Salto Access Control Reviewed
Author: Brian Rhodes, Published on Aug 07, 2013
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Comments (12)
Luis Carmona
Another drawback is if Bob's card needs to be invalidated, unless someone immediately goes to the stand alone lock and updates it, you have to wait for someone with the invalidation information to make it to the lock, whereby in the meantime someone with Bob's card can still enter the door.
Otherwise, I still thought it was kind of neat.
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Seth Thompson
wow points are very small
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Mark McRae
(disclosure: we distribute an access control system that is fully integrated to Salto)
[MODERATOR'S NOTE: The platform is ICT]
Salto integrates with a few "full online" access control systems to make a powerful "hybrid" solution.
The perimeter doors and the mission-critical doors, where live control is required (for lockdown, for example), are controlled through the "full online" system.
The lower security doors (those that typically would not have been outfitted with access control at all) could use Salto locks since the cost is much lower than with online doors. An example of this would be the classroom doors in a college.
That way, you get the benefit of electronic access control on a larger amount of doors (traceability of events, doors locked 24 hours a day, access limited by rights that can change very simply) than you would typically get on an "full-online-only" system.
With a hybrid (or integrated) solution, all of the events that happen offline are transported on the User's cards until they get to an online "hotspot" reader: the events are then retrieved from the smart card (Mifare, DESFire) through the online reader and transferred into the "full online" system's database. You can go through and report on offline events just like you could with online events.
In the above integration, Salto's software platform is not even used, all of the programming (including all of the programming of the offline doors) is done through the online system's user interface.
Integrated applications that we've done:
Mines (the Salto doors are on the residential portion - the miner's dwellings)
Schools/universities
Condominium buildings (perimeter/parking/elevator are online; individual suites are Salto)
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Robert Baxter
What happens when you return from a 2 week vacation, your work involves travel or you are sick? Is your card assumed lost after 48 hours? How can this be handled best.
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Mark McRae
Robert,
I only have a basic level of understanding of the Salto products but from what I know, you can program the card's access rights to expire after a certain amount of time (let's say 48 hours). When the card User comes back to the site after his vacation, he will pass through a perimeter door equipped with an "online Hotspot" reader that will then instantaneously give him his access rights for the next 48 hours. His card will not work on any door until he presents the card to this (there would often be more than one) hotspot reader to have the card reactivated.
The hotspots are strategically placed on the site to minimize bothering the card User (so it would typically be on a choke-point door such as the front door or an employee entrance where the User MUST pass through to get inside the site).
I also know that you can turn this "expiration" completely off on the card or even on a specific reader.
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Brian Rhodes
Hello, Mark:
Will you disclose the platform you distribute? It would clarify your earlier response, and because it is relevant and non-promotional in the context of this post, it would be helpful to know.
Thanks,
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Brian Rhodes
@ Robert:
The automatic invalidation of credentials can be turned off entirely, but you can also move cards to a 'vacation period' where they are turned off for the duration of a vacation, but then reactivated once that period ends.
Of course, Salto, like most EAC platforms, wants to be a 'power application' that even HR is updating multiple times per day, so reclassifying users based on their vacation schedules may be a bit much...
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Mark McRae
Hi Brian, I have no problem giving the access platform we distribute- it is ICT. (Salto partnership announcement)
If you want any additional information, let me know, I'm quite technical.
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Jonathan Lawry
I think CoreStreet tried this several years ago, with their "card-connected" concept, before turning their efforts towards FIPS and becoming part of HID (and Phil Libin heading west to start Evernote).
It will be interesting to see if this concept gains traction, and if so, in what markets.
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Undisclosed Integrator #1
Does anyone care to update on Salto for 2017-18 ?
We are considering it for a 64 unit condominium with one door currently controlled.
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Greg Thornbury
We are about halfway through our first Salto data-on-card installation in downtown Dallas; about 300 doors total.
This is a mixed-use development with a residential tower, commercial office tower, some retail, and common areas, parking, etc.
We are using a very attractive Salto product called the A Element; it's a mortise lock with a very small reader component that mounts above the lock handle, as shown here:
This application didn't want any keys on the exterior of the door at all, as you can see.
With the doors properly prepped, it's a very quick installation. We are placing the 'update' readers at common points of entry, in the elevators, etc., to have a really strong chance of 'updating' a card before a resident can get to the unit.
We really like it.
Hope that helps,
Greg
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Undisclosed Integrator #1
Thank you Greg! We are now working on getting trained in three weeks and
we believe this could provide more competitive advantages to other quotes.
Anyone with anything else to add or detract, feel free.
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