Cambridge Innovation Centre upgrades to XS4 wireless security system from SALTO

CIC had been exhaustively reviewing its door access control options

When you are located just steps away from the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the most prestigious technical schools in the world, building security and access control is a subject that has to be taken seriously.

Cambridge Innovation Centre (CIC) is a full-fledged managed office services facility at One Broadway providing space for growing technology and life sciences companies, professional service firms and venture capitalists looking to locate in the MIT/Harvard technology cluster of the Greater Boston area. With offices on 8 floors of the building, it services approximately 175 companies providing a range of high quality business and technology services tailored mostly towards small start up companies employing 1-5 people.

These include flexible office configurations on a monthly rental basis, a secure facility featuring computerised access control and video surveillance for protection of intellectual property, advanced telephone and voicemail services, high tech video conferencing systems, high speed (100Mb) LAN connections and more.

The situation

For the past 10 months CIC has been exhaustively reviewing its door access control options. Since their inception they have used a traditional card-access system, manufactured and installed by a leading US corporation which has served CIC well over the years.

An effective, robust access control system is a key requirement for any building with multiple tenants

But as the business has grown, they have taken new space on additional floors that was only equipped with traditional mechanical key locks on the office doors. Because these doors were not hard wired, it would have been prohibitively expensive to upgrade the doors with the same electronic access control product fitted onto other doors within the building.

While they strive not to let these mechanical or what they call "hard keys" impact on their clients' ability to move offices, they haven't been happy with the limitations this imposes. For example, if a client needs access to two offices, they need two separate keys, and if an employee leaves and takes a key with them, they have to make the call on whether or not to change the locks.

So they started a search for a better solution. With the upcoming expansion onto the 3^rd and 4^th floors at One Broadway, they knew they would be adding about 200 new doors to CIC, and this prompted them to accelerate their search for an alternative electronic system to control access.

The challenge

Initially they considered going down the integration route, finding a new product to work with their existing system, but having looked at it closely decided the results didn't measure up and this option was rejected.

In January this year they discovered SALTO Systems and found their approach to access control to be somewhat different to other providers, with door control based on a data-on-card system, reversing the more usual role of credential and controller. The big advantage of this is that you do not have to hard wire every door, or install cumbersome and expensive controllers in a closet somewhere. This makes this system much faster to install and less expensive. This wireless system would allow them to put electronic access control on every door.

Sean Keenan, Senior Systems Administrator at CIC says: "When we first started looking at the system, as a tech guy, I immediately frowned, however, on the idea that I would be carrying my credentials around on my key ring - what if it gets lost, stolen, decrypted or copied?"

"You have to remember, we are just steps away from MIT where world-class hackers just wait looking for a challenge! After getting more familiar with SALTO, doing a lot of research and testing with our existing wireless technology and SALTO's wireless locks (think Zigbee™) to ensure compatibility, and exploring its layers of security features, we began warming to it. We also learned that it is in use at Heathrow Airport and at some US military bases - places that take security seriously."

"So now we faced the moment of truth. Would we stay with the old, tried and true system we have run for the past decade, accepting its limitations, or go with a whole new system, despite its unfamiliarity, and redo the entire centre's access control from scratch, including all our existing doors? "

CIC staff with new SALTO XS4 RF wireless locks

The solution

In the end CIC took the road less travelled, and decided to rebuild the entire system. They have now embarked on that process, and couldn't be happier. And while this means a great deal of work upgrading every door both electronic and keyed throughout the whole centre (although retro-fitting a standard hard keyed door is a mere 15 minute operation), it's worth the effort.

The system they chose is the SALTO XS4 wireless solution. The bi-directional technology of this system combines the advantages of both online and offline solutions. Any number of doors can be wirelessly connected to the system thanks to its IEEE 802.15.4 and 2.4 GHz technology. Gateways and repeaters act as antennas, collecting and sending information from the PC via SALTO SQL software, to the stand-alone wireless locks (which use AES 128 encryption) and one gateway can manage several repeaters and electronic locks, minimising infrastructure costs and maximising flexibility.

With a single click CIC can configure or make changes to the network in real-time. They can monitor the network, download audit trail information from the locks, delete users remotely and securely, collect battery status of the RF locks for maintenance and much more all from a single controlling PC and all in real-time. And thanks to its self-healing capabilities, if an individual lock should lose RF connection at any time it will automatically scan for a new connection to an alternative gateway or repeater, restoring communication and maintaining security.

"So, you may be asking, what does it mean for our clients?" Keenan continues. "Well, apart from seeing new locks on their office doors and getting new key fobs with high-tech encryption, like many of the technical systems at CIC most of the magic happens behind the scenes."

"Although our eventual aim is to have SALTO wireless locks on all our floors by the end of the year, the new system will appear to clients to be much like the old system, securing the lobbies and office doors while still allowing 24/7 access. One added feature on this front will be electronic access to the stairwells. After the upgrade, CIC clients will be able to move between CIC floors without having to wait for the elevators.'

"We began the move over to SALTO in early June, starting with a review of their system software. This then progressed to retro-fitting the new wireless locks onto 10 office and closet doors, one Uno office and one shower room on the 11^th and 14^th floors replacing a previous mix of hard wired electronic and mechanical keyed doors."

"Over the next few months more and more of this conversion process will roll out throughout the centre, with expansion onto the 3^rd and 4^th floors completing on September 1^st. Installation and set-up is being managed by two SALTO Service Partners (Davco Systems and Floyd Total Security). Its my understanding that we will have one of the largest concentrations of RF locks in one building in North America when we are done, with some floors operating upwards of 130 locks, so you can say that we are definitely looking forward to flexing the benefits that SALTO brings to the table."

Ion Murga, Marketing Manager Americas for SALTO Systems Inc says: "An effective, robust access control system is a key requirement for any building with multiple tenants. Its objectives should be to control and restrict access to authorised personnel and areas, prevent and prohibit all likely security threats from occurring and reduce the degree of vulnerability of critical assets to theft."

"The SALTO XS4 wireless access control system achieves all these objectives. With an expanding business and an increasing number staff, clients and visitors on-site every day, the number of users and doors the system can manage is unlimited, giving CIC the scalable future-proof solution they need."