About Us | News | Products | Services | Contact Us | Links
Access
Control - Card Entry Systems
Card
entry systems allow access control to be taken into many levels. Whereas with
a keypad you are controlling a group
of people with a single keypad code, card entry allows you to control the individual
as each person that wants to gain entry to a door needs their own card to do
so.
As
with keypads, card access systems
can be supplied stand alone or with a separate control unit but the added advantage
that it is becoming more popular is to link a card access system to a PC. In
this way, card readers can be installed on multiple doors and large amounts
of people can be controlled from a single point.
There
are 2 common forms of card access, magnetic swipe cards and proximity
cards.
Where magnetic swipe cards are used, the user carries a card (similar to a
credit card) and swipes the card through the reader to gain access through a
door.
Where
a proximity card is used, the user presents their card to the reader
and a radio signal from the reader reads the card. This is becalming more popular
and is seen as being more practical than a magnetic card as because their is
no contact between the card and reader both the card and the reader tend to
have a longer life than that of their magnetic counterparts. Also, it is possible
to offer proximity cards in keyfob format making them small, easy to carry and
less likely to be lost.
Please
take a look at the features of a card access system listed below -
|
Magnetic
swipe readers work on the principle that a card is swiped through
the reader to gain access through a door. These card systems can cope
with in excess of 10,000 users and are robust and suitable for internal
and external use.
Card
readers can be dedicated to a single door or multiple readers can be located
around a building. All doors can be stand alone and programmed at the
door or they can be linked back to a PC for ease of administration.
Magnetic
cards can be supplied in plain printed credit card size cards or they
can be custom printed to include a company logo, card holder photo and
card holder information.
|
|
Proximity
readers work on the principle that a card is held in the proximity
of the reader (thus the name) and a radio signal within the reader picks
up the coding on the card and lets the user through the door.
Because
the reader and the card do not come into contact, they are seen as long
lasting. Add to this that the reader can also read through most building
materials except metal and you have a reader that can be sunk into a wall,
behind a plastic sign or on the inside of a glass door. These properties
make proximity the most popular reading format in the market today. These
readers can become truly vandal resistant.
The
other use for this type of reader is its reading range. Proximity readers
can be supplied with read ranges in excess of 1.5 Mtrs. This is useful
in an office environment where employees are carrying lots of equipment
and cannot physically swipe a card and also where a car park barrier is
in use and the driver does not have to wind the window down to open the
barrier. |
|
PC
based access control systems offer great flexibility in what you can
achieve in an access control system. As there are so many features on
offer, we have built a separate page acting as a glossary for anyone interested
in what can be achieve, please click on the image to the left to access
this page. |
