Launched in 1995, Erinvale Country and Golf Estate is among the top estates in South Africa. It is a low-density estate with 419 properties built on 284 hectares of land offering breathtaking views of the Hottentots Holland Mountains, the Helderberg Mountain and False Bay. This pristine natural environment is connected with FTTH high-speed Internet and is only 30 minutes away from Cape Town International Airport and the Cape Town city centre.
Erinvale combines the best of everything: excellent security within a gated community, the tranquillity of the surrounding nature, a world-class golf course and other facilities that contribute to a 5-star lifestyle.
Erinvale’s existing Impro Technologies IXP400 (Impronet) solution had been successfully managing access to the estate for over 16 years, however, the ageing technology was limiting integration options with the estate’s bespoke requirements for full estate management and adaptability. Erinvale was therefore looking for a solution to manage resident, visitor and contractor access along with customised estate data management. It also wanted to be at the forefront of estates using emerging technologies, such as contactless access control and mobile app technology.
Erinvale Estate also had a vision of being able to promote that the estate was equipped with the latest security technologies to its residents and future occupants. These technologies would need to be user-friendly, modern solutions that empowered the residents to manage access requirements for themselves, their visitors and their contractors (domestic and ad-hoc). It would also be expected to provide the HOA (home owners’ association) and security team with on-demand information about property occupation and movement on the estate.
Installation partners
Erinvale has had a long-standing working relationship with both Powell Tronics and Nextec, so it was natural to approach them for guidance and assistance on the estate’s new security requirements. The companies worked together and submitted plans and proposals for the security upgrade to the HOA and residents for consideration and approval. Several information sessions were held through the course of the project and continuous communications were sent to all residents.
Powell Tronics was the main consultant for the project, with Nextec managing the physical installation of the equipment.
The solutions chosen
Powell Tronics’ HOME (Home Owners Management of Estate) solution showed the best promise to cater for all the estate’s custom needs, being an easy-to-use estate management web solution that is both PoPIA compliant and fully integrated into the established PT-Guest visitor solution. It is also integrated into Impro Technologies’ Access Portal, which would replace the old Impro kit, along with the PT-Wave enrolment facility for IDEMIA’s MorphoWave Compact devices.
The resultant project consisted of the following tasks:
• Implement an estate management solution that will be the main source of data, to be integrated with the various systems on the estate, namely property management, access control, visitor management, golf club member management. Powell Tronics’ bespoke HOME solution was selected as the solution to be implemented.
• Upgrade the existing 16-year-old Impro Technologies IXP400 access control system to the latest technology offering Access Portal (software and hardware).
• Implement seven contactless MorphoWave Compact biometric devices from IDEMIA for residents and registered contractor access.
• Implement integrated visitor and contractor management system, PT-Guest from Powell Tronics.
The estate’s three entry/exit points were therefore upgraded with new hardware, software and cabling:
• The five vehicle lanes were each fitted with one Impro Harsh Environment Keypad (for visitor management) and one MorphoWave Compact touchless biometric access terminal.
• Two half-turnstiles each fitted with one Impro Harsh Environment Keypad (for visitor management) and one MorphoWave Compact touchless biometric access terminal.
• Three PTGuest handheld scanners to capture visitor and ad-hoc contractor information were stationed at the gates.
Benefits attained
The speed and efficiency of incorporating the MorphoWave Compact biometric devices at all entry and exit points have made a substantially positive impact on the speed of throughput of vehicle traffic, with the added benefit of being completely contactless. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, this has made the costs and efforts of the system upgrade well worth it.
In addition, being able to access a central repository of information where the HOA and the security team can determine who a property’s owner is versus who is residing at the property, along with their vehicle and pet information, proved an excellent improvement to the management of the estate. The system can also provide information on when residents’ shared domestic staff were authorised to access the estate.
These were just some of the key benefits of the solution. After the approvals were given, the project proceeded as planned and the rollout was accomplished with minimal disruptions to the day-to-day life and business of the estate and its residents.
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd. | All Rights Reserved.
printer friendly version