Throw Away the Keys

Mar 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By Randy Southerland

At California's Biola University, students in dorms are trading in conventional metal keys for hotel style cards. For this quiet suburban campus, it means a new level of security — and an unprecedented cost savings.

Biola, located in Los Angeles County and just 22 miles southeast of downtown, has been educating students since 1908, when it was founded as a private Christian Bible institute. With a diverse curriculum grounded in evangelical principles, it has grown far beyond its simple beginnings. Today U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Biola as one of the best institutions of higher education in the country.

Bathed by the warm southern California sun, the 95-acre campus forms a peaceful setting for young men and women pursuing higher education. Yet, like nearly every other college and university, Biola wants to ensure that the quiet isn't shattered by crime. Here, security and prevention play a leading role.

That's why the university has used Newport Beach, Calif.-based Apollo as its access and security system provider for the past 14 years. Over that time, officials have been happy with the products the nearby company has provided.

Yet, university officials knew that they wanted a fresh approach to their access control that made use of new technology.

“We just kept wanting to get into some sort of hotel type of access system,” says Carolyn White, an official with Biola's Department of Auxiliary Services. “We have nine dorms, several apartment buildings, and when someone loses a master key it costs $20,000 to replace all the keys, the key locks, and re-key a building.”

Higher Security, Lower Cost

In an era of tight budgets, the costs of re-keying buildings can't be taken lightly.

In conversations with Apollo, White had asked whether the company could provide a card access system for the dorm doors like those found in major hotels. The initial answer was no, but company officials began looking for a possible solution to Biola's needs.

The construction of a new four-story dorm provided incentive to come up with a new means of access control — one that was both keyless and wireless.

“Originally we were trying to find a hard-wired system for them,” says William Lorber, vice president for sales and marketing at Apollo. “With the system we found, we had to electrify the hinges and core of each door to bring a wire over to the strike. It was very expensive and very cumbersome. So we presented the wireless option to them, and that fit their requirements well.”

The company began a test run by installing the system in 15-unit Welch Hall — one of the smallest apartment buildings. Once reserved for graduate and married students, Biola's growth over the past years had led university officials to convert the units to undergraduate women's housing. Three co-eds were assigned to each of 14 of the apartments, and they became the test subjects for the new system.

Dry Run

“We're trying this on a smaller apartment building to see what challenges might be presented,” White said.

Apollo, working with University technicians, installed a 14-reader wireless system. Network communications were used to interface the Apollo Controller. A 16-reader wireless transmitter was mounted adjacent to the AAN 100 controller on the ground floor of the four-story building. The readers are a combination of mag-stripe reader, antenna, receiver and door lock.

St. Charles, Ill.-based Recognition Source provided the Wyreless readers and transmitter. Powered by AA batteries, the reader/antenna, receiver and door locks do not require electricity or cable connected to the door.

Hardwiring was done only to connect the system to exterior doors.

“We're a manufacturer, and normally we don't get involved in installations,” Lorber says. “But we got involved just because it was a new product and we wanted to learn about it and make sure the system worked the way it should.”

Both Apollo and Biola were excited about the improvements the new system offered. For example, the Apollo APACS access control software — running on Windows 2000 — is a fully integrated package that includes badging and also functions with multiple workstations — taking full advantage of the university's Local Area Network.

Using this system, all access events are recorded as an alarm input transmitted from each door to the transmitter. University police are able to monitor alarms directly from a PC by accessing the APACS system.

“So if someone breaks into a dorm room, police see an alarm input coming in from that dorm,” says Lorber. “If a student says their dorm room was broken into, they can go back and check to see who went in when, and if there was access without a card or if the door was held open.”

Carding Students

All residents are issued a mag stripe card — a plain white piece of plastic with a simple series of numbers on it. The university could have combined the access card with the university ID card, but chose to delay moving to a single card until more of the university could be converted to card access.

“It has no other identifiable markings,” White said. “So if someone found it they wouldn't know who it belongs to.”

White says this way, a lost card will present less of a danger.

For the moment, the young women in Welch are the only ones using interior door access cards. Each card is programmed with a separate code that is unique to that card and student. If a card is misplaced, housing officials can simply disable the lost card and issue a new one. Other student cards remain unaffected. In the past, a lost key would have required not only re-keying the lock, but also issuing new keys to everyone who used that door.

Installing this new wireless system required a certain amount of adaptation of both technology and procedures.

Each of the doors in Welch still has key overrides for use in emergencies. In fact, one of the apartments wasn't converted to wireless access because of an occupant's disability.

White notes that Apollo technicians are still looking for a means to ensure access to the room with a card that meets the disabled student's concerns.

According to Lorber, the installation proves that access control can sometimes be as much of an art as a science — particularly when it comes to locating the transmitters.

“You don't know what's between floors or between the walls,” he recalls. “So you have to go out on-site and use your tester to find out where you locate the transmitters.”

University housing officials were also concerned about the transmitters' effect on wireless telephones broadcasting in the same frequency range. Apollo found a split spectrum that eased their concerns.

Biggest Installation

The Welch test-run paved the way for transferring the technology to a much bigger project — the 213-room Hope Hall. Scheduled to open next fall, this newly constructed four-story building will house a minimum of 426 students. It will also allow Apollo to install the wireless card access on a much larger scale.

In fact, Lorber says that it may be the largest wireless installation of its type in the country.

Four Apollo AAN-100 network controllers will be connected to the host PC and other computers running the APACS software. Each controller can support up to 96 readers — a critical consideration in covering such a large building.

The AAN-100 connects to the 16-reader WiM-16 transmitter via RS-485 communications. Each Apollo 485 port can support up to two transmitters, or 32 readers. The only cabling required for the system is the RS-485 cable from the controllers to the wireless transmitters.

The project is slated for completion before students return for the fall semester. For many of them it will mark a new era in their academic lives, as they arrive at the university to begin their education. For security and access control, it will also mark the beginning of a new era of using technology to provide higher security at lower cost.

For The Record

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Randy Southerland is an Atlanta-based writer and regular contributor to Access Control & Security Systems.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

For information, circle the Reader Service number (listed below) or visit securitysolutions.com

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