“Access control has gone beyond the basics of protecting a door and an area,†notes Joe Hassan, president of Certified Security Systems, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based systems integrator that has seen access control sales grow more than 100 percent in the last six months. Hassan cites the example of a recently installed six-building system that controls the floors an employee can access. Two or three years ago, companies often were concerned only about controlling certain high-security areas of their facilities, he says. “Now they may look at an entire 20,000- or 50,000-square foot building.â€
But at the same time that high-end customers are installing more complex and sophisticated systems, new opportunities also are opening up at the low-end of the market. Hassan notes, for example, that he has also seen residential customers take an interest in access control. “A few years ago, that was unheard of,†he says, adding that he expects access control – which now accounts for 30 percent of Certified’s business – to play a key role in the 35 to 40 percent growth the company is forecasting for 2006.