ASG's Security Solutions Blog

Meat and Potatoes

  

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By Bill Davis, Channel Distribution Manager Traka, LLC
Silver Sponsor at the ASG Security Summit & Expo

I had the good fortune in 2010 to participate in a series of technical rollouts sponsored by an industry leading manufacturer of card access and intelligent video solutions. They, and a handful of 3rd party partners (yours truly included), had the opportunity to present our latest and greatest technologies to groups of system integrators, consultants, and end-users in cities throughout the US. The level of sophistication was breathtaking. Attendees saw absolute bleeding edge solutions for everything from the latest in video analytics to logical/physical security convergence to the ‘smartest’ card solutions to advanced biometrics…more bits and bytes and speeds and feeds than any tech enthusiast could ever dream of

…then it was my turn to present…

My presentations began with a nod to the host and my fellow presenters, then the following opening statement; “Now let’s talk about meat and potatoes…”

The oldest known lock was found by archeologists in the Khorsabad Palace ruins near Nineveh, Egypt and was estimated to be 4,000 years old. Forty centuries later, the mechanical lock business has grown to become a $4.7 Billion industry that is still projected to grow at an annual rate of 2.8% through 2012...it is safe to assume that KEYS AREN’T GOING AWAY anytime soon.

As electronic card access systems have become more and more pervasive throughout business and government, the term “Access Control” has almost become interchangeable with computerized electronic card/reader systems. While Security Managers get caught up in the atmospherics of deploying sophisticated, IP driven technologies what commonly gets overlooked in many cases is the humble brass key. Our experience has shown in many cases, the management and control of physical keys often belong to the Facilities group and not given a second thought in security planning. Not factoring mechanical keys into Security planning can often lead to any number of undesirable outcomes.

• In Early 2010, impounded cash was stolen from police evidence lockers in Fruitland Park, Fla. It turned out that the city's master key opened the evidence lockers and also the city's vault, which was discovered only after one copy of the key went missing.
• Eastern Michigan University had to rekey every door in every residence hall after having a master key go missing.
• In more general terms, for managers of fleet vehicles, rekeying a single automobile can cost up to $800 per vehicle.

Key control is Access Control
Modern electronic key management systems operate under the same general principles as a card access system. Key cabinets are networked to a computer that runs host software and maintains a user database. Users can be organized into security groups and access levels. Keys or bunches of keys can be organized in the same way as card readers. Thus only specific users are granted permission to check out specific keys based on criteria set by security policy.  Administrators of these systems can know, in real time, what keys are checked in, when they were returned and by whom. As well, you can know what keys are checked out, when they were checked out and who has the key.  

Beyond that base functionality, Traka Electronic Key Management systems can bring value to your organization by offering additional benefits. For example:

• Individual keys can be set with a curfew, raising an alarm if not returned on time, or restricted time access can be set so as to manage usage.
• Keys can be pre-booked. For example: reserving a vehicle or booking access to a server
• User information can be defined, such as license (or qualification) expiration date, so keys are automatically locked out to the driver after this date
• Specific information can be recorded when keys are returned; such as mileage and faults or defects, where repairs are needed
• Keys managing vehicles with dangerous faults reported, or keys managing equipment reported broken, can immediately be locked-out so they are unavailable to anyone other than a service engineer
• Alerts via SMS or email can automatically be issued to managers or supervisors, warning about a fault or bringing it to the attention of the workshop team

So the next time you are contemplating that shiny new high definition IP camera or that state of the art biometric reader ask yourself, how much would it cost if only one of my master or other critically important brass keys went missing?