Pace University Standardizes Access Control
S2 Security solutions enable system expansion across multiple campuses.
“Fully integrated S2 access control and video make it so much easier to look for incidents and respond to them.”
Challenge
Pace University is a private university with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, enrolling almost 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs. Founded in 1906, Pace University has grown into one of the largest universities in New York State, with over 2.5 million square feet of real estate.
Pace University wanted to standardize its access control system to streamline operations across geographically distributed campuses, while updating older hardware as needed. “We agreed it was important for budgetary reasons to use existing technology where it made sense to do so, rather than forklifting everything out,” says Mike Troiani of Idesco Corp., the systems integrator for the project. “The university was also interested in integrating access control and video.”
Solution
To standardize the University’s access control system and accommodate future growth, Idesco recommended the S2 NetBox Enterprise access control system with distributed S2 Network Nodes as well as S2 NetVR video management systems that tightly integrate with the S2 access control platform. “The solution’s flexibility and scalability allowed us to expand in a modular way as well as integrate legacy systems,” explains Troiani.
The University’s first project was a brand new, 24-story residence hall on the New York City campus, housing approximately 600 upperclass students. The system is designed so that each resident has a single access card, presented twice: once at the turnstile in the lobby to get to the elevator, and again at the door to their apartment.
A second residence hall on the New York City campus had end-of-life magnetic locks. The University integrated the S2 system to new Assa Abloy WiFi locks. “We used to have to physically go to the doors to program the locks,” says Vincent Beatty, Executive Director, Safety and Security, Pace University. “Now, we manage everything centrally through the S2 system which handles the wireless lock programming automatically.”
On the Pleasantville campus, the University installed an S2 NetVR 700 and IP cameras to assist in identifying a vandal in a residence hall near the campus entrance. Campus Safety and Security caught the vandal in three days. As other buildings on the Pleasantville campus are renovated as part of a 5-year construction plan, legacy systems will eventually be replaced with the S2 solution.
Results
The S2 solution gives Pace University ample flexibility to address current and future requirements campus wide. Plans for additional buildings include access control for the Pleasantville campus environmental center, integrated access control and video management for a new residence hall on the New York City campus, and many other projects. “Standardizing the system has streamlined campus security operations,” notes Beatty. “Fully integrated S2 access control and video make it so much easier to look for incidents and respond to them.”
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