University Security SERIES | API Access & Security

SERIES 1 – CHOOSING AN ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEM – SALTO Access Control – Case Study Oxford University Security

According to research by the Home Office, university students are far more likely than the national average to become victims of crime with opportunist thefts and burglary being the most commonly reported offences.

This is frequently due to the fact that for many young people, further education is their first experience of looking after themselves and living away from home. Consequently, they usually have little background knowledge of or experience of crime reduction measures. Most crimes are of an opportunist nature with the most frequent involving the theft of wallets, purses, bags, jackets and money from office areas, especially desks, drawers and lockers. But, of more concern is the problem of burglary. Thieves know that many students own high-value portable items such as laptop computers, i-pods, mobile phones and DVD players which can be easily sold on for cash and so this can make their rooms an easy target for property crime.

One university where the threat of crime is being taken very seriously is the University of Oxford. The oldest university in the English-speaking world, Oxford can lay claim to nine centuries of continuous existence and is determined to do all it can to protect its students. To help achieve this one of the youngest and smallest of the University’s 39 colleges, Mansfield College, has invested in an electronic access control system that has already resulted in a big reduction in campus crime.

Occupying one of the most attractive sites in Oxford, in a quiet position close to the Bodleian Library, River Cherwell and University parks, Mansfield College was established in 1886 and is renowned for combining the best of traditional Oxford with its own unique and innovative personality. The College admits students over a broad range of subjects and the student membership at any one time usually consists of 200 undergraduates, 70 graduates and 35 visiting students.

‘Oxford is, in general, a very safe city in which to live and study. However, burglary is a real problem in Oxford andit is important for our students to be aware of the need for personal security and crime prevention and to know that we are working closely with Oxfordshire Police to help us keep our campuses safe places to live and work’ says Mansfield College Head of Maintenance Tony Berezny. ‘With several other colleges at the University already using SALTO for their access control requirements we wantedto upgrade our own levels of security protection and sodecided to evaluate the technology for our own use. Havingdone this and found it offered pretty much everything we were looking for, we decided to introduce the system in

Mansfield College starting with just our external doors initially to see how users would adapt to it as it is quite different to our previous conventional keyed system. The actual technology itself was extremely simple to install and local SALTO business partner BMA Varsity Ltd, Oxfordshire’s leading locksmiths, carried out the job, installing 8 on-line WRM2000 wall readers controlled by i-Button read/write keys and a mix of electronic handle sets from the Comfort and Security ranges. This was all very straightforward with no undue problems despite the age and condition of some of the doors and their architectural surroundings.’

SALTO’s PRO-Access electronic locking system was also installed at the college to provide real-time on-line perimeter access control. This enables all the doors to be operated by one database (although it is powerful enough to control the entire campus if necessary) managing the intelligent electronic locks and i-Button keys for stand alone wirefree operation. All updating of the locks is achieved via the software with virtual on-line performance provided by theSALTO Virtual Network (SVN). This is a smart combination of on-line and stand alone readers that provide 90% of the benefits of a fully on-line access control system but without such a system’s attendant high costs.

The new access system was very quickly embraced by the students and staff at the college and the installation hasalready been expanded to include bedrooms in the studentaccommodation block and also to individual office doors,giving them control over a total of some 102 doors in amixture of on-line and off-line formats. These are currentlyaccessed via 550 i-Buttons in circulation with staff andstudents at the college.Ramesh Gurdev, one of SALTO’s UK Area Sales Managers comments: ‘The capability of multi-site growth built into the system has been key for the university offering them futurecompatibility and product longevity. They now have allexternal doors networked so that they have real time audit and instant management capability as well as these doors acting as the hotspot data transfer points. The flexibility of the read/write i-Button means that an ergonomic androbust fob type key can be used for data transfer within thesystem.

Tony Berezny concludes: ‘The University of Oxford andMansfield College in particular enjoys a relatively low rate ofcrime and we are working hard to keep it that way. We aredetermined that students and staff should continue to feelsafe and that their property is protected.We have found that SALTO has been invaluable in crimereduction and it has really improved the security of the campus. It has been fault free from day one and we planto expand the system on an annual basis as our budget permits.’

SERIES 1 – CHOOSING AN ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEM – Salto Access Control – College Security Case Study

Delaware College of Art and Design has chosen a smart access control solution from SALTO Systems to secure its urban campus student housing apartments.

Located at 600 North Market Street in the center of downtown Wilmington, the Delaware College of Art and Design (DCAD) is a creative partnership between the Pratt Institute and the Corcoran College of Art and Design, two of America’s oldest and most distinguished Colleges of the visual arts.

Housed in a historic art deco building that has been newly upgraded and renovated, its state-of-the-art educational facilities include computer imaging and graphics labs, darkrooms and photo studios and painting, drawing and design studios. It offers associate degree programs in six disciplines: Animation, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Illustration, Photography and Interior Design.

“As specialists in the field of College-tailored access control systems, the SALTO XS4 solution was ideal for Delaware College of Art and Design,” comments Terri Sopko, SALTO Systems Inc, Regional Business Manager. “Working in consultation with DCAD we designed a highly secure and fl exible networked access control system to meet all of the requests of the College. The advanced system design incorporates XS4 electronic mortise locks with deadbolts, ‘Hotspot’ wall readers and rim panic devices all controlled via MIFARE enabled key fobs.

Since DCAD encourages residential students to be part of its downtown urban campus, it offers apartment style accommodation in the Saville Apartments directly across the street from its studio and academic facilities.

For most students this is their fi rst time living away from and many bring expensive electronic equipment including laptop computers, cell phones, DVD, CD and MP3 players with them with little thought that they could fall victim to thieves.

This means the College gives security considerations a high degree of importance and to protect against unauthorised intruders and combat potential thieves they needed to upgrade their security arrangements. To do this they wanted to migrate from an old fashioned mechanical key based system that was cumbersome to control, time consuming and expensive to replace if key security was breached to a modern smart access control system that could provide management audit trail information and lock battery status without having to visit all the doors in the building,” Sopko continues.

To achieve this 2 on-line hotspot wall readers utilising SALTO Virtual Network (SVN) technology have been fi tted in the Saville Apartments, one in the main entrance and one into the adjacent café entrance. These are complimented by 48 off-line XS4 locks fitted to each individual student apartment together with one rim panic device on the emergency exit door.

The XS4 system needs no hard wiring and provides a totally wire free networked electronic locking solution with a great range of features. It is designed around state-ofthe-art electronics that use distributed intelligence to pass information between microprocessors in the electronic handle set and the key fob. It allows the College to benefit from the many advantages of SVN and enables access profiles to be changed rapidly adding real value to the access management of the building.

Scott Straw, Director of Student Services at DCAD, said “It’s important to us that our students are safely and securely housed within the Saville Apartment complex. With the installation of our new access control system we no longer have the worry or cost of managing keys or changing lock cylinders, but can now update, restrict or deny access to any lock remotely. This gives us unmatched fl exibility and secure and accessible housing for our students, so choosing SALTO has been an excellent investment decision.”

SERIES 1 – CHOOSING AN ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEM – SALTO Access Control – What is this new security technology?

If you are looking for protection from uncontrolled access, SALTO can deliver theperfect solution, tailored to your exact requirements to provide you with all the security, convenience and control you need. [Read more…] about SERIES 1 – CHOOSING AN ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEM – SALTO Access Control – What is this new security technology?

What is a SCEC endorsement?

A SCEC Approval relates to a high degree of trust on an individual and in turn a number of conditions are placed on the applicants.

A SCEC Approved locksmith may be associated with the Australian Government, Defence and other cirtical infrastructure and are expected to maintain the highest level of confidentiality, professionalism and integrity in any or all activity where they are or may be identified in this capacity.

SCEC conducts an approved security locksmith application process several times a year.

SCEC approves individual locksmiths only, and not the company or business employing that locksmith.

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