When the one million-square-foot Sanford Medical Center Fargo officially opened its doors in July 2017, it marked the official completion of the second-largest private healthcare construction project in the U.S. A staff of more than 1,500 people will work at the new facility, making the hospital the largest employer in the Dakotas. Sanford Health, which owns Sanford Medical Center Fargo, also operates 45 hospitals and 289 clinics in nine states and three countries, making it the largest rural, not-for-profit healthcare system in the country.

The new Sanford Medical Center facility includes state-of-the-art medical and communication technology to deliver efficient patient care. Another key part of the construction was the installation of advanced physical security to ensure the protection and safety of people and assets. This involved deploying a comprehensive access control system to monitor and manage approximately 600 doors, with an integrated high-performance video surveillance system.

When soliciting bids for the physical security project, Sanford Health laid out detailed specifications for security hardware and supporting technologies. The standards for power supplies were fairly open, according to Stetson Nold, security manager, engineered services, for Parsons Technologies in Minneapolis, who was selected to design and install the project through MEI, its subsidiary located in Fargo, N.D.

While Parsons Technologies could have specified just about any power solution, Nold said the company recognizes the importance of these components to deliver high performance and reliable operation.

Prior to the project launch, Parsons had determined that Altronix’s Trove access and power integration solution would be best suited to handle the size, scope and functionality of the project, while maximizing efficiency and space limitations.

“There aren’t many choices for access and power integration,” Nold said. “We did some research and learned about the Altronix Trove2 enclosures. After considering other options, we found the Altronix solution to be significantly easier to deploy and cost efficient. And having the ability to mount the access controllers and peripheral equipment prior to on-site installation made the choice a no-brainer.”

Altronix’s Trove greatly reduces installation time by simplifying board layout and wire management, streamlining the process of configuring, bench testing and deploying access control systems. All of this translates into cost savings for installers and end users alike. Altronix also offers a complimentary online Trove system design tool that assists in configuring access controllers from the industry’s leading manufacturers. All of these factors were key considerations in Parsons Technologies’ decision to use Trove supporting Mercury/Lenel controllers.

“The ability to incorporate more boards in a smaller footprint was a significant factor in this particular project since the communication rooms were significantly smaller than what you would typically see, so wall space was at a premium,” Nold continued.

The Trove access and power integration solution supports AMAG, CDVI, KeyScan, Lenel, Mercury, Software House, Sielox, HID/VertX and Honeywell access controllers with or without Altronix power and accessories. By simplifying board layout and wire management, Trove greatly reduces installation and labor costs.

“Parsons Prefab pre-assembled the access systems prior to deployment,” Nold explained. “We packed the Trove with the appropriate Mercury Security hardware and Altronix power supplies, pre-wired everything, marked the install locations on each unit, and shipped them to the site where they were hung directly on the wall right off the shipping pallet.”

Parsons found that one Trove enclosure accommodates twice as many boards as usual. So rather than having to send two enclosures for each communications room to the site, the company could send just one, which reduced shipping costs in addition to the savings on space and the overall installation.

“Allocating space to store security equipment on construction sites is pretty underrated because it’s something most people probably wouldn’t think about, but it’s something you really need,” Nold added. “Everyone is trying to get their material on site, so getting it where you need with nothing more is critical. If you can reduce the number of pallets you ship to a site, or in this case, cut the number of pallets you need in half, that’s huge.”

Sanford Medical Center Fargo opened in the summer of 2017, but the overall security plan continues to evolve. “They’re looking to add more as they go along,” Nold said. “We will be using more Altronix Trove access and power integration solutions to fulfill the medical center’s growing needs.”