I'm researching this manufacturer (a division of Napco) for their functionality, cost and ease of deployment. It all looks very promising by going through data sheets, looking at quotes and release notes. I haven't got the chance to play with their software and hardware yet. Does anyone have experience with their products and can share feedback?
Thank you!
Continental Access is strong in certain US regions, but they aren't a big national or international brand.
I've seen several variations/versions of Continental Access 'in the wild', but none of them were integrated with video and they were all very basic in scope.
Continental uses proprietary hardware, so 'take overs' involve forklift replacement of existing hardware.
Are you looking for a small/medium system, or bigger?
Long time Napco dealer here.
Continental Access has been a great product for us. The hardware lasts forever and the software is easy enough for a small 1-2 door setup or 100's of doors.
We haven't had any video integrations but the Napco alarm integration works well.
The new 4K software is an improved version of a tried and true platform.
Tech support and sales staff are top notch.
Thank you both for your feedback.
We are looking to do medium/large deployments mainly in the multi tenant high-rise market. With that said elevator control functionality is extremely important. I don't see any limitations to floors/cabs so far but also there isn't much information about elevators on their website.
They integrate with a couple of our VMS choices Video Insight and exacq so that's a plus. They do charge a license fee for the video integration but that's based on number of NVRs/servers and not the number of cameras. The cost for a single NVR is about $1000.
They do not sell through distribution but dealer-direct only.
I'll be ordering a demo kit next week to play with and I'll share my feedback afterwards.
Thank you.
Absolute great product, tight software and very strong, hardware rock solid, never fails. And a bonus to Continental is the hands-on National trainer they will dispatch to come to you that is one of the best around, Duane Foote. I have had him in town on two occasions to offer training to administrators on a take over we did on a 300+ door system, installed for years and the previous vendor never took the time or expense to train the operators properly.
As a side note do your homework Continental has answered the call of the POE folks with a couple new products, single door (fits in a double gang J-Box) controller and a real nice NUC pre-loaded with CA3000 out of the box.
Continental also has the bragging rights for being one of the oldest Access Control companies in this country (started in 1961). They support hardware on the current software platform CA4K that is more than 25 years old.
What would you call that in ROI?
The hardware is stable, solid, and scales up very nicely.
Then there are the wireless locks and that is a game changer for sure.
Slow and steady wins the race sometimes, but do not rule them out.
Ask questions and get answers to your physical security questions from IPVM team members and fellow subscribers.
