Two paths to access

There have always been two distinct parts to the residential sector of the door entry market – local authority and private developments.

In the local authority market, aesthetics has taken a back seat to basic, reliable functionality, and robustness.

Also important has been the degree to which the entrance panel could withstand vandalism and where damage to the system in one apartment was isolated from the rest of the system.

In the private developments market, aesthetics have been much more important. In recent years, however, the change of housing stock from local authorities to housing associations and the increasing use of CCTV to observe and record vandalism has seen many of the rigid local authority anti-vandal specifications relaxed.

Twisted pair installation

Local authorities and housing associations are now able to consider aesthetics to a much greater degree than previously since technological advances mean that prices have fallen in a similar way to those in other areas of the electronics industry.

In private developments, aesthetics are extremely important, with both entrance panels and internal units being judged on style and quality.

One notable trend in both parts has been the increasing use of videophones, either in black and white or full colour, that enable an occupant to see as well as hear a caller.

The introduction of video door entry systems using only a twisted pair of wires instead of having to use the more cumbersome and more expensive co-axial cable should make life easier for installers. There are, however, still some limitations regarding long cable runs where colour video is concerned but this can be overcome in a number of ways.

The downside is that, at present, the equipment for two wire systems can be more expensive than for more conventional systems so ease of installation comes at a price.

Easier issuing of tokens

In community housing, in addition to reliability, the ease and cost of programming and replacing access tokens/cards for tenants has become of major importance as labour costs have risen.

Considerable change is currently taking place in this aspect of the market to make the issuing of new tokens for tenants much easier and more cost effective. Violence and crime in certain areas has given added impetus to remote viewing and control of callers, whilst specialist door entry/access systems for schools reflect the conditions that now exist in and around the playground.

Government legislation has played its part in bringing about changes to door entry equipment. The passing of the Disability Discrimination Act has driven alterations to equipment for the public sector and it is now quite common to see yellow halos around call buttons and to have automatic audio messages to help the visually impaired at the entrance panels for public buildings and blocks of community housing.

Access systems using proximity readers for card and code have been part of the door entry market for many years but now biometrics are starting to appear in greater numbers in small commercial developments as well as in major projects. Fingerprint readers are one of the forerunners of this aspect of access control.

As a number of installers have discovered, it can be difficult to choose the right fingerprint reader, and it is quite common for customers to have a high rate of initial dissatisfaction and frustration when starting to use such systems.

Difficulty with fingerprints

If the system is good, then the level of dissatisfaction should slowly drop and become positive but there will often be those users, particularly the elderly, whose fingerprints can be quite fine, who will continue to experience difficulties. In such cases, it might be wise to have a system that includes a code or proximity card/token back-up.

The latest advance in technology to affect the door entry market is the science of “Domotics” or Environment Automation.

Such systems enable many appliances, functions and alarms in a house or office not only to be controlled automatically but to be managed from one central video console. This console can be fixed or mobile with remote control being provided via a lap-top or mobile phone. Door entry is one of the functions that can be controlled in this way.

Although part of the drive towards home automation comes from the need to save both energy and the environment and will, undoubtedly, come sooner rather than later, some elements are pure indulgence for many of us, guaranteed to produce even more couch potatoes, and consume more energy rather than less … but they could be a boon for the physically handicapped.

Low level magnetic fields

Cost, as always, will be a major factor in deciding what goes where and how soon whilst any increase in low level magnetic fields within our home and office environments could perhaps become of major importance in the future.

If different automatic systems within a building, made by various manufacturers, are to be controlled from a common interface unit and console, the establishment of common protocols that will enable this to happen is vitally important.

The challenge for door entry manufacturers is for them to be able to provide videophone monitors that will double as domotic system controllers in conjunction with a central interface unit without having to be locked too restrictively into any one manufacturer’s system of relays and controls.

Although this busy and crowded market place continues to flourish, it is also starting to reflect the inexorable movement of manufacturing from Western Europe to Eastern Europe and the Far East.

Quality is still vital, however, and many developers and builders have found that using quality products from well established suppliers, installed by professional security installers is still the least expensive way to ensure customer satisfaction and avoid costly rework.