Paxton Access has revealed that Newport Aquarium in Kentucky has deployed its access control system Net2.

According to the company, Net2 is an advanced PC-based access control system that offers centralized administration.

It is also designed to easily integrate with other access control systems, so site managers can enjoy more streamlined security for their building.

Requirements

The company says that the team at Newport Aquarium wanted a system that utilized access cards, allowing them to customize employee ID cards as access cards and increasing access convenience.

“Most of our doors used locks and keys and some had swipe card readers,” said David Fortunato, Senior Regional IT Manager at the Newport Aquarium.

“At the aquarium we have a lot of doors and a lot of employees who need to carry equipment up and down stairs, so looking for keys in front of a door is not ideal.

“We really wanted to have one system on our exterior and critical safety doors and also make access convenient for our employees.”

Paxton highlights that when sourcing an access control security system, Newport Aquarium needed durable hardware because of its unique environment.

“Even though the products are installed and secured in cases and locked rooms, being an aquarium, we have heavy amounts of moisture and salt in the air,” added Fortunato. “It can chew up the products.”

Project results

Paxton says that Newport Aquarium now uses employee ID cards as Net2’s access control tokens.

The employees scan their IDs at the staff entrance and go through physical screening to enter the aquarium.

Once they are in the park, they need to present badges at each door to be given access for a certain number of hours, based on their role and duties.

“With our old lock-and-key doors, it was hard to keep track of keys,” said Fortunato.

“It is one of the biggest benefits that Net2 has brought, that we could replace all those keys with badges and just keep a few keys for emergency. It provides better tracking, higher security and greater convenience for our employees.

“We use the timeline feature to tailor access hours and levels of each door. When it’s after the aquarium’s opening time, we lock the doors to prevent unauthorized access.

“Another feature we use a lot is the intruder alarm relay. If someone accidentally goes through our emergency exit, it will sound the horn through the relay and alert our staff to go check and make sure no one has gone to an area that they are not supposed to.”