Challenge: Humber College Seeks to Modernize its Access Control

Located in Toronto, Ontario and established in 1967, The Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (Humber College) offers a polytechnical higher education experience with more than 200 programs across 40 fields of study. Humber provides more than 30,000 students and staff with the latest technology and teaching methodologies to simulate a real-world working environment. 

As a college focused on technology, among other sectors, Humber sought to adopt a modern security system to secure its rapidly growing campus, while providing an effortless access control experience for students and faculty. Humber also needed a system that could simplify its campus access control policies and procedures. “We pride ourselves on a ‘work smarter, not harder’ attitude, so when the opportunity for us to bring in new technology that could transform security on our campus came along, we took it,” says Ernie Colosimo, Manager of Security Systems, Humber College. 

Solution: Humber College Invests in Mobile Credentials 

Over the past 10 years, Humber has worked closely with systems integrator, 360 Advanced Security Corporation, to deploy LenelS2 OnGuard access control across campus. As Humber has grown, so has its adoption of the OnGuard system, which now includes more than 1,000 card readers. “Over time, the OnGuard system’s role has expanded from access control to centrally managing numerous other systems on campus,” observes Andrew Pierce, Partner and Vice President, 360 Advanced Security. 

Area access managers autonomously provision credentials and user roles to individuals who need access within their areas of control which may include data centers, cash rooms or technology buildings. The OnGuard system also monitors water status alarms for freezers and refrigerators in laboratories and works with an intrusion alarm system at two art galleries on campus. A hardwired integration with a fire alarm system allows the OnGuard system to put all doors with card readers into read-only mode in the event of an emergency. 

The Barrett Centre for Technology Innovation (CTI) is a new, five-story facility dedicated to helping students and staff push the boundaries of technology in fields like robotics, systems integration, virtual reality and user experience testing. Humber worked closely with LenelS2 to make the CTI building one of the first major deployments of the BlueDiamond platform. With more than 90 BlueDiamond readers, students, faculty and visitors can use the mobile app to gain access throughout the building using their smartphones as mobile credentials. “The college administration challenged us to be creative and innovative – we couldn’t think of a better way to follow that directive than working closely with LenelS2 to test and implement the BlueDiamond platform,” says Michael Freitas, Access Control Coordinator, Humber College.

As LenelS2 has introduced new features to the BlueDiamond app, Humber has adopted them rapidly. The Phone-as-a-Badge feature allows users to simply hold their phones up like a traditional plastic badge to gain access, while the Pathways™ feature allows users to pre-program their commonly traversed routes so that doors automatically unlock as they go without ever needing to interact with the phone. Humber also uses the BlueDiamond app in combination with automatic door openers in key areas of the CTI to help create a touchless access experience and a healthier, safer indoor environment.

Results: A Seamless Access Control Experience 

Humber College’s security deployment has grown dramatically to include card or mobile credentials-based access control across the entire campus. Deployment of BlueDiamond technology continues to expand with another 20 readers now in use at the Humber International Graduate School building in downtown Toronto as well as other areas on campus. All readers across campus will fully convert to BlueDiamond readers over time. 

Humber has also been a key contributor to providing feedback on the BlueDiamond platform. “The constant communication between us, 360 Advanced Security and the LenelS2 product team has allowed us to find a cutting-edge solution that provides a seamless access control experience while increasing security across campus,” notes Freitas.

To learn more about how you can improve your campus security, contact our team today. 

Learn More About BlueDiamond Keyless Access Control from LenelS2 

Enjoy the convenience of keyless access control with the peace of mind of having top-notch campus security. With a mobile app, multi-technology readers, and mobile credentials all connected by a cloud server, the BlueDiamond platform provides campuses with a complete suite of access control components in one convenient program. 

In addition, BlueDiamond integrates natively with both LenelS2 OnGuard and NetBox™ security management systems, allowing administrators to issue and manage credentials in a single click, making campus access control faster and easier to manage than ever before.