New Door Access System

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:23:19 -0400
news

Many people don't know that there is an entire infrastructure of hardware and software behind all the electronic locks that are in use across campus. Whenever someone swipes their UMBC ID in a door reader, that reader sends a signal back to a server to check whether the door should unlock or not. The system that we are currently using is based on software and hardware by a company called Lenel. Earlier this year, we undertook a project to upgrade the infrastructure to the latest hardware and software. This included both the Office of Residential Life (ORL) and the main campus systems. ORL uses a dedicated version of the Lenel system to manage their myriad of doors. The upgrades were necessary to support the latest features and continue to receive support from our vendors. The servers that ran the software were also beginning to fail and needed to be replaced. By the end of the summer, the entire card access infrastructure will be upgraded to fully redundant virtual servers with all the latest software and features.