NYC Office Buildings Secured with Dolphins and DrawBridge
On September 11, 2001, building security suddenly became of utmost importance to high-rise tenants, property managers, and security companies nationwide.
For Fisher Brothers and Sandhurst Associates, Ltd., property management companies that own and operate luxury high-rise office properties in mid-town Manhattan, New York, building security has always been a high priority. These properties are home to many large accounting firms, banks, U.S. and foreign government agencies, international finance companies and other high profile businesses where security is essential.
Because of the identity and nature of their building tenants, Fisher Brothers and Sandhurst face two competing demands: providing their tenants with maximum security, while maintaining a professional, welcoming image in the building lobby. John Angarola, Director of Security, and Kevin Smith, Director of Corporate Security, looked long and hard at access control systems before finding something that met their building security needs.
“Providing proper building security has some unique challenges,” states John Angarola. “We need to allow a free flow of traffic in the building lobby during daytime hours, but we need tighter control during off-hours. Many of our tenants have individual access control systems and reception areas on their respective floors, but they expect us (building security) to prevent unauthorized visitors from accessing tenant floors after regular business hours. Our access control system allows us to do that.”
All Fisher Brothers and Sandhurst buildings employ security officers in the building lobby. The officers use DrawBridge access control
software from Purple Oak, Inc. of Chicago, IL, and Dolphin 7200 hand-held computers from HHP. The DrawBridge system uses Dolphins to scan and validate employee ID badges, giving officers real-time information regarding the status of the employee, notifying them of terminated employees or lost or stolen ID badges. With the Dolphin, a security officer can identify unauthorized personnel instantly and take immediate action. The DrawBridge system also allows building security to track and report access activity to tenants via customized reports.
Because the system uses hand-held computers, it is completely portable, allowing Fisher Brothers and Sandhurst to tighten or loosen their security as needed. They can set up as many or as few checkpoints as they need, and can change the building access configuration at any time. According to Angarola, “The portability of the system is its biggest benefit. Because the system is extremely flexible, we can provide cost effective security at the level required by our tenants.”
“Our tenants’ safety is our number one concern,” states Angarola. “We’ve been extremely pleased with the DrawBridge system and have found the Dolphin to be reliable and easy to use. After the terrorist attacks, we increased the level of security in our buildings, and added additional equipment. Purple Oak and HHP worked together to get us up and running with the new equipment the same day.”
