PopSockets manufactures phone grips and accessories, better known as “Little Life Changers.” The company’s flagship product, the PopSockets grip, was invented in 2012 by David Barnett, with the first one sold in 2014. A simple item that people never knew they needed, the PopSocket grip is a stylish phone accessory that offers a secure grip for texting with one hand, snapping better photos, and stopping phone drops. It even functions as a convenient stand to watch videos on the fly; making it extremely versatile. The products are sold all over the world and in a wide range of retailers including: Target, Best Buy, T-Mobile, Verizon and many independent retailers. In addition to retail, PopSockets’ products can be purchased online via Amazon and on their website.

These Little Life Changers have made big waves in the market and their appeal to all ages and demographics has created an explosion in their business in the last few years. With a home office in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado, and a growing staff, the safety and security of its employees “popped” to the top of their priority list. There was only one company out there that could be entrusted to deploy a simple, cost-effective, cloud-based access control solution to protect their employees; that company just happened to be in the same foothills of Colorado and was ready to bring its industry leading Pure IP™ access control system to their front door.

The Challenge

As PopSockets’ business and employee count grew over the years, they expanded into a larger office space and needed to secure their facility to ensure the safety of their employees. PopSockets wanted to restrict facility access to employees in their corporate office in Colorado. With a rapidly growing business, employees occupied the building outside of normal business hours. PopSockets wanted to give peace of mind to employees day and night by only allowing authorized individuals access to the premises.

Employees used keys to gain access to the building, so tracking and restricting access manually with more than 100 employees (with the number increasing daily) was a huge challenge that was becoming too costly. In addition, when an employee was let go or dismissed, there was a security risk, and all doors had to be rekeyed. Another big issue was staying in compliance with their retail partners such as Walmart or Target, which required that strict data and physical security measures were in place. It was important that the company passed their operational audit that was conducted annually.

The Solution

With 157 employees on staff and plans for future growth, PopSockets was looking to provide convenient but secure access to the facility. Implementing an access control system would provide the ability to protect their facility, restrict access to specific areas and simply remove access when an employee was let go from a single software interface. PopSockets wanted to control access to six doors: five external doors and one interior suite door. The interior door would be restricted to just the finance, HR and IT departments, and the external doors would be available to all employees. The company needed to install an access control system that was easy to use and not only provide convenience to their growing staff but protect them at the same time.

The management team wanted an access control system that could be managed remotely from any device allowing access to the system from anywhere at any time. The biggest challenge that PopSockets faced was finding an access control system that was cost-effective and simple to use. On the recommendation of a trusted employee, PopSockets found ISONAS, a Colorado-based Pure IP™ access control manufacturer.

PopSockets Opens the Door to A Safer Environment for Employees

After looking around at various access control companies, ISONAS’s Pure IP™ access control system was selected by PopSockets based on lower costs, ease of use, and convenience for their employees and business. The ISONAS access control platform provides a systems approach by offering network connected hardware and a cloud-based software to secure facilities and a mobile credential to grant access. The edge based reader-controller eliminates the need for control panels and only requires a category 5 cable to provide power and data to the device. This drives a simpler installation and lower cost platform with flexibility to scale in the future. PopSockets found that other access control companies required them to rip out their current alarm system and put different controllers in place, which would have cost significantly more and disrupted business operations.

Pure Access Cloud, the ISONAS cloud-based software, fit perfectly with the PopSockets IT philosophy of being a SaaS based company. There is no on-premise server required, and no additional staff needed to maintain the IT infrastructure. With a cloud-based platform, PopSockets could focus on their business and leave the IT security in the cloud to ISONAS. In addition, the web-based application allows staff to manage access control from home with real-time access to control their facility. ISONAS worked together with their certified integrator partner, Interface Communications, to ensure that the installation was completed within two days.

“ISONAS has brought a level of comfort and safety to all our employees by knowing that the building is secure – we now know who is in the building at all times,” says Mike Henning, Director of Information & Technology at PopSockets. “The installation process was fast and trouble-free thanks to the team at Interface Communications & ISONAS.”

The ISONAS mobile credential, Pure Mobile, offered convenience to their staff by allowing employees to enter the building with their mobile phones. There was no need to install additional software or purchase additional licenses to enroll mobile credentials, which reduced costs significantly for PopSockets. The RC-04 reader controller hardware and Pure Access software are ready to use with the ISONAS Pure Mobile credentials right out of the box, making it the right access control solution for the company. Moving forward, an employee at PopSockets can simply download the Pure Mobile application to their phone, present it to a reader-controller and, with the proper credentials, enter the building.

With a complete access control system allowing for remote management and administration, PopSockets was now ready to complete their internal audit and meet the security requirements set by their high-profile retail partners. In addition, employees could now work after hours with complete peace of mind.

“Access control is a great solution for growing companies to ensure they can control their facilities. The ISONAS cloud-based software offers customers the ability to manage their sites from any device any time providing security along with convenience,” says Wayne Shigley, Security Division Manager at Interface Communications. “Access-control-as-a-service (ACaaS) is taking off, and Interface is glad to partner with ISONAS and provide a high level of service to our customers.”

PopSockets Plans to Open More Doors Globally

With exploding annual growth, PopSockets has expanding their Little Life Changers globally with 50 additional employees across offices in San Francisco, Singapore and Finland. Expansion of the ISONAS system is planned to secure these three offices and manage them all centrally through Pure Access Cloud from their headquarters in Boulder. Together with ISONAS and Interface Communications, the right cloud-based access control solution was implemented. With only a CAT-5 cable for power and data and an ISONAS reader-controller required; additional doors can be added hassle-free creating a safer workplace environment for all and a stronger grip on security. Whether in the Rocky Mountains or globally, PopSockets can control access from the palm of their hands and never worry about the safety of their employees.

Case study provided by ISONAS.