Hunters Glen
Hunters Glen Apartment Complex
- 1,124 Apartments
- 3,000 Tenants
- Facility covers over 90 acres
The Situation
Hunters Glen Apartments, a large residential facility in New Jersey had two concerns.
- Replace the antiquated, unreliable bar code readers that controlled access to parking facilities.
- Maintain better control over the public areas of the complex.
The previous control system for the parking gates used bar coded cards and insertion readers. The constant wear and tear from inserting cards caused frequent breakdowns requiring the parking barriers to remain unlocked and open until repairs could be made. Cards with worn bar codes were also an ongoing problem requiring repeated card replacement or forcing residents to gain access through a guarded station.
Access to shared areas was also becoming a problem. Management was concerned that previous tenants or relatives of tenants were using these shared areas, potentially causing liability issues. The fitness and laundry facilities were becoming overcrowded and were frequently used outside of the hours specified in the complex’s bylaws (6 A.M. to 11 P.M.).
The Keri Solution
Instead of having separate vehicle and pedestrian access control systems, the best solution was to use an integrated system. Replacing the failure-prone bar code readers was also a requirement. The security provider contracted by Hunters Glen recommended a Keri Systems integrated access control system using
Proximity card readers are now placed at both the front parking gate controlling vehicle access to the complex as well as the walk up gate beside the parking gate. By merely presenting their card to the reader, residents are quickly able to gain access through either of the gates. Traffic flows more quickly because they no longer have to fight with inserting their bar code cards into slots or worry about jamming the reader. Because there are no moving parts in either the reader or card and there is no contact required between the two, failures are virtually non-existent. The controllers for these gates are placed in the gate shack with a network cable running back to the main office.
Although Keri’s communication network can cover almost two miles, the distance and the terrain that was covered between the office and the remote parking gate controller made installing a network cable to this controller unfeasible. This controller is connected directly to a standard PC modem that allows the administration office PC to dial into the remote parking gate controller whenever needed to add or delete new tenants.
Using Doors™, Keri’s access control software, the administrators were able to make changes to the controllers quickly. Using Doors’ Timezone and
Access to the Fitness Center is now controlled by proximity card readers. To ensure the residents living in the immediate vicinity are not disrupted during off-hours, the Fitness Center controllers, which are placed in an electrical room, are set to limit resident access to between 6 A.M. and 11:00 P.M. Security and administrative personnel, however, still have unlimited access.
To address the problem of tenants lending their cards to friend or relatives, Hunters Glen makes use of Keri’s optional photo-badging package which allows a digital image of the cardholders face to be stored in the database as well as printed on the card. Using this feature, security personnel are quickly able to determine whether the person presenting the card is the tenant by simply comparing the picture on the card to the person using the card. With 3,000 card holder/tenants, even well established guards cannot recognize every one, nor can they keep up with turnover in the resident population.
A Keri MS-3000 Reader is mounted to a
standard electrical box to aid in retrofitting
the Fitness Center. Readers are often
mounted directly to the wall.
Results
Hunters Glen is so pleased with the system, that they are planning on adding a new drive-through gate entrance and adding access control to laundry and maintenance areas during the Summer of 2001.
“We bought our new Keri Access Control System because of its expandability and the Proximity Readers. What’s nice about the system is it’s very easy to use and navigate around in. It’s so incredibly easy to turn people’s cards off.”
– Bill Smith, Facilities, Hunters Glen
Equipment Used
- 3 PXL-250 Controllers
- 2 SB-293 Satellite Boards
- 3 MS-3000 MicroStar Proximity Readers
- 3 MS-5000 MiniStar Proximity Readers
- Doors™ Access Control System Software with Badging Option
- Pentium 133 MHz Computer (already on site at Hunters Glen)
- Modem
- Magicard Turbo Badge Printer
