Mr. Sean McGrath
Director of Marketing
ASSA ABLOY
www.ASSAABLOYDSS.com 

SecurityStockWatch.com: Let’s start with the basics. Please give an overview of ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions.

Sean McGrath: ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions provides end-users with unsurpassed security, life-safety and aesthetic solutions as well as essential support services to ensure well-functioning doorway systems. This is all accomplished by combining the strengths of industry leading door and hardware brands: ADAMS RITE, BARON, CECO Door, CORBIN RUSSWIN, CURRIES, GRAHAM, HES, MAIMAN, MARKAR, McKINNEY, MEDECO eCylinders, NORTON, PEMKO, RIXSON, ROCKWOOD, SARGENT, SECURITRON and YALE.

Sean McGrath: Over the past few years, ASSA ABLOY has introduced a number of products that greatly enhance the security, life safety and aesthetic features of doorway openings. We wanted a venue to show these innovative technologies to end users, customers, architects, designers and security integrators. Trade shows allow us to display just a few of these products and reach a small audience. What we needed to effectively demonstrate our capabilities was a traveling road show that would bring all the products together and reach a wider audience in all corners of the country. From that need, the ASSA ABLOY Mobile Innovation Showroom was created.

We purchased a trailer and retrofitted the inside by installing numerous full-size doorways, mounted working models and over a mile of wiring to accommodate our large selection of electromechanical locks and access control devices. The Mobile Innovation Showroom is organized into sections that highlight technological advancements ASSA ABLOY has achieved in many facets of the door and hardware industry. We have sections for security, life safety and aesthetics with subsections that touch upon green design, energy efficiency and product training.

The sections are arranged to tell a compelling story about how the door and hardware industry has evolved into a hi-tech, design-oriented field.

Sean McGrath: The most basic function of a lock is to provide security. So the most logical starting point is to present an overview of what we call the Security Continuum which describes the wide range of locking technologies available today.

Offline keypad locks represent the next step in the security continuum. Like, eCylinders, these devices feature audit trail and basic programmable access control capabilities. These locks come in a variety of forms including the popular Yale inTouch lockset. The inTouch has a digital touch screen similar to a smart phone. Programming and day-to-day use of the lock is simplified with an interactive, voice-guided system.

The next rung up on the technology ladder is integrated Wiegand locking devices. These products, offered by CORBIN RUSSWIN, HES, SARGENT and YALE, have open-architecture platforms that facilitate seamless connections with a building’s host system to provide online access control.

Going a step further, we have found end users are demanding greater use of open standard technologies that ease the integration of doorway components with security system software. We now offer locks that lower the cost of near-online or online access control by leveraging the existing IP network infrastructure (WiFi or LAN) in the building. This eliminates the need for expensive redundant security system wiring. It also spreads intelligence and decision making abilities to the lock on the edge of the network, allowing more system redundancy than in the past.

The apex of the security continuum is our Hi-O or Highly Intelligent Openings that feature hardware components with brains. Just as USB made our computing lives easier, intelligent components plug together and automatically configure themselves to a ‘plug and play’ opening. This is enabled by ‘CAN-bus’ open technology—the same technology that helps the car manufacturers plug electronic components into each other and give the driver warning lights on the dashboard if the fuel level is low, if seatbelts are unfastened, or if the tire pressure is suboptimal. In the future, building owners will get the equivalent of the engine warning light from the opening if it is in need of adjustment or imminent service. An opening is a lot cheaper to fix on Friday before it breaks than it is on Saturday when it stops functioning altogether.

The selection of security technologies available today has created a wide variety of options to secure each opening. Whether combining multiple credentials, leveraging existing network infrastructure, integrating discrete components, or adding decision making capability, today’s doorways are allowing a much broader set of products. This allows for the selection of the right product to provide the right level of security within a given budget and a given level of risk.

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Mr. Lee Garver
Business Development Manager-Key Systems
ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions
www.ASSAABLOYDSS.com 

SecurityStockWatch.com: ASSA ABLOY labels itself as the global leader in door opening solutions. With so many technological developments in access control in recent years, where do key systems fit into your company’s product mix and the overall facility security equation?

Lee Garver: A number of ASSA ABLOY Group brands have been around since the 19th century and were early innovators in the field of key systems. In fact, Linus Yale, Jr.—the progenitor of YALE Commercial Locks and Hardware—was the inventor of the pin and tumbler lock that is still the basis of today’s cylinder locks. Of course much has changed in cylinder mechanics and how facilities secure their doors, but key systems are still the backbone of facility security and ASSA ABLOY remains the leader in key system technology.

Our brands are continuously upgrading their key system products to meet new challenges that confront the market. ASSA, ABLOY, ARROW, CORBIN RUSSWIN, MEDECO, SARGENT and YALE are all recognized for the quality of their key systems that are widely used in buildings throughout the world.

Lee Garver: It all starts with careful planning. The end-user meets with a specialist to devise a key system plan that details the level of access permitted for every door in a facility. In an office building, for example, the end-user may grant access to the main entrance to all employees that are issued keys. This same cylinder/key configuration can then be used on common areas that are also accessible to all key holders.

The next highest level of access is accomplished with slight modifications to the cylinder pinning. This limits entry to a narrower subset of key holders. This process is repeated until there is just one master key that opens all doorways. When mapped out on paper, a key system resembles an organizational chart, with the master key on top and the most widely accessible openings at the bottom.

A key system devised in this manner delivers dependable access control, provided the end-user practices key control.

Lee Garver: Key control is basically inventory control; the end-user needs to account for every key that has been issued and is in use. Unfortunately, many facilities become lax in their key control policy and wait too long to reestablish order. When this occurs, the secure, tightly-managed key system that once existed is replaced by a porous line of defense with no accountability and increased exposure to security threats. More

Mr. Robert R. Tibbling
Director of Business Development-End User Markets
ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions
www.ASSAABLOYDSS.com 
Stockholm: ASSA-B.ST

SecurityStockWatch.com: ASSA ABLOY is involved in numerous industry organizations that guide the development of standards. Can you comment on a few of the latest codes and standards that impact building construction?

Robert R. Tibbling: Life-safety and security are always the driving forces in building construction standards. But lately, green building initiatives have been gaining momentum even though they are currently not required by code. Private building owners are increasingly adhering to these standards and are using environmentally-friendly design as a selling feature to lure potential tenants. Many federal, state and local government facilities are required to attain at least a minimal level of green building certification, making them active participants in this trend.

Robert R. Tibbling: There are two primary areas where doors and hardware can make a valuable contribution: materials/resources and energy efficiency.

Most green building standards seek to cut back on the use of virgin raw materials and the associated impact created by their extrusion and processing. To achieve this goal, the use of building materials made with high percentages of rapidly renewable or recycled materials is widely encouraged.

Nearly all steel doors, frames and hardware are made with some amount of recycled material, but the exact quantity will be influenced by the steel production method. Integrated mills use blast furnaces to turn iron ore, coke and scrap iron into pig iron which is then injected into a basic oxygen furnace where it is converted to steel. Doors and frames built with steel produced by this method and feature recycled content that typically exceeds the levels targeted by many green building standards. 

Mini-mill steel production relies almost entirely on scrap metal as the raw material. The scrap is melted by electrical current in an electric arc furnace and turned into steel. So instead of mining the earth to feed its furnaces, mini-mills instead mine junkyards for old cars and scrap metal.

Mini-mill operators estimate that 20 doors can be produced from the steel of one scrapped car. In addition, 5,400 BTUs of energy are conserved for every pound of steel recycled. Also, the air pollutants emitted by mini-mills are a fraction of those produced by integrated mills.

Doors, frames and hardware are all made with some percentage of recycled material. Manufacturers should be able to provide these numbers to help end-users calculate the value of recycled materials used in a project. More

Mr. Angelo Faenza
General Manager
PERSONA
ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions
ASSA ABLOY GROUP
www.assaabloydss.com

SecurityStockWatch.com: Thank you for joining us today, Angelo. Please give us an overview of your background and your role at ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions.

Angelo Faenza: My role as General Manager of PERSONA is P&L responsibility, along with managing a team of professional sales managers, project managers, and software and technical support professionals. I spend a good deal of my time with end customers, potential end customers, channel partners and industry association groups. I have been with ASSA ABLOY for 16 years, starting on the door and hardware side of the business and migrating over to the access control side of the business.More

Angelo Faenza: PERSONA offers both stand-alone and hardwired intelligent access control solutions. To fully understand what that means, it helps to have some background information on the various access control technologies.

Many facilities have security needs that exceed the capabilities and practicality of traditional mechanical lock and key systems. This is not meant as a disparagement of mechanical lock and key systems; when strict key control is followed, they remain a viable security option. But the end-user might want additional capabilities, such as tracking the time and identity of a lock transaction, which is not available in a mechanical system. In addition if a mechanical key is lost, the end-user must make adjustments to all cylinders that functioned with that lost key. A large facility with many doorways can incur much time and expense re-keying a mechanical system. So mechanical lock and keys may not be practical for all end-users.

The next step up from mechanical locks and keys is electronic access control. End-users have the choice of an access control system that is either powered by electrical wiring that runs through the door or from batteries incorporated into the lock body. A lock powered by wiring is referred to as “hardwired,” while the battery operated version is commonly known as “stand-alone” meaning it can be used anywhere in a facility without the need for wiring infrastructure.

Aside from powering options, locks can also provide either “online” or “offline” access control. An online lock is able to communicate with a centralized access control system while an offline lock does not have this communication capability.

Until recently, hardwired locksets were the only option if an end-user wanted online access control. But the advent of wireless networking has enabled stand-alone locksets to also acquire online capabilities. This is a significant development that gives end-users the ability to connect almost any doorway into a centralized access control system without incurring the infrastructure expense of running wiring to every doorway.

Earlier I mentioned PERSONA offers both stand-alone and hardwired access control solutions. Now I can expand on that by saying PERSONA offers online, hardwired access control solutions as well as offline and online stand-alone access control solutions. The recent introduction of our WiFi-enabled locksets allows these stand-alone devices to connect into an online system. More

Mr. Martin Huddart
Vice President, Electronic Access Control
ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions
ASSA ABLOY GROUP
www.assaabloydss.com
Stockholm: ASSA-B.ST

SecurityStockWatch.com: One will read on ASSAABLOYdss.com that, “ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions provides complete solutions for securing buildings and keeping people safe.” Please give us an overview of ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions.

Martin Huddart: ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions is a division of ASSA ABLOY. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, ASSA ABLOY is comprised of over 150 companies in more than 40 countries, all part of the door security industry. ASSA ABLOY's mission is to provide complete opening solutions, backed by value-added services, to help people feel safer and more secure, thus creating more freedom in their lives.

ASSA ABLOY Door Security Solutions offers everything needed to secure openings and keep people safe. Our complete solutions include doors, hardware and electronic access control systems, plus many options to fit the aesthetics of any building. We have a complete network of sales professionals, consultants and distributors who provide support and expertise throughout a project. Our field representatives can offer assistance with most doorway-related challenges including security evaluations, product selection, specification writing, installation, key systems management and other value added services.

Martin Huddart: We see four large and concurrent forces converging together in the security market to create large changes in the way we manage and offer security solutions.

Credential Convergence:
The desire of end users to manage access control with a single credential has created the opportunity for ‘credential convergence’ that bridges mechanical and electromechanical technologies.  For example, MEDECO’s Hybrid key incorporates mechanical and RFID technologies such that a single credential can be used in a mechanical cylinder, with a typical HID reader, and the new MEDECO Hybrid eCylinder.  This is an offline, battery powered access control system that wirelessly retrofits to a standard mechanical cylinder.  The result is a suite of mechanical, offline and online openings managed from a single credential.

Network Convergence:
End users are increasingly demanding the greater use of plug-and-play technologies based on open standards that make installation easier.  This is true for other IT appliances and the opening is becoming just another appliance on the network.

New locks are being launched which drastically lower the cost of near online or online access control by leveraging the existing IP network infrastructure in the building.  This ‘network convergence’ eliminates the need for expensive redundant security system wiring.  It also spreads intelligence and decision making abilities to the edge of the network allowing more system redundancy than in the past.

Component Convergence:
One of the quieter technology trends making life easier for the integrator is ‘component convergence’ that blends two technologies or more into one device.  These innovative locking products typically integrate a card reader, locking device and other door functions into one component.  

For example, a lock or a strike with an integrated card reader, REX and DPS not only can have a more appealing look to the end user, but the integrator or locksmith saves time and money with less wiring, drilling and cutting around the door.  Many of these new integrated products also come with standard wiring and connections that are designed to plug-and-play with electrified hinges and door raceways.

Information Convergence:
The final trend, ‘information convergence,’ is blazing a path to a truly highly intelligent opening.  These openings operate beyond the conventional boundaries of ‘access control’, providing economic benefits throughout the life cycle of the opening. More