Optical turnstiles are viewed as a growing trend in entrance control, currently dominating the speedgate market, according to IMS Research. As a security measure, optical turnstiles restrict or control access to a building or secured area.

A survey of IT managers shows gaps in access risk management programs, but also reveals that IT managers are very aware of their needs and what they have to do to address them.

I’ve written previously about the need to embrace our corporate or institutional culture and the language of business into enterprise physical security. All too often, we practical folks engaged in the day-to-day operations of our departments dismiss these concepts as superfluous or mere hoops to jump through to please some higher authority. As I’ve been known to preach about, regularly, is the need to market our services to our customers, both internal and external. One “corporate speak” method of marketing our work with the value added benefit of guiding our decision making is in the form of value statements.

I’m always amazed at how many of my colleagues still rely on a significant amount of manual data entry to their access control systems. Often, a large amount of employee information is entered at the badging station or after-the-fact at the security office.

Hotels face a universal challenge: how to manage security without encroaching on guests’ privacy, comfort and experience. Safeguarding hotel guests requires a multi-pronged security program that starts with a well-trained staff and includes security officers, closed circuit television systems, electronic access control and appropriate lighting and landscaping that ensures the identification and prevention of crime.

In today’s technological world, the focus of access control and identification are mainly electronic – utilizing identification cards, biometrics, numeric keypads and passwords. One critical component of access control and identification that is routinely over looked is the use of people.

Failure to maintain an egress as well as failing to protect people from smoke and fire are all too common, yet easy to discern. Better yet, all are preventable through improved staff performance or implementing affordable solutions. Here is a list of ten typical life safety violations along with solutions that can help keep facilities safer for visitors and staff.

At this summer’s Google I/O meeting, attendees were given a sneak peek at Android@Home, a project Google has been working on that will let us control everything in our home right from our Android phones.

There are numerous areas to secure in today’s medical facilities. Outside doors, of course, must offer protection against unauthorized access by patients, visitors, employees and outsiders. Similarly, doors to wards, rooms and offices must be safeguarded. But that is only the beginning of the story. There is also a growing need to restrict access to medicine storage cabinets, medicine carts, computers, medical records systems, ambulances and even parking lots.

On the heels of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, it is important to reinforce the need to control access into organizations and to properly identify those persons who are seeking access. Controlling access into and within a building or campus not only thwarts a possible terrorist attack, but reduces the opportunity for the commission of a crime or occurrence of a violent act. It also promotes a feeling of security and safety for employees and other persons utilizing the organizational space.