Headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., Harvest is a multi-state cannabis operator (MSO) and vertically integrated cannabis company. Since 2011, the company has been committed to expanding its Harvest House of Cannabis retail and wholesale presence throughout the U.S., acquiring, creating, and growing brands for patients and consumers nationally and continuing toward a path of profitable growth.

When the company was looking for a standardized access control solution that it could use at its 30 facilities and more than 400 doors, it turned to Dem360, LLC for its managed IT, network engineering, and security system design expertise and 3xLOGIC Inc. for the company’s infinias access control solution.

“We want to be able to control who goes where, regardless of the facility,” explained T.J. Buskirk, national security director for Harvest Health & Recreation. “For example, why might an employee be in an area they shouldn’t? Our access control allows us to track who, when, and where. I like the fact that the system grants access to someone for a particular door, and then after hours, that access is shut down — that level of control.”

Gary House is an IT Architect with Dem360, who has been on the project working closely with Harvest since the beginning. “Harvest is pioneering this industry and looking to scale into an enterprise environment. Harvest has been studying and standardizing on various technologies. I did my own research of access control systems, and I love the infinias IDC controllers.”

Harvest has standardized on 3xLOGIC infinias access control and has separate video surveillance and alarm systems. Buskirk again, “In this business, we have to be sensitive to all the different state rules and regulations. I’ve got to have system interoperability from state to state, as well as personnel trackability and clear audit trails for the regulators.”

To date, Dem360 has installed infinias access control in 30 facilities, controlling over 400 doors. The next big milestones in this system rollout is to convert all current facilities to the infinias Corporate Edition, install Corporate going forward, and migrate all managed doors to a scalable data center with a single database built on redundant, fault-tolerant architecture. Harvest has also adopted the badge-making feature within the infinias platform to print and manage company ID cards.

With a growth trajectory like Harvest’s, reliability and scalability are key. Eventually, Harvest’s Security Operations Center will have full visibility across every facility 24/7/365.

“We have a great working relationship with Gary and Dem360, and that makes everybody’s job a lot easier,” said Buskirk. “We have an incredible magnitude of the different directions we can go with this business. However, at the end of the day, we have to design our access management for our employees, patients, and customers. Whatever the facility and the need, we must ensure highly productive workflows, while staying firmly within each state’s guidelines.”

Buskirk continued, “Infinias gives us what we need without impediments. We’ve never had to ‘fork lift’ anything. This system adapts and it gives us flexibility and scalability, we have one door at this facility and hundreds of doors at another. From the beginning, the infinias system has been able to react to the Harvest environment of change and fast-paced growth. We can manage access for different groups in completely different ways, and I love that I can turn off a badge at a moment’s notice…The system is very user-friendly, that was one of our key demands. It’s meeting all our needs, and we are able to manage our facilities remotely. Its robust features and benefits meet the varying demands of the dynamic, high-growth Harvest environment and our vision for the future.”