American Alarm & Communications, Inc.

Much More than Opening Doors

American Alarm is an authorized installation and service partner for many of the leading access control technology manufacturers. We have decades of experience working with businesses to design the access control system that best fits their needs for performance, flexibility and cost.

The access control systems that we offer range from modest access control systems that use proximity cards, to the most sophisticated biometric systems that use hand geometry, fingerprint and facial recognition technology.

Today, these systems not only control physical access, they provide security badge options and track specific employee, visitor and equipment movements in and out of your premises or restricted areas within your facility. Access control systems can also serve a dual purpose by automating employee time and attendance reporting.

Web-Based Access Control Systems

The web-based access control systems now available through American Alarm have no dedicated servers, PCs or hard drives. They are based on solid-state control panels and can be integrated into a company's IT network. Using a web-browser, security administrators can manage the access control system by logging on from any computer that has a network or Internet connection.

These new web-based access control systems are extremely flexible, dramatically scalable and able to grow as a company's needs grow. A small company with an immediate need for a modest system, perhaps controlling four doors at one location with 20 key card-holders, can install a very robust web-based access control system that can easily grow to handle hundreds of doors, thousands of card-holders or employees and multiple locations.

Access Control Administration: Let Us Do the Work

An access control system requires ongoing tasks like adding users, deleting users, changing access permissions, running reports and so on. These are mission-critical events to make ensure a company's facilities are as secure as possible. To help our customers in this effort, American Alarm offers remote access control system administration from our 24-hour Security Command Center.

When we take over these administrative tasks, our customers have more resources to focus on running their business. Plus, our trained and experienced command center team is always available, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so when urgent matters arise, changes can be processed at any time.

Case Study:  Access Control System Saves Town Money

A municipality in Central Massachusetts recently completed substantial renovations to its Town Hall and wanted to make sure the building was as secure as possible. Furthermore, the town was spending thousands of dollars a year to re-key locks on office doors, and issue new keys to employees, to keep the building secure in light of employee turn-over.

Given the tight budget constraints facing many municipalities these days, this community didn't always have money available to issue new keys or update locks when needed. That meant, unfortunately, weeks or months would pass after the building's security had been compromised before the community could address the issue.

Realizing they needed a better approach, the town administration opted to install an access control system. They interviewed several security companies and ultimately selected American Alarm to handle the design, installation and monitoring of the system.

After a detailed review with our systems consultant, the community opted for a web-based access control system, because of its ease of use and flexibility. The web-based system is now in place, running on the town's IT network. Some 60 proximity key card holders use it on a daily basis for access to the building, and the town no longer has to worry about the expense or the inconvenience of re-keying locks. Changes to the system, adding or deleting cards, are done through a simple web-based portal.