Case study: Murata Power Solutions and Salto Systems
14 January, 2014
category: Contactless, Corporate, Smart Cards
Murata Power Solutions found itself in a precarious situation. The company acquired the Power Electronics Division of C&D Technologies and had to comply with U.S. government International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) requirements.
These regulations implement the provisions of the Arms Export Control Act and are interpreted and enforced by the U.S. Department of State. Compliance with ITAR is required of all manufacturers, exporters, and brokers of defense articles and services or related technical data on the United States Munitions List.
This meant the facility had to have a physical access control system that was a bit more robust than the system C&D had in place. The existing entry control system – cards with a bar code that were printed and laminated – could easily be duplicated and were regularly lost or damaged by employees.
Murata’s Mansfield, Mass headquarters is 180,000 square feet, one single floor, and includes office space, manufacturing space, design space, engineering space, warehouse space, and shipping and receiving. The company also had smaller facilities in Toronto and in Broomfield, Colo.
The ITAR requirements regulate numerous internal doors with only certain employees able to access secure areas. Doors were upgraded with new locking hardware and the system could be audited and would restrict access to the space.
Murata opted to go with SALTO to upgrade its physical access control and meet the regulatory requirements. The company issues everyone a contactless access card. There are internal movement controls in place within the facility for restricted or standard-based compliance areas, so not all employees can access certain areas without authorization. The company can also create virtual user control profiles for their contractors, visitors, and off-site Murata employees from their two other sister sites.
The SALTO Virtual Network is used at the company’s remote sites. This software system enables stand-alone electronic escutcheons to read, receive and write information to the smart cards. This data is captured from the cards at SALTO Virtual Network online IP access points located at points around the sites. The “updating points” upload and download user related information that is then used to permit, control or deny access.
The virtual network from SALTO also doesn’t require every single door lock to be wired. There are many systems that require an enterprise to run 300 to 400 feet of wire from one door to a control center, and every door has to be a hotspot where they all read into a central networking or computer-based system. SALTO enables a virtual network, meaning doors and locks can be offline.
The card is carrying information to the locks and vice versa. When smart card are tapped against wired stations they can also be updated with revocation and access information. Then when they are tapped against non-wired locks they updated with the most recent information.
For example, if Murata wanted to blacklist a card and deny that individual access to a room – even a room they normally have access to – it can be done remotely. The information doesn’t have to manually be interested into each lock but instead uploaded to one access point and then transmitted by another card to the entire system.