SALTO Systems has been selected by Shireland Collegiate Academy and Sixth Form Centre to provide advanced access control management. The Academy awarded the contract to West Midlands based SALTO Inspired Business Partner Custom Technology Ltd. 
SALTO Systems provides advanced access control management for school
Shireland Collegiate Academy and Sixth Form Centre is an 11-19 Trust School categorized as ‘Outstanding' by OFSTED. The Academy's highly successful Strategic Partnership with a local secondary school has enabled the expansion of opportunities, and levels of achievement have risen consistently for several years with the Academy scoring the highest of value added ratings.
"With an established track record of providing secure access control for schools and colleges all over the UK, the SALTO solution was ideal for Shireland Collegiate Academy and Sixth Form Centre" comments Les Wheeler, Business Development Manager at Custom Technology Solutions Ltd.
"Shireland had an existing but elderly access control system that no longer fulfilled the requirements of an expanding site. The school needed to secure its large specialist education centre but also wanted to zone specific areas to allow 6th formers entry to certain parts of the site whilst denying access to other students.
Another important criterion was that the successful solution needed to integrate with existing systems using a common technology. MIFARE smartcards were already in use at the school for cashless vending and IT systems, so they needed to find a new access control system that ticked all the boxes.
So working in consultation with SALTO we designed a highly secure and flexible access control system using 10 on-line wall readers and 50 stand alone off-line XS4 locks in a brushed stainless steel finish. The operation of these was then integrated into their existing MIFARE Smartcard system, which allowed the school to continue to build usage of the technology across the curriculum and in everyday building management, safety and security" Wheeler continues.
The XS4 system now allows the school to control and manage a greater range of access control applications than ever before. It is designed for use in wire free stand-alone situations and provides 90% of the benefits of a fully on line access control system but at the cost of a stand-alone system. It also supports up to 64,000 users and is fire tested and approved for 1 hour (RF60, DIN).
It also allows the school to benefit from the many advantages of the SALTO Virtual Network (SVN).
This enables locks and key cards to be updated remotely and access profiles to be changed rapidly adding real value to the access management of the site. It also eliminates the physical restrictions of traditional stand alone electronic locks and can seamlessly integrate with an existing access control system to allow ID cards and locks to be updated, restricted or deleted remotely.
| "SALTO offers us a flexible and functional access control system with a wide choice of software options and allows us to change the existing access system and add to it without the need to re-wire any existing or new doors" |
Campus Manager Sandra Morgan, who is responsible for all facilities on site including security, says: "Custom Technology demonstrated the benefits of SALTO, and convinced us that it is an innovative access control solution that can easily handle the needs of our site.
It offers us a flexible and functional access control system with a wide choice of software options and allows us to change the existing access system and add to it without the need to re-wire any existing or new doors.
Now with over 60 doors controlled on the system and more being planned for the near future, we are more than pleased with the SALTO product and service and support we get from Custom Technology. We look forward to working with them for a long time to come."
