Chuck, I think one of the biggest considerations for Wi-Fi locks is having a SLA or MOU for how network operations & maintenance would interact with the party responsible for the locks. The main justification for using Wi-Fi locks (that I’ve heard, anyway) is the reduced cost of bringing the doors “online.” Rather than cabling to each door, the onus for connectivity becomes an IT and Networking responsibility. With true out-of-band doors, if the wireless or network is down or under maintenance, no one’s access is affected. In the end, leveraging the wireless network to support these locks adds value to the network, but may add complexity to how it’s maintained.
Most of this can be mitigated by cached credentials, etc, but is something to consider. Thanks, Chris Adams, CISSP Assistant CIO, Network & Telecom Division of Information Technology University of North Georgia E-Mail: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chuck Enfield Sent: Monday, November 6, 2017 9:47 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Door Locks? Hi Greg, Locks tend to have a very low network duty-cycle, so interference between the 802.15.4 network and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi will be minimal. That said, it may be worth considering Wi-Fi locks instead. That will ensure that they play well with other Wi-Fi devices and will spare the institution the cost of installing and managing a separate network for locks. On the down side of using Wi-Fi locks, the refresh cycle for Wi-Fi is shorter than for locks. If you have a bunch of locks reliant on outdated features it could hamper Wi-Fi performance down the road. The refresh cycle would have to be discussed with your facilities management, and/or security people. To the group, can you think of any other advantages/disadvantages of putting the locks on Wi-Fi? Chuck From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Lee H Badman Sent: Monday, November 6, 2017 9:09 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Wireless Door Locks? It’s not what you’re asking, but we are using ASSA-ABLOY .11n locks. Fairly easy to support. Lee Badman (mobile) On Nov 6, 2017, at 8:32 AM, Gregory Fuller <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Haven't seen any recent discussion here about wireless door locks. Our physical access team is looking to install some wireless door locks in an administrative building. I can see it growing past this building pretty rapidly and want to make sure they aren't putting in something that is going to cause us headaches. They are looking to install Aperio "HUB's" as they call them: https://vo-general.s3.amazonaws.com/53aee5c6-9690-4c74-a82a-09f1d0f1ec68/d0vBYdO5QWWKURZqvp0w_AA%20Aperio%20Family%20Brochure.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ3YBR5GY2XF7YLGQ&Expires=1582662909&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DAA%20Aperio%20Family%20Brochure.pdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&Signature=920fJFxmRxXi9vkJ7zrIVHZao9o%3D This appears to be using some variant of 802.15.4, which has the ability to run between our 802.11g/n 2.4Ghz channels, but will cause co-channel interference. I'm a bit concerned that there will be some impact to our 2.4Ghz clients (we have a ton of them out there still). Anyone else out there have these or something similar and can speak for how they work and if there are any issues in your environment? --greg Gregory A. Fuller - CCNP R&S, CCNP Security, CCNA Wireless Network Manager State University of New York at Oswego Phone: (315) 312-5750 http://www.oswego.edu/~gfuller _____________________________________________________ Campus Technology Services will never ask you to email us sensitive personal information such as a password. Please contact us if you are unsure if an email is genuine. ([email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>) ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/discuss. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/discuss. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/discuss. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/discuss.
