The installation was designed and carried out by SALTO’s independent business partner Gem Security Centre Ltd.

“Our SALTO access control system now enables us to manage the security needs of the College in a much more controlled way,” said David Wilks, assistant operations manager premises and security for the college. “We’ve fitted over 300 new lock sets across site and the flexibility of the system means we can now get the maximum benefit from the technology and provide a secure environment for all our students and staff.”

This system allows Salto’s XS4 locks to read, receive and write information via the college’s staff ID cards. Even though the access information on those cards is encrypted, the wall readers are able to update and receive information from the cards at any time. That makes the system, says Salto, easy to use while providing 90% of the benefits of an online access control system.

The smart ID cards, through normal use, also provide audit trails, giving the college control over access and enabling administrators to track the movement of staff, students and visitors through both the offline and online parts of the system. This allows the college to produce an access profile of each individual that can be updated by the wall readers.

Any ID cards that become lost or stolen can be deleted from the system just by visiting the readers with up-dated cards. The system also reduces the number of visits necessary to offline doors, since user data is transferred on the cards by normal usage. This eliminates the traditional need to replace locks if security is breached due to the loss or theft of an ID card, according to Salto.

“The security team (at the college) is already considering upgrading their additional buildings in other locations around the city to Mifare-enabled XS4 electronic handle sets as well as using it in future new projects,” said Jim Caola of Gem Security Centre Ltd.

Rated by Ofsted as the top-performing college in the West of England and also ranked in the top 10 per cent of colleges in the UK, City of Bristol College has a number of centers spread throughout the city including and more than 35,000 full-time and part-time students.

Salto Systems, established in 2001, is based in Oiartzun, Spain, with offices in the UK, the U.S., Mexico, Portugal and Malaysia.