Access Control Systems: An Overview

Access control systems enable you to manage who is allowed to enter your building or specific rooms within that building at what time. Thanks to access control systems, with just a few mouse clicks you have complete control over your facilities.

There are different types of access control systems, and all of them have their advantages. Which ever you choose depends on your and your company’s personal needs and preferences. In general, we distinguish between the following types:

Cloud Access Control

Cloud Access Control eliminates the need for a security control room, moving access control to a virtual space. This does not only save you high personnel costs, but also enables you to act immediately on arising issues and attempted security breaches. Simply log into your cloud system on your smartphone, tablet or desktop computer, and get direct access to your company’s security control system. In the unlikely event that your security data gets erased in a power outage an earthquake or a flood, thanks to constant backup updates of your data, within minutes your system will be restored and secure your building just like it did before.

Keypad Access Control

Keypad Access Control systems have been used for quite some time in the industry and proven themselves to be a reliable tool for securing company facilities of all sizes. A specific code is typed in at the entrance of any door you want secured. You can define different user groups with different access codes, so that specific rooms or areas in your building will still be inaccessible for some of your employees. The main advantage: No need for any access device like a card or a key, while keeping maximum control over your facility. Read more about keypad access control

Biometric Access Control

Biometric Access Control defines the use of personal identifying characteristics for entering a building or room. While we all share similar appearance features, some parts of our body are unique and can thus be used as security key. Such body parts include our fingerprints, which are already widely used for the identification of criminals and culprits. Apart from fingerprint-readers, biometric access control can use voice recognition and retina scans. The two main advantages are the fact that you do not need any card or key to access your facility and always have your unique identification with you, wherever you go or come from. Additionally to that, unique features as fingerprints, voice tone and retina structure are very hard to reproduce, which makes biometric access control systems a very secure solution.

Card Access Control

Card Access Control is defined by the use of rectangular plastic cards for entering a building or room. Within card access control systems, one can generally differentiate between a few options: You either choose cards that contain a magnetic strip which is encoded with data. Swiping this card at the entry of a door will grant access, according to the information embedded in the card. As a second option one could make use of barcode cards. Like for products in shops and supermarket, a black and white striped barcode is read by a scanner and provides unique identification to the card reading device. As another version of card access control, proximity cards are encoded with a unique user ID. They grant access to facilities by simply being held within a few inches proximity to a card reader. Finally, so-called smart cards are another great option of card access control. Embedded with micro processors, they can serve for multiple purposes at a time, such as membership card, cash card, and access control card. Entrance is granted either by contact with a reading device or through contactless radio technology.

All of these card access control systems can be a good solution for your facility. Their main advantage is the inexpensive manufacturing of access cards and differentiated user data that can be encoded into the different card systems.

All in all it can be said that there are many different ways to secure your company facilities, and many different devices that can be used to enable access control. Each and every one of these systems have been proven a successful means for access control and which one you choose for your facility depends strongly on your individual needs, budget and use purposes. We recommend you to contact a certified access control system company for further advice and the proposal of a personal access control plan, tailor made for you and your company’s needs.