Deciding who gets in, and having a record of who did
Keypads, cards, fobs, phones, plates, and intercoms all end at the same place — a controller telling the operator to open. The choice is about who is arriving.
- Credentials
- 6+ types
- Audit trail
- Per event
- Hosting
- Local or cloud
How it works on a commercial site
Pick the credential to match the traffic. Staff who arrive daily in the same vehicle are best served by LPR or a long-range fob, because neither requires a window down in February. Contractors and deliveries want a keypad code that can be issued and revoked. Visitors want an intercom that rings a person.
Most sites need two or three of these, not one. What matters is that they run through a single controller with a single event log, so when you need to know who opened the yard gate at 2 a.m., the answer is in one place.
- Keypads, card and fob readers, and long-range credentials
- Telephone entry and intercom with directory
- Licence plate recognition for fleet and staff vehicles
- Cloud or on-premise hosting with per-event audit trail
- Integrates with existing building access where possible
Typical working range
| Keypad | Codes issued and revoked per user or per contractor; simplest to deploy |
|---|---|
| Card / fob | Proximity or long range; long range avoids opening the window |
| Telephone entry | Calls a resident or office; good for visitor-heavy sites |
| Intercom | Audio or video; pairs with a staffed gatehouse or front desk |
| LPR | Reads plates on approach; best for repeat fleet and staff vehicles |
| Mobile / cloud | Credential on a phone; managed from a browser |
| Audit trail | Timestamped record per credential per event |
| Integration | Can often tie into existing building access control |
If you already run access control inside the building, say so at the survey. Extending the existing system to the gate is usually cheaper and always simpler to administer than running a second one.
Common questions
Can we manage credentials ourselves?
Yes. Cloud-hosted systems are administered from a browser, so your office can issue and revoke codes and cards without calling us. We set it up, hand over the admin account, and train whoever will run it.
Does licence plate recognition work in snow and at night?
Modern LPR handles night and rain well. Heavy snow on a plate defeats any camera, which is why we always pair LPR with a keypad or fob fallback rather than relying on it alone.
Will the gate open for fire and EMS?
It must, and how depends on your local department. Knox box, strobe detection, or a dedicated input are the usual options. We ask your fire department which they want before we finalise the scope.
Need a gate that holds up to commercial duty?
We survey the opening, size the operator to the leaf, and hand you a written scope you can put out to bid.
Request a site survey
Send the opening width, the traffic it sees, and what the site has to do. Prefer to talk now? Ring (617) 501-7139 and you’ll reach a person, not a phone tree.
- No cost, no obligation, no pressure
- Written scope you can put out to bid or hand to a GC
- Most replies inside one business day