There are many ways for individuals to limit or control access to key areas of a building whether it's an office, home, or warehouse. The least expensive (and probably the easiest to circumvent) is a passage lock and key. There are locksets that are more difficult to disable (some are even considered pick-proof), but where controlling access to an area can leave nothing to chance (a lost key for instance), only a dedicated access control system can provide the answer. There are a number of solutions available these days. Let's look at some of the components that are common to most access control systems.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both locking methods. They are listed here:

1. They are inexpensive;

2. They are vulnerable to physical force unless some form of shielding is installed to restrict access to the actual locking hardware;

3. They are sold as "fail-locked" or "fail-safe" - in the absence of electrical power (such as a power failure) they can either remain locked or will simply "open" to allow entry/egress;

4. They are fairly easy to tamper with (the strike plate is readily accessible with the door open which would allow someone to sabotage or circumvent the unit quite easily).

1. They are more expensive;

2. They are installed on the "secure" side of the door which doesn't allow anyone to access the unit from the "outside";

3. Unless some provision is made to provide back-up electrical power (a stand-by power supply with battery, for instance) the door will become unsecure during a power failure. Even with this measure in place, an extended power failure may eventually compromise the door;

4. There are no moving parts, and all connections are normally routed through the door's frame which makes tampering with the unit extremely difficult.

The next device "in line" from the door strike or mag lock is a means of legitimately opening or "releasing" the door. In most residential high-rise apartment applications this entails allowing the guest a means of communicating with the occupants of the premise (an intercom system) and positively identifying the visitor (a CCTV camera) before allowing them entry.

INTERCOM

Let's take a quick look at an apartment intercom system. There are two basic types of units available. One employs a simple push-button panel with the resident's apartment number or name next to each separate button. The resident will have a wall mounted handset or speaker station conveniently located in their suite. They can communicate with the visitor, and allow them access to the premise by pushing a button located on the station.

ENTERPHONE SYSTEMS

Another type of unit employs a ten digit dialing pad similar to what one sees on a pay telephone and utilizes the building's telephone system to communicate with individual residents. This type of unit offers a great deal more security (and flexibility) than the first example. It allows the resident manager to program specific numbers that do not relate to the resident's suite number. For instance, a resident living in apartment 701 would, under the older style unit, have a button with that suite number engraved on it adjacent to their name. An apartment that utilizes an enterphone unit could have ANY number assigned to that particular resident, so the visitor would have to know exactly where the occupant lived. This provides an additional layer of security the older type system simply couldn't.

The convenience of allowing two way voice communications from any telephone in the residents apartment is another advantage to using an "enterphone" type of system. Most systems of this type will open the main entry door by simply pressing (or dialing) "9" or "6" on any of the resident's phones.

Some enterphone type systems also employ a means for residents/tenants to open doors and enter secure areas of the building like parkades, pools, and recreation rooms. The use of a keypad or touch pad allows authorized persons to punch in an access code which in turn opens the door. Other systems use magnetic swipe cards or special key-fobs instead of a touch pad. In either instance, it is far simpler to control access to the premises utilizing this technology rather than standard house keys which can be copied, lost or stolen. Replacing a code or swipe card is much more cost effective than having to re-key an entire building.