The American School in Switzerland: eAccess

Glutz eAccess at TASIS: "Identical functions obtained at a fraction of the cost.

Around 700 boys and girls attend the American School in Switzerland - or TASIS for short. This private school located in the village of Montagnola in Ticino Canton has arranged for 200 doors to be equipped with the eAccess wireless access system by Glutz. The school managers are delighted and will soon set about extending the installation to the whole campus - more than 500 doors in all! The requirements placed on the new access solution at TASIS are both complex and challenging. The school employs some 200 teaching staff. Many of the 700 pupils live on the campus. This means that a very large number of users must be equipped with an access medium. Looking at the structure of the buildings, the prevailing situation is anything but easy: the school comprises 26 older and new buildings spread over an extensive site. What is more, the access entitlements have to be changed repeatedly in the course of every school year because special programmes are offered to the pupils, for example during the summer vacations. High security needs - with the emphasis on escape routes - round off the wide-ranging profile of criteria.

"Wireless" programming instead of walking a long way
The TASIS managers evaluated various Swiss and foreign systems. The fact that the final choice came out in favour of eAccess is explained by one of the key advantages of the Glutz flagship system: access entitlements at all the access points can be programmed centrally from a PC. The corresponding data are instantly transmitted via wireless hubs in encrypted form to the mechatronic fittings. This simplicity in the programming of more than 500 doors in 26 buildings is of course welcome and saves a great deal of time. On-site programming of the access devices would take around two days. On the other hand using eAccess, one, several or all the doors can be rapidly reprogrammed or blocked from a central location without any door being forgotten in the process. Another plus point: all the authorisations and movements at each individual access point are displayed on the central PC screen in real time, as is the battery charge status of the devices. What is more, entitlement changes can be made quickly and at short notice at as many access points as needed at the simple click of the mouse. This enables access to the buildings to be granted in a matter of seconds, e.g. when special programmes have to be organised.

An excellent cost-benefit ratio
Ivan Sansone is responsible for access control at TASIS. Apart from the impressive functions of eAccess he also appreciates the excellent cost-benefit ratio of the new system. He makes a comparison here: "In a networked cable-based access control system installation, a single access point costs 3,000 francs or more. Then there is the cost of the electrician and sometimes also the cost of making good the masonry. With the new access system we obtain the same functions at a fraction of the cost".

Complete security even in case of power failure
The battery-powered eAccess devices do their job even if the power network is down. Because the latest authorisations are recorded in them, secure access is 100% guaranteed. A power failure simply makes it temporarily impossible to enter new authorisations at the devices by wireless means.

Challenges

• Long distances between the 26 buildings to be equipped
• Different and fast-changing use of the individual buildings
• Many users with access media
• Many changes in access authorisations at short notice
• Outstanding cost-benefit ratio

Ivan Sansone, Head of Security Systems at TASIS said: "with eAccess we have an overview at all times of the access point programming and other information, such as the charge status of device batteries. We are able to re-program or even block one, several or all the doors from a central location. These features are vitally important to us. As the consulting, planning and implementing security enterprise, Secusuisse gave us very good service throughout the project time. We have built up a strong foundation of trust."

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