Safe & Sound

I’m going to share a story with you that, while may seem humorous at first, is actually, pretty scary. A while back I locked myself out of the house. I was in a hurry, my arms were full, and as I stepped into the garage, closing the door behind me I realized that I’d left the keys inside. Smart. Luckily, I had my purse and in it were my cell phone and my wallet. Good thing about that. It was a little after 5 p.m., I had to be somewhere at 5:30, and the drive to get there would take about 15 minutes.

So what did I do? I called my husband. Of course, I had no idea how he could help me, if at all, being that he was a good 45 miles away at work.

He asked me, “Do you have your purse?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have a credit card or something like that?”
“Yes.”And on that note, over the telephone and in fewer than five minutes, he told me exactly how to jimmy that door open with a credit card. I grabbed my keys and was off (after relocking the door, of course.)

As I drove, all I could think was, it can be just that easy to break into someone’s home. Now, this particular door, which goes from the kitchen to the garage, has a simple lock; if there had been a deadbolt I would have been out of luck. I know this is nothing you don’t already know—locks can be easy to break.

We are living in a world where the need for security is increasing. I know when I’m at home every door and window is locked. Look at big offices and buildings with their sleek all-glass entrance systems. Building owners and managers want to know exactly who is coming and going inside their offices.

Not only are we seeing more electrified access control systems, but more biometrics, too. With biometrics, entrance is granted based on individual biological characteristics, such as a fingerprint. Fingerprints and retina scans are a lot tougher to steal or copy than a PIN number or a swipe card.

I’d like to know, what’s the glass industry think of biometrics? Have you been exposed to this type of product? If not, how much more are you doing with electrified systems these days? And what do you foresee for the future when it comes to keeping buildings—especially those with glass entrance systems—more secure? Let us know what you think.