SALTO Systems XS4 electronic handle range helps reduce amount of physical keys at the St Brigid’s College, Western Australia

SALTO’s XS4 range including E9450 handle sets have been supplied and installed on over 50 doors at the college

The college is centrally located in the Lesmurdie area, approximately 25 minutes from the Central Business District of Perth, Western Australia. Its semi-rural location is well serviced public and private transport links to the city and surrounding areas. The college’s exquisite gardens, lush lawns, leafy surroundings and relaxing atmosphere provide a perfect, safe setting for learning.

St Brigid’s College is committed to providing excellence in education within a Christ centred environment. The college is attended by approximately 1300 students aged 3 to 18 Years, from across Western Australia and overseas. Its Junior School accommodates girls and boys, while the Middle and Senior schools cater exclusively for girls. The college also provides boarding facilities for girls only in Years 7-12.

Wanting to reduce the amount of physical keys that were required to manage the site, the college was made aware by HSS, the local SALTO installer, that its problems with key control could be solved by the latest Mifare / DESFire smart card systems which could remove the problems of large key numbers, lost keys and the associated cost of replacing locks.

Neil Armstrong, SALTO Business Development Manager (WA) says, “SALTO Systems are world leaders in advanced wire free and wireless access control solutions for the education sector. We have vast experience of working with schools, colleges and universities and understand the challenging security issues faced by these establishments.

With young students on campus it is vital that any security system provides 24/7 security to ensure their safety at all times. The college is a very busy environment with lots of traffic on its doors so it was vital that the security solution we recommended was robust, technologically advanced and capable of standing the test of time, which is why we chose to put forward our XS4 solution.”

Products from SALTO’s XS4 range including E9450 handle sets in online and offline formats together with CU50ENSVN, CU50EN and CU5000 online and offline door controllers have now been supplied and installed on over 50 doors in administration areas, classrooms and offices to step up security. Smart, secure and innovative, the stand alone XS4 electronic handle sets need no hard wiring and provide a totally wire free networked electronic locking solution with a great range of features.

Armstrong continues: "We were confident we could provide an affordable method for the college to implement access control technology. Our SALTO Virtual Network (SVN) has helped the system to be easily deployed across multiple buildings without the need for physical cabling infrastructure which delivered cost and delivery time benefits. The wire-free nature of the product meant that it was easier to install into some of the older buildings infrastructure (unlike modern buildings where cabling is easier to install). This has delivered operational and management efficiencies for the college, their much wanted reduction in keys, and they have found the audit trail capability really useful.”

The college is pleased with the technical ability of the products, in particular the ability to read, receive and write information via the college’s ‘smart’ key cards. Since most access related information is kept encrypted on these cards, the locks are able to update and receive information from the cards at any time. So not only is the system easy to use, but its functionally has almost all the benefits of a fully on line access control system at the cost of a standalone system.

The key cards can be used for multiple applications as well as access control i.e. staff access to printing facilities, and build up 'on-card' audit trails through normal use giving the college complete control over access and enabling key card holders to be tracked if required. This enables a complete access profile of each individual to be established and updated as necessary as well as having the ability to see who accessed what door, where and when.

Cards can be programmed to allow access to specific rooms or areas within the college for selected periods only, with the doors auto locking at pre-specified times if required. And if card security is breached due to the loss or theft of a card, it can be instantly deleted without the need or cost of replacing keys or changing locks – saving the college time and money.

Neil Grime Director of Business at St Brigid’s College comments “SALTO has ultimately helped us to reduce the amount of physical keys required to manage our campus and therefore on-going operational efficiencies have been gained. The wide selection of design finishes available on the escutcheon locks also helped the product fit in with the original aesthetics of the building.”