Tips fo Buying cctv camera surveillance system

Access control solutions
The CXOs Pain-free Guide to
Understanding, Selecting and Buying
Access Control Systems
A publication of SOLUS

CONTENTS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What do modern access control systems do?
Why does your company need access control systems?
How serious is asset protection?
7 compelling reasons to install access control ASAP!
How to shop for Enterprise Access Control Systems?
8 factors to help you evaluate enterprise access control
systems and make informed buying decisions.
The new age access control system: Integrated, Versatile

Why does your company need access control systems?
What’s coming up next

Whatdo modern access control
systems do?
Visible deterrent
Move away from traditional
electronic locks
Flexible to growth
Easy integration
Check who enters your
property
Keep a track of your
employees
An access control system acts as a visible
deterrent, whether it is fitted to a single
entrance or widely applied to a site with
multiple doors and different access zones.
With the right product (one that’s scalable,
open and interoperable with other
technologies) customers can migrate from
traditional electronic locks to enterprise
access control readers to additional
keypads.
Access control is flexible and it is simple to
start small and build upon a system as
budgets allow.
Access Control can also integrate with
systems such as video surveillance with
intrusion detection and vandalism alert and
fire alarm/alert systems.
Access control helps you keep a check on
who enters your property people
as well as vehicles.
Access Control Systems can now integrate
with Time & Attendance Systems which
dovetails into the Payroll System and
keeps track of leave, late comings, etc for
more effective attendance controls
It is my pleasure to offer this letter of reference to
Narasimha Swamy N. Director of Solus. I strongly view
Solus as an excellent source for state of the art Access
Control Systems.
- Lt. Col. M. Sudarshan
SM (Retd) Manager - Security, Continuum Solutions
1

Why does your company need access control
sytems?

Prevent theft
of office property,
equipments
spot fire and
act on it immediately
Provide a safe
environment at work
for staff and their
belongings
Keep hackers,
industrial saboteurs,
disgruntled employees
at bay
prevent loss of
competitive
advantage, or even
going out of
business
Catch intruders quickly
Why
does your
company need
Access Control
Systems?
2

Why does your company need access control sytems?

serious is
asset protection?
3
How
Judge for yourself based on the 4 chilling stories below. Do note that these are high
profile instances which get reported. For each of these, there are 100s which go
un-noticed and even un-reported. The dangers are very real for organizations, small
and big.
EST soft Monster.comSony Playstation
Gawker Media
Compromised e-mail addresses and passwords of about 1.3 million
commenters on popular blogs like Lifehacker, Gizmodo, and Jezebel,
plus the theft of the source code for Gawker’s custom-built content
management system.
77 million PlayStation
Network accounts hacked;
Sony is said to have lost
millions while the site was
down for a month.
The personal information
of 35 million South
Koreans was exposed
after hackers breached
the security of a popular
software provider.
Confidential information
of 1.3 million job seekers
stolen and used in a
phishing scam.

4
7 compelling reasons to install
Access Control Systems for
your business ASAP!
Improve overall security
Enhance building security
Reduce the resources needed
Access control is your answer to knowing who is in your premises and when, enabling you to limit entry
to only those staff and visitors entitled to have access. Additionally, access control systems make it easy
to create multiple levels of security within your building. You can make everyone’s keycard work on the
front door, but only grant your most trusted employees access to high-security areas.
Particularly in multiple occupancy buildings, it is often also useful to tie the operation of lifts into the
access control system, so that users can only send the lifts to the floors occupied by the company for
which they work.
Access control system allows you to track each time an employee uses their keycard or PIN to open a
door on your property. This gives you important security data that can be referred to in the event of a
theft or other crime.
Now let’s look at what an access control system can do inside the building. This system also take into
account the time of day and day of the week. This means that staff who have access to a building or
an office during normal working hours can be barred at other times. Conversely, cleaning staff can be
allowed access only after the normal working day is finished.
Some systems can go further by, for example, providing an effective solution to the perennial problem
of bookings for meeting rooms and similar shared facilities, making it possible for authorised users to
book the room or facility on-line. Then, at the appropriate time – but not at other times – their access
control badge or card will allow entry. Arguments over bookings and wasted administrative time con-
trolling the bookings manually are eliminated.
Integrated global access control systems can bring together disparate security systems across cities,
countries and continents. Integration equals simplification. Global access control systems feature
control of multiple databases and systems from a single point, giving companies greater efficiency and
simplicity. An important benefit, especially today, is economies of scale. By centralizing the control of
numerous security systems, companies help reduce the number of people needed to manage them.
System integration helps today’s global companies respond more quickly to potential security threats.
For example, security personnel no longer have to track entry into a building with access control then
conduct a time-consuming analog video search.

5
Protect employees
Reduce Costs
The access control systems is also efficient because it lets employees stay protected from unwanted
intrusion. Moreover if your employees are working till the wee hours, then access control proves to be
an amazing instrument. After all, security and safety of employees is of paramount importance to the
employer.
The best access control gives you the power to safeguard your business from intruders, thus keeping
the property safe and secure.
Many organisations these days are using access control passes to control printing and photocopying
before employees can make a copy or print a document, the pass holder has to present their pass to the
machine.
This not only means that unauthorised usage is eliminated, but also that records can easily be kept of
the volume of copying and printing carried out by individual users.
This is a big incentive to print only what is necessary, thereby saving costs & protecting the
environment. It also ensures the security of confidential documents. Cashless vending services can also
be implemented using the same access control passes. This avoids the expense and inconvenience of
having to issue separate passes, and also means that when a pass needs to be issued, cancelled or
updated, the job only has to be done once. Again, this can lead to big savings in administrative time and
costs.

6
Resolve car parking issues
Reduce energy bills and
protection for the environment
A well-implemented access control system can start its work even before staff and visitors reach the
building, by controlling entry and exit to the car park. Modern systems can be programmed to allow
access only to authorised cars, or simply to count cars in until the car parking is full, and then to bar
further entries.
Clearly, modern access control systems have a lot to offer but when it comes to installing such a sys-
tem, there is one element that we are yet to consider. That is availability of budget or lack of it. Before
assuming that there is insufficient money available to install a system, it is worth looking again at the
features and facilities discussed in this article, many of which lead directly to cost savings.
By taking an overall view that includes savings on administration, reductions in energy usage and better
control over payroll, in addition to the improvements in security, it may well be found that an access
control system is, in fact, a very attractive and affordable investment that will deliver good returns over
its lifetime.
For many users, one of the biggest benefits of installing a modern access control system is that it greatly
reduces their energy bills and therefore, their carbon emissions. This is achieved by arranging for the
access control system to exchange data with the building management system.
Since the access control system knows which areas of the building are occupied, once this interchange
of data has been enabled, it is a relatively simple matter to configure the building management system
so that it automatically turns off unnecessary lighting and reduces the heating in unoccupied areas.
The Solus system is managing Time & Attendance and
Access Control function for about 600 employees at 7
different locations including Canteen. The system was
installed and customised to our requirements in a fixed
time frame and to our satisfaction.
- Yuvraj Srivastava
Manager - Plant Personnel, Asian Paints

7
How to shop for Enterprise Access
Control Systems?
Today’s security systems can be customised almost to infinity, and can include as many bells and
whistles as you care to ask and pay for. Certainly, you’ll want a certain degree of sophistication
and customisation to meet your needs as closely as possible.
Although sometimes choosing among the options for office security, however, can be
overwhelming. Some business owners are understandably tempted to overspend on systems with
capabilities they won’t need. Other business owners purchase security equipment like cameras,
but don’t know how to set them up or which areas of their office to cover.
What are the key points to choose your access control solution?

8 factors to help you evaluate enterprise access con-
trol systems and make informed buying decisions.

8
8 factors to help you
evaluate enterprise
Access Control Systems
and make informed buying decisions
The most important point is, of course, the reliability and trust that you can give to your system.
Are you sure you get 100% of your detections? Or do you need to systematically verify your
passages? Can your system manage multiple passages, how fast? So many questions to ask but
with the current technological advances, you can now have a safe control with 100% of all de-
tections and passages. This type of access control is unconstrained, ‘hands free’ and long range.
You don’t have to show your badge or look for your card. No matter where your tag is, it is
detected. Thus, saving time for you and no more constraints for your visitors.
Whether you need to protect a handful of doors at a single site, or hundreds, or thousands of
doors across multiple buildings or locations, having a physical access control system that can
grow and scale in size is critical.
While a lot of time maybe spent on the cost of access control system for door hardwares, control
switches and card readers installed in the building, it is important to choose a system that relies
on non proprietary door hardware which provides with the the greatest flexibility.
Open architecture systems allow IT and security teams don’t need to install complete set of
new door hardware and controllers when upgrading their access control access systems with
new systems. This helps if you feel unsatisfied with the current system and go for upgrading
the system as that doesn’t call for change of door hardwares and controllers.
Access Control Systems are designed to keep your employees and your buildings secure. Look
for an access control solution that provides basic security features such as card management
options, 24/7 monitoring and video surveillance tools.
You also want to ensure the system will limit access to specified individuals and is not used as
just a basic lock.
1. Reliability / Comfort
3. Flexibility
2. Security

9
With a web based access control system a facility manager can respond to alarms, change door
schedules and view video surveillance footages through his mobile device be him, or her standing
at the top floor or off site.
Large organisations comprising multiple buildings and off site campuses can benefit highly
through a thin client system delivered through a web browser rather than a model depending on
a software alone, it significantly reduces costs and increase efficiency when it comes to upgrad-
ing, managing and centralizing facility access control.
Scope of the installation is one vital aspect an organisation needs to keep in mind. Depending
upon if the system is for a single facility or a facility spread across the globe. If its multiple
locations the employee access card of each employee should be readable at all the access points.
The access should be area sensitive, with access to each facility or area been allowed to
individuals as per their duty or service. So, the system should be able load and program cards
across the sites. After the system is installed, you may receive requests to install additional
readers that may not be compatible with your present systemso be sure to account for future
growth of electronic control systems.
4. Mobility
6. Plan for Growth
Ease of use is another important factor to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of a physical
access control platform. While IT is comfortable with a wide-range of software, hardware and user
interfaces, a front-desk security guard or back-room facilities manager may not have as much
familiarity with using advanced computers or managing complex operating systems.
He should easily be able to add, delete or adjust door access schedules and user privileges without
feeling intimidated or overwhelmed by the system. Cards, badges and credentials even Biometric
Sytems such as Fingerprint, or Iris should be easy to update on a regular basis to make sure only
the right people have access to the right rooms and resources and that former employees can no
longer enter the building. And alarms should be easily accessible and compatible with a variety of
video surveillance platforms.
5. Usability

Years ago, an access control system was just that – access control. It didn’t integrate with other
solutions in the way that current technology is capable of.
Today, due to the nature of IP-based technologies, it’s common for access control systems to
integrate with optical readers, fingerprint scanners, building management, and tie into video sur-
veillance systems, time and attendance and fire alarm systems. Indeed, integration has reached
exciting new levels (along with significantly lowered costs). For example, it’s now possible to click
on access control transaction data and have corresponding video of the event pop up for viewing.
Whether or not you need such integration today, make sure you’re aware of the options available
with the system you select.
By installing an Internal Control Systems electronic access system, you’ll save yourself time and
money. Your facilities will be safe from unwanted intruders, leaving you with no need to worry
about tracking who has keys or if reproductions have been made.
8. Look for Integration Options
If problems or concerns arise while using your access control system, you need the resources to
reach a representative quickly. Email, telephone and live chat support options are available from
many companies.
Most companies also provide resources online to help you find answers on your own, including
video tutorials, educational documents and FAQs sections.
7. Help & Support
10

The new age access control system:
Integrated, Versatile

The new age access control system:
Integrated, Versatile
For long, access control has been all about someone offering a badge up
to a card reader to get access in and out of a building, but the new age
access control system extends far beyond that.
Many smart organizations have implemented managed access to help improve
efficiency and reduce costs. Just like online banking and web-based applications
such as Salesforce.com and Google Apps. Security as a service is an option that
is here to stay. Many more security integrators will begin to offer flexible service
menus, enabling their clients to choose exactly the services they need. This is a
welcome shift from the old rigid model where integrators install and customers
operate dedicated security infrastructure.
In this new paradigm, both end-users and integrators can shift their focus from
building and operating technology to the more important task of determining how
to best apply security technology to manage risk at the lowest possible cost.
11

12
10 successful years. 3000+ clients.
100% Indian company.
Protecting your people, assets, facilities and resources.
Solus protects and secures enterprises with advanced systems, both hardware and
software. Specifically we make and market, Access Control Systems, Time &
Attendance, Visitor Management, Vehicle Access & Parking, IP Video Management
Integration systems. These include hardware, software, plus accessories related to
these systems, and of course, a entire set of services for managing these systems.
Started in 2003, we have in 10 years, worked with small and large Indian companies
providing them security and surveillance solutions, that compare with the best in the
world.
Our main buildings are now fully integrated into the
system and the real thing we like about the Solus System is
that it provides all critical reports for audits in no time
inspite of handling very large data.
R Neelakantan
Senior Manager Systems - Corporate MIS, Patni Computers
SOLUS

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