Texas has the 16th highest rate of burglary in the country, with 370.7 burglaries per 100,000 residents. It’s scary, considering there are only 50 states in the US, putting Texas in the top third of most burglarized states in the country.
Like many other Texans, the security of your property is a top concern for you. To put your mind at ease, keep reading to learn about types of access control systems and which one is right for you.
What is Access Control?
The name may be self-explanatory, but access control in the modern age is more complicated than just a lock and key. Gone are the days of mom-and-pop businesses with dad unlocking a padlock at 8 am and locking up again at sunset.
Today’s properties and businesses are more advanced, with more valuable possessions stored within. And along with the advancement in our lives and businesses, so should our access control advance.
Access control means restricting entrance to a property to authorized persons only. You can have physical access control with a security guard or doorman, mechanical access control with locks and keys, and of course, digital access control with electronic access control systems.
Types of Access Control Systems
As mentioned before, doormen and mechanical locks are types of access control, but they are outdated and can fail. Modern access control methods usually use electronic parts and offer more control and security.
Token Access Control
Token access control systems usually use some sort of radio-frequency identification or RFID tag, which is read by a sensor, granting the user entry to the property.
The upside of this type of access control is that it is cheap and easy to install. The property owner or manager can give or take away access to each RFID tag through their computer and see which person accessed the property and at what time.
The downside is that the tags can be stolen and even copied and used for illegal things before the property manager knows about it.
Biometric Access Control
Biometric Access Control is a popular method of access control for both businesses and homes and is often used together with mechanical locks and RFID access control tags in “smart locks.”
With biometric access control, each user is given access via a “Biometric key,” like a fingerprint. Like the facial recognition on your smartphone, the biometric system uses pre-stored biological data, like a fingerprint, to grant access to the property.
The pros of this system are that they are very secure but sometimes quite expensive. While the cons include the fact that the person to be granted access needs to be present for their data to be recorded on the system before they can use it.
Lock and Load
Modern access control systems mean that you never have to worry about lost keys or jammed padlocks ever again. You now have the knowledge and confidence to secure your property with a state-of-the-art access control method.
No matter which types of access control you’re considering, we can do it all, so be sure to browse our website, give us a call, or better yet, visit any of our four stores in Dallas and surrounds.