Stockport College has over 4,000 students and 350 staff. As an Inner Range customer and user of the manufacturer’s legacy systems (Concept and Insight), Stockport College looked to upgrade to the company’s Integriti access control, security and building automation product. The college has people entering and exiting the campus all day. It also houses high value assets like IT equipment, besides confidential information such as student data and examination papers.
The college’s System Electrician Tim Banham recognised that he and the rest of the facilities and security team had to introduce a more comprehensive security system to manage student, staff and visitor entry and exit, while reducing the risk of intruders and theft.
Integriti is a third-generation security platform, offering integrated access control, security, and building automation. With endless scalability, it can manage as many as 16 million users and 65,000 controllers. The product offers auto-discovery of door controllers and devices, as well as integrated Ethernet, to provide remote management and uploads via a smartphone. It has been designed around system-centric programming. The process of user setup has been simplified to a ‘Who? What? Why?’ approach, a language used to describe permissions, rather than system-speak.
Tim Banham says: “Integriti’s intuitive design means installation and commissioning was quick, streamlined and effortless – while the system’s simple and easy to use ‘plug-and-play’ system expansion could not be more straightforward. Inner Range has researched and listened to common issues with other access control and security systems and used that feedback to design Integriti.”
A forensic audit trail tracks all software changes. The system comes with a wizard for first-time card set up and recover card number option,and provides associations between CCTV cameras and entities such as doors and alarms
Integriti has provided the college with access control that grants or denies their students, staff and visiting contractors access across multiple zones, by using a smartcard. Access is determined by protocol; for example, the students have science today so can get into the science lab.
Tim Banham says: “Upgrading to Integriti was a no-brainer. We had heard positive reviews and already had the infrastructure in place, as many of the panels are compatible with our old system. The main reason for installing Integriti was increased student security but since then we’ve expanded its usage to meet some other specific needs we have as an education establishment. The three-badging alarm system has allowed us to protect vulnerable areas of the college, such as exam paper stores. Authorised personnel can re-alarm the room upon exit without having to wait for security staff to intervene, so there is never a time that the papers are accessible to anyone apart from them.
“Integriti has also given us the convenience of managing our car park barriers in the interests of priority parkers (such as disabled people) whilst still controlling access to the main car park, once full. Access for priority parkers had become an issue with our old barriers, as they couldn’t get through to the priority area when the main carpark was at capacity and the barrier became locked.
“Stockport College has also benefitted from cost savings because with Integriti we can control our out of hours lighting by setting the lights to be alarm-activated only. Another project in which Integriti has made a pivotal difference is the introduction of a panic buttons and a lockdown system. Unfortunately, the current security climate requires extra-vigilance, and this is a challenge that the Integriti Technical Support team could help us step up to with their comprehensive knowledge and expertise.
“I absolutely cannot fault the Technical Support Team. Whether it’s a quick day-to-day query or a new way to manage changes to access requirements, they’re always there at the end of the phone with a speedy response. There aren’t many scenarios they haven’t encountered but if they don’t know the answer to my questions then they’ll mock-up the issue themselves to find the right solution. No other company offers technical support the way Inner Range does.
“As the college continues to grow and our needs change shape, we have every confidence that Integriti will be the access control, security and building automation system that has the scope to evolve with us.”
