Program Ensures Cards Can’t Be Duplicated
The university has completely substituted mag-stripe cards and is now issuing ID credentials under HID Global’s Corporate 1000 program, which provides a managed 35-bit format that is developed specifically for each individual end-user client. This format delivers additional security for the cards and data in the organization’s physical access control system using iCLASS technology, and enables it to standardize on one card for the system.
Within the Corporate 1000 program, campuses can be provided with roughly one million individual card numbers for their assigned format. Card numbers are tracked in the manufacturing process to ensure they cannot not be duplicated. Due to the size of the available card population, the hospital, school district or college is assured that cards in the desired format will be available for years to come, explains Brett St. Pierre, director of business development, education solutions, HID Global.
“This is especially beneficial for organizations with large card and/or reader populations or that are expecting to grow over time. They might also have multiple locations and/or decentralized decision-making on card purchases,” he says. Approximately 25,000 cards are in use at the university at any given time. The solution automatically turns the cards off at the conclusion of one semester and back on again at the beginning of the next, or permanently disables the student’s identity following their resignation or failure to re-enroll. The same cards can also be used to enter Urban Knights sporting events or make purchases using Knight Kash, the university’s debit program for meals and cashless vending, as well as at off-campus merchant partner establishments.
The university has realized a number of important benefits from its new access control system, including documented reductions in theft even as enrollment has increased, and an improved campus experience. The system has also significantly improved reporting capabilities, enabling the security team to, for instance, provide valuable input about building usage that resulted in new building access hours and policies.
“We’ve certainly seen a lot of change at our campus, in terms of technologies, policies and procedures, and it was all necessary in order for us to achieve the security we needed, along with an enhanced experience for everyone that spends time here,” Petricca says. “With our new access control foundation in place, we can now embrace change and rely on this system infrastructure to support future improvements that will benefit faculty and staff, and for students and their parents.”
Communication Center Replicates 911 Call Center
Petricca conceived the university’s communications center based on his extensive experience in law enforcement and with 911 call centers. He is a former chief of police of Webster City, Iowa. From 1999 through 2006, Petricca managed AT&T’s public safety services team, driving new 911 and public safety code service technologies with police, fire and EMS agencies throughout the United States.
The university’s networked security systems – including access control, intrusion alarms and video surveillance – are centrally managed from the communications center. Petricca leverages the same best practices for the comm center that he relied on to operate 911 centers. Via the campus’s phone system, security personnel receive notifications when a 911 call is made on campus. The calls are not physically answered but security staffers are notified of emergency calls upon which they can dispatch a patrol officer to the site.
