations to specifications…It lists titles and section numbers for organizing data about construction requirements, products, and activities. By standardizing such information, MasterFormat facilitates communication among architects, specifiers, contractors, and suppliers, which helps them meet building owners' requirements, timelines and budgets.” MasterFormat is partitioned in divisions, the most security-relevant of which are Electronic Safety and Security (Division 28), Openings (Division 08), and Communications (Division 27).
Ray Coulombe is Founder and Managing Director of SecuritySpecifiers and RepsForSecurity.com. Contact him at [email protected], through LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/raycoulombe or follow him on Twitter @RayCoulombe.
