The Challenge

This new campus for Arkansas State University was born from a major international cooperation between the university and the central Mexican state of Queretaro.

After an initial investment of $100 million, the campus opened in 2017. It incorporates accommodation for up to 1,500 students.

To accompany such a high-profile development, the university needed security and access control systems with a trusted and proven track record in protecting staff, students and other university assets.

Key Requirements

• A technology-based solution, which would reduce security, risks across the campus.
• An access control system able to monitor multiple spaces and monitor all access points in real time.
• Software and hardware that makes it fast and intuitive for security administrators to generate and modify access rights for every user.
• A single solution able to work across both common university facilities and separate areas used for student accommodation.
• The option to incorporate a mobile solution, allowing the use of virtual keys and access credentials on a user’s smartphone.

The Solution

The first US public university campus in Mexico turned to SMARTair^® to protect its investment and site users. So far, around 600 SMARTair^® Wireless Online escutcheons have been installed.

A steady flow of high traffic through many doors demanded robust access control devices. With the SMARTair^® Wireless Online option, facilities managers monitor the campus in real time, with live updating of who enters where, and when. Intuitive SMARTair^® software makes all day-to-day administration from a central control point straightforward.

Future plans for ASUCQ envision a “university city” with up to 20,000 students - all protected in real time with SMARTair^® access control. And because a SMARTair^® system is wireless, expanding and upgrading access control will never disrupt daily work at the university. The SMARTair^® mobile solution, Openow^™ also gives facility managers the option to send, revoke and amend the validity of users’ “virtual keys”, wherever they (or the keyholder) are - with no need for physical credentials.

Students and staff save time, with no access cards to collect or validate. Install the app, collect keys virtually then tap a SMARTair^® escutcheon with your phone and the door unlocks. At the end of your time on campus, the virtual key disappears automatically from your app.