The Fast Pace of Campus Security

SAS Technologies sets the bar high when it comes to implementing the right integrated security, telecommunications solution at prestigious New York City University

• By Monique Merhige
• February 01, 2020

Keeping up with the fast pace of New York City can be a difficult task for some schools. Ensuring that students and staff are safe at all times takes the right team of professionals coming together to collaborate and implement a state-of-the-art integrated security solution. New York’s Pace University is a prime example of a school who understands the importance of teamwork.

The University continues to keep up with the fast pace of NY and recently renovated its New York City campus to accommodate for its growing student population. Ranked as the #1 private, four-year University in the nation for upward economic mobility by Harvard University’s Opportunity Insights, Pace University provides a transformative education for its diverse students. Pace prepares students to become leaders in their fields by providing an education that combines exceptional academics with real-world experiences including internships, research, clinicals, civic engagement, and study abroad.

Founded as a one-room accounting school in 1906, Pace has grown over the years into three campuses between New York City and Westchester County and enrolls more than 13,000 students in bachelor, master and doctoral programs in more than 150 majors and programs.

SAS Brings It All Together at a Fast Pace

SAS Technologies Corp (SAS), a Certified Minority Women Owned (M/WBE) Long Island-based security integrator who has provided integrated security solutions to a wide clientele base for the past 15 years became the trusted partner that Pace University turned to for help with their expansion. Over the years, SAS has worked with both the security and telecommunication teams at Pace University to help deliver scalable and efficient technology solutions.

The management team at Pace University felt comfortable using SAS and knew that they would implement the best security and telecommunications solutions seamlessly by bringing in the right partners for this project. “SAS was our trusted go-to resource for security systems management even before this current project,” said Vincent Beatty, Pace University’s executive director of Safety and Security. “When we had the opportunity to design a new, modern space, they were true partners - instrumental in all security integration efforts…said Beatty. From cameras, to visitor management, to turnstiles and access control, SAS made it easy to modernize our security technology portfolio across the board.”

Pace University is currently made up of six schools and colleges—the College of Health Professions, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Lubin School of Business, School of Education, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. Each offers a variety of courses in business, healthcare, computer science, humanities, education, science, law, the arts, and more. Pace combines the benefits and resources of a large university with the personalized attention and focus associated with a small college, with an average class size of only 20 students and a 14:1 student to faculty ratio.

One major belief at Pace University is that learning takes place everywhere and the university looked closely at the intentional and effective design of all spaces as opportunities for learning which are critical to a successful Pace experience. Thus, the university made the decision to move forward with major renovations that would require an upgrade to its existing telecommunications, access control systems in addition to providing new enhancements such as turnstiles and a visitor management system.

Phase I of the university renovation project included upgrades for two main buildings at the New York City campus. These locations at 1 Pace Plaza and 41 Park Row, included new renovations to all four existing entrances. In addition, one of the main construction projects included building a new staircase that connects the B-level and the 1st Floor. With renovations starting in early 2017, and the ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion taking place in January 2019; Pace University knew it needed a partner who already had a working knowledge of the university and could work efficiently and seamlessly with their construction project team.

Pace relied on SAS’ combined 40 plus years of engineering, design and installation experience in both the security and telecommunications space to deliver a unified solution. SAS stepped right in and worked on the existing security and telecommunications infrastructure to ensure that while construction and the renovations were moving forward at both locations, there would be minimum downtime with their essential telecommunication and security services. This included 800 new cat6 cable runs for data in addition to new fiber optic backbone cables connecting 1 Pace Plaza and 41 Park Row.

The project was multi-disciplined and required securing classrooms as well as student amenities spaces. While keeping the existing technology in place, the renovated areas received state-of-the-art security and telecommunication technology upgrades. In anticipation of the Pace University renovation, SAS upgraded the existing LenelS2 NetBox solution to a LenelS2 Global environment with new enterprise controllers, one for the NYC Campus and one for the Westchester Campus. Both controllers report back to the Global system for centralized card holder management creating a unified solution. SAS was now tasked with streamlining one solution across all campus locations including the new spaces at the NYC campus, making this a major integration project.

SAS brought in the right team of manufacturers to accomplish a successful upgrade and installed 60 new Axis IP cameras in addition to two new LenelS2 NetVR servers for video management, over 32 Allegion card readers and 10 lanes of Gunnebo’s OptiStile 220 turnstiles. Gunnebo was brought in during the very early stages of the project to help identify and design an entrance control system for Pace that would balance both the aesthetic requirements of their campus modernization and the durability requirements of installing new turnstiles in a high traffic, high throughput higher education environment.

“Gunnebo could not have asked for a better integration partner as SAS did an excellent job balancing the requests of the end users, architects, consultants, general contractors, electricians, and IT staff during the course of the project,” said Marc Bender, vice president of sales at Gunnebo Entrance Control Inc. “SAS worked closely with all parties and coordinated the necessary resources that led us to a highly successful field installation of our OptiStile 220 system on campus at Pace University.”

In addition, SAS also implemented an integrated visitor management solution called Splan.

Splan provides next generation cloud and mobile technology-based visitor management solutions delivering intelligent and fully automated, self-service visitor check-in processes. The Splan solution seamlessly interacts with the existing LenelS2 solution to identify visitors as they enter the campus. As part of the ID management process, a verification station at each entrance was installed so that students, employees and contractors can present their ID for video verification as an extra measure of security. SAS knew that the LenelS2 solution was the right one based on its scalability and ease of integration with the student management system.

“We are proud to team with Pace University and SAS Technologies, and excited to be part of the University’s growth on multiple campuses,” said John Pierangeli, senior director of sales, Northeast, LenelS2. “We all wanted to make the experience for students, staff and faculty a safe one. The SAS team’s deep knowledge of LenelS2 solutions and their ability to integrate a wide range of technologies into the NetBox platform helped make this project an overwhelming success.” Moving forward, there will continue to be an on-going collaboration between SAS and Pace University. “SAS Technologies values our continued working relationships with Pace University and our trusted partners,” said Sandra Rocha, CEO of SAS Technologies.

As the university continues to expand in the upcoming years, they can feel confident that SAS will guide them in the right direction when it comes to the latest security and telecommunications technology. Staying ahead of the Pace has been the motto of SAS Technologies for the past 15 years and will continue well into the future.

This article originally appeared in the January / February 2020 issue of Campus Security Today.