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| ISONAS PowerNet Reader eliminates the use of a master key and increases overall security |
Concord, California is located 29 miles East of San Francisco and remains the largest city in Contra Costa County. The City of Concord covers an area of 31 square miles with 31 locations, plotted along 3 separate campuses. Up until 2009, each administrator had hard key access that allowed them into different buildings across the territory. After years of replacing lost keys and not having any transparency over employee access, Doug decided to plan for an access control system upgrade.
ISONAS PowerNet reader
The city’s IT director, Doug Elloway, began a project in 2009 with a vision to revamp and beef up the municipalities IT closets and computer room’s security. Part of this endeavour/assignment required Elloway to find a cost-effective and scalable solution that would replace the city’s current hard-key system. Doug had the option to expand the current card access system the police department was using but it required a centralised proprietary controller, a 24V power supply for each door and it wasn’t PoE compatible. Instead, Mr. Elloway decided to purchase his first ISONAS PowerNet™ reader in 2009 that he would later self-install to secure an offsite computer room. After the initial implementation Doug was asked to explain the previous needs of the city that were now solved with the ISONAS system in place. He expressed that, “There was a real management issue at hand. Facilities and IT people need to be able to get in and solve a problem if there is an emergency. Now, we don’t have a problem since everyone has a badge. We were able to reduce the amount of master keys from 60 to 4 with ISONAS.”
Shortly after the first ISONAS PowerNet Reader was installed, Elloway began expanding his system each year with a main goal to completely eliminate the use of a master key and to increase overall security. Not only was Doug able to meet the district’s needs, but he did so while saving money, “Our biggest cost-savings off the bat were found in not having to re-key every door when someone leaves and doesn’t return the master key.” The city currently has more than 500 employees enrolled in the system, which runs on one virtual server across a single secured network, allowing the security manager to lock down the city’s facilities in seconds. Since 2009, Doug has implemented over 60 ISONAS PowerNet Readers in government buildings, IT closets, computer rooms and educational facilities across the 31 square miles. In the end, Mr. Elloway recognises that, “There are a lot of things we do that couldn’t have been done so elegantly without ISONAS.” The city of Concord will plan to freely expand their ISONAS system as needed.
