Biometric access control Perth businesses ask for when a fob can be lent and a PIN can be shared: a fingerprint or face at the door, matched to the person rather than to a card. We install biometric readers on the same controllers as cards and fobs, so a server room or dispensary can require a finger while the front door keeps working on a fob, across the Perth metro area.
Biometrics are a tool for specific doors, not a default for every door. They make sense where the cost of the wrong person getting in is high and the number of people going through is small: server and comms rooms, pharmacy dispensaries and Schedule 8 storage, cash rooms and counting areas, laboratories, plant rooms with contractor traffic, and staff entries where the attendance record has to be tied to the person rather than the card.
They make less sense on a busy front door at opening time, in a workshop where hands are dirty or gloved, or on an exposed outdoor gate. In those places a face reader may still work where a fingerprint reader will not, and an encrypted fob or phone credential is often the better answer. We say which at the site walk.
The reader is only half the system. Inner Range Integriti and Inception integrate with biometric readers from the major makers, so a fingerprint or face enrolment sits in the same cardholder record as the person's fob. Gallagher supports third-party biometric readers on its controllers for high-security sites. Hikvision and Akuvox face-recognition terminals combine a card reader, QR and face in one unit and suit smaller sites and single doors. Which platform we recommend follows the building: an enterprise site already on Gallagher adds biometrics to it, a clinic with two doors gets a terminal that does the job on its own.
The Inner Range and Gallagher pages cover the platforms, and time and attendance access control explains how a biometric staff entry ties hours to the person.
Biometric information used to identify a person is classed as sensitive information under the Commonwealth Privacy Act, which applies to many Perth businesses and to all health service providers regardless of size. In practice that means staff consent, a privacy policy that covers the collection, a clear purpose, and secure storage and deletion of templates when someone leaves. We design the system so templates stay on your reader or controller rather than in someone else's cloud, and we can explain what the technology records and where it keeps it. The policy and the consent process are yours and your advisers' to set, and we recommend getting advice before enrolling staff.
The number of doors that genuinely need a biometric reader rather than a fob, fingerprint versus face terminals, whether the readers join an existing access control system or need a controller, lock hardware per door, and enrolment of staff. Most Perth installations put biometrics on two or three doors and encrypted fobs or phone credentials on the rest, which keeps the cost where the risk is. This page is part of our access control Perth service, which covers every reader type and platform we install.
Less so than indoors with clean hands, which is why we do not recommend them for workshops, kitchens or outdoor gates. Dry skin, cuts and gloves all affect reads. For those environments a face terminal or an encrypted fob or phone credential is the better choice, and the controller can run both so each door gets the reader that suits it.
Biometric readers store a template, a mathematical representation of the finger or face, rather than a usable image, and match against that. Some face terminals can also keep an enrolment photo in the cardholder record; whether they do is a configuration choice we agree with you. Templates are held on the reader or controller on your premises in the systems we install.
Yes. Biometric readers join the same access control system as the card and fob readers, so one person has a fob for the front door and a fingerprint or face for the server room in a single record. On Inner Range and Gallagher systems that is a reader added to the existing controller; on smaller sites a combined face-and-card terminal does both at one door.
The door can be set to accept a fallback credential, usually the person's fob or card with a PIN, so nobody is locked out by a cut finger or a bandage. Enrolling two fingers per person also reduces failed reads. Fire-rated and egress doors keep their free exit regardless of the reader type.
Yes, with the right process. Biometric identifiers are sensitive information under the Privacy Act, so businesses covered by it need consent, a stated purpose, a privacy policy that covers the collection and secure handling of the templates. Health providers are covered regardless of size. We design the system and explain what it records; the policy and consent are for you and your advisers to set.
It depends on how many doors need a biometric reader, fingerprint versus face, whether the readers join an existing system or need a new controller, the lock hardware each door needs and staff enrolment. Tell us which doors you want on biometrics and what system is already installed and we will quote from there.
Which two or three doors genuinely need a fingerprint or face, what access control system is already installed, and the environment at each door. We will recommend the reader type per door and quote the system around it.