Grosvenor Technology’s JANUS access control system has been used by independent family brewer, Robinsons, to migrate their ageing system to the latest IP network based solution.
The original access control system at the company’s Unicorn Brewery in Stockport and Packaging Centre at Bredbury was rapidly becoming obsolete when, with the assistance of their electrical contractors Piggott & Whitfield, they approached Advance Security UK Ltd to help update the system. Advance immediately recognised that the flexibility of the JANUS technology was the ideal solution for the project. However, before they could even start the upgrade, the original system failed and Robinsons had problems with a new batch of cards, as Des Collins, Robinson’s Health, Safety and Security Advisor explains:
“We had a batch of cards from our existing supplier that was delivered without the magnetic strip being programmed. When we couldn’t get a response from the suppliers Grosvenor stepped in and designed an encoder that allowed us to programme the cards ourselves, saving us time and money. Advance also made some temporary repairs to the system to keep us going during the upgrade – all free of charge. Robinsons is a family run business with strong customer service values. It was therefore great to see the same ethos shown by Advance and Grosvenor.”
A phased approached has been adopted that allows the system to be upgraded with minimum disruption and to accommodate available budgets. Using the JANUS system also allows Robinsons to upgrade to proximity readers from the existing swipe card readers. Dual function HID proximity cards that also include the magstripe technology, work on both systems and are being used to ensure a seamless and uninterrupted migration.
Robinsons has realised additional savings by using Grosvenor’s Ethernet version of their Intelligent Door Control (IDC). These are installed directly onto the brewer’s existing LAN without the need for extensive new wiring. Each IDC can control two doors/locks and interface to a wide range of industry standard card readers and lock mechanisms. Every card profile associated with a specific IDC is downloaded to the controller to ensure uninterrupted access to the buildings in the event of a network or power failure.
The reason that Robinsons needed to upgrade their system was due to their existing system coming to the end of its life, with little or no support available and no expansion or upgrade path available – an all too common problem in the industry. Grosvenor Technology takes a different approach and invests heavily to ensure future-proofing. Each new version of JANUS software maintains backwards compatibility with previous versions of IDC, maintaining a client’s investment with existing JANUS hardware that may have been installed over the last 15 years.
Another attractive benefit for Robinsons was the modular nature of the JANUS software. A library of add on modules is available for the core JANUS server software, allowing the system to simply expand and encompass other applications and processes. Robinson’s are particularly interested in the Guard Tour and Badge Production modules, both of which will help them streamline their security and save costs in the future.
About Grosvenor
Grosvenor Technology was founded in 1989 to create innovative, open architecture solutions for access control and electronic security systems. Today Grosvenor Technology’s systems are used around the world in education, government, transport, banking, commercial and retail applications.
Contact
+44 1279 838 000
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www.grosvenortechnology.com
