For many years, the card reader has been a given in an access control installation. First with proximity, then contactless smart cards, the technology has become so reliable and durable that it is easy to pick a reader, install it and move on. Potted, sealed and with no moving parts, readers rarely fail or cause trouble. Unless the user is adding doors or doing a complete card technology upgrade, once the reader is on the wall, it stays there for a very long time.
From a dealer’s or integrator’s point of view, this scenario doesn’t make for ongoing sales or revenue opportunity. Maintenance is almost nonexistent; and the sheer volume of card populations make wholesale changes a rare thing. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing to discuss with users when it comes to reader technology. If anything, the pace of technology advancements throughout the security industry make reader changes a certainty. And the challenge of figuring out how to either work with what is already on the wall, or plan for a daunting migration of card technologies is one that takes skill, forethought and a lot of preparation.