6 Crucial Things to Ask Your Installer

If you’ve ever dealt with a toddler – and I speak from experience, having a two-and-a-half year old nephew – you’ll attest to their inherently inquisitive nature. In a matter of mere minutes, they can make the word “why” take on more or less the same quality as long fingernails being dragged across a blackboard. “Why is the sky blue?” “Why do dogs go ‘woof’?” “Why are you pulling out tufts of hair and banging your head against the wall?”. That sort of thing.

But, as it turns out, they might just be onto something. I mean, how often have we not uttered the lamentation: “If only I knew then what I know now…”? And yet, we are so often afraid to ask, mainly because we don’t know which questions to ask. We simply don’t feel empowered enough.

One would think that the logical first question to ask when having a new gate motor installed is: “What will it cost?” but, in the words of that Greek sage Plato: “A good decision is based on knowledge, and not on numbers”.

Here are the six things you really should be asking your installer:

Does he offer after-sales support?

In other words, if things do go pear-shaped with regards to the installation, can you depend on him to come and sort it out? A good installer will offer a warranty on his workmanship, and not just on the product.

Are there products that could complement your installation?

Of course, there are times when a standalone gate motor will do just fine but, in the world of access control, a full bouquet of products will offer you enhanced security, convenience and functionality.

Think of your gate motor as a juicy piece of lazy-aged steak; it’s delicious on its own, but add a nice claret and the experience overall just feels richer. Be sure to ask your installer about ancillary products like keypads, tag readers, GSM devices and intercom systems.

How can he make your installation safer?

If you were buying a new car, chances are you’d ask the salesman whether it comes with airbags, ABS, that sort of thing. While most modern gate motors come with features like built-in anti-crushing protection, it’s always a good idea to ask your installer to fit additional safety devices such as infrared gate safety beams.

Does the operator require routine maintenance?

The reality is, any mechanical system accumulates a certain amount of wear and tear over time; it’s an inevitable side effect of moving parts working against each other and the various forces of nature.

Your maintenance schedule will generally be directly proportional to how frequently you use your gate motor, but a routine service every two years or so is recommended, just to ensure that everything keeps running smoothly under the hood.

Is he able to provide you with a users’ guide?

While the installer might not necessarily want to leave you with the complete installation manual – this is, after all, his domain – you should at the very least insist that he give you the users’ guide. As the name suggests, this document contains all information relevant to the end-user, such as the setting up of various features and the coding of remote controls, and even some basic diagnostics.

Does he have references?

Remember, you’re essentially putting your home and family’s security in the hands of this person, so it’s important to be sure that he’ll do a proper job, and that there are past clients that can vouch for his work. Ask for a list of references before giving the go-ahead.

Unlocking the Future with CENTURION Biometric Readers

Swiss surrealist artist H.R. Giger is perhaps best-known as the mastermind behind the set design for science fiction films like Alien and Prometheus; his trademark style can best be described as “biomechanical”, representing the interconnected relationship between man and machine.

While Mr Giger perhaps paints rather a bleak picture of this relationship, depicting it as cold and even dangerous, there is something very positive about marrying biology and technology, namely its benefits to security.

This is most evident in the division of access control known as biometrics, being the identification of humans by their characteristics or traits.  Biometric authentication has (quite literally, in some instances) opened many doors for those within the security industry by  providing arguably the only means of controlling access that cannot be copied, cloned or circumvented in any way.  It does this by using the human body itself as access tag.

One major benefit of incorporating biometrics, and fingerprint authentication in particular, into your security infrastructure is that the access device (being the finger) cannot be misplaced or stolen as is often the case with loose tags.  Authentication occurs by placing a finger onto a small glass “window” on the reader, which then scans it and matches it to the records stored in memory, granting access based on whether or not a record is found.

CENTURION is an authorised distributor of the award-winning Virdi range of biometric readers.  Virdi uses state-of-the-art fingerprint recognition and RFID technology to provide an access control system boasting superior functionality as well as dependability.



The Virdi AC4000 Fingerprint Authentication Reader

The Virdi range’s strength lies in its use of patented fake finger detection technology, a powerful system that measures the electrostatic capacitance differential between real and fake fingers, while also employing an infrared beam and sophisticated software algorithm for added reliability.

Some of the advanced features you can look forward to with the Virdi range are:

·         Live and Fake Finger Detection

A patented three tiered approach incorporating IR scanning technology with the ability to identify the material the fingerprint is made of (chemical composition) such as silicon, rubber, paper, gel, etc.  A capacitive sensor is built into the optical scanner and an intelligent algorithm is used to measure and compare image distortion.

·         Patented Search Algorithm

Incredibly fast and accurate template matching algorithm will compare a 1:1 match in less than half a second, and a 1:N match for 1000 users in less than 1 second.

·         Number of Enrolled Fingers Set by User

Each user can load between 1 and 5 fingerprints on the biometric terminal.  The database can accommodate the enrolment of up to 10 fingers and can be set to check that similar fingers do not exist in the database thereby eliminating “ghost employees”.

·         Registration and Authentication Levels Set by User

Each user can be enrolled and thereafter verified using custom registration and verification levels which have been individually configured to match the conditions of their fingers and the security needs of the organisation.

·         Transaction Options Set by User

Each user can have their transaction methods individually assigned; i.e. finger only, pin and finger, card or finger, card and finger, template on a card, etc.  There are over 10 combinations.

·         Push technology

In order to minimise network traffic and provide real-time update of transactions, the devices will “push” their transactions to the server as they occur.  While templates are being sent to the Virdi devices, users can continue to transact.

·         Optical Sensor (Patented)

The optical sensor has a patent on the angle of the prism which gives the optimal level of distortion for image capture.  This means that the biometric image scanned on a Virdi Optical Sensor has a higher image quality than competitive products; furthermore the surface of the sensor is hardened and coated which makes it resistant to wear and tear including use in harsh environments.  This has been field proven in a multitude of installation in Africa where some of the harshest environments exit and where abuse of technology is rife.

·         Interfaces

The Virdi Biometric Terminals are intelligent and available with a multitude of communication and interface ports.  As standard they have TCP/IP for template and data management, Wiegand 26 and 34 bit In and Out ports to connect third party RFID readers or connect to access control controllers, onboard relays with normally-open/normally-closed terminals and motorised lock control, door status monitor, alarm panel I/F and RS232/485 ports.

·         Applications

The Virdi Biometric Terminals can either operate as standalone or networked/server managed devices and incorporate the functionality required for Time and Access management and Canteen Control.  Alternatively, they can simply emulate a card reader for interfaces to legacy systems.