The First Facility Management Blog

For more than 20 years, Assistance League® of Las Vegas has promoted volunteerism, dedicated to meeting the needs of its community. Part of the National Assistance League®, the organization’s 292 volunteer members logged over 32,000 volunteer hours last year in support of philanthropic projects.

Access control, in support of the large volunteer staff and on-site retail facilities, is a constant and vital requirement for the organization. The League’s headquarters in Las Vegas, the Donald W. Reynolds Chapter Facility, had existed since its completion in October 1998 with traditional mechanical locks.

After experiencing several break-ins due to faulty locks at the facility, League management was desperate for a new access control solution. The organization went to a group organized by the Associated Locksmiths of America (ALOA) to research the cost of new locks for their facility. In conjunction with the ALOA Convention in Las Vegas, a cooperative organization comprising representatives from three concerns (Associated Locksmiths of America, OSI Security Devices, and ACE Locksmiths) was able to respond by donating a state-of-the-art access control solution for the Assistance League.

With a goal of providing greater security and access control to the Assistance League facility, 13 doors were installed with the high-tech Omnilock Wireless Access Management System. Donated by OSI Security Devices, Inc., the installed system replaced the League’s old lock system. The system uses HID Global’s proximity technology and incorporates programmed access cards, donated by HID Global. Additionally, several Von Duprin exit devices and associated installation time were donated by Security Lock Distributors and ACE Locksmiths of Las Vegas, providing additional resources for the installation. Hardware for the new system is valued between $15,000 to $18,000, with twice that amount given by locksmith installers in labor and installation costs.

The Assistance League facility is one of the nation’s first non-government commercial installations with Omnilock door locks. The lock system includes a battery-operated mechanism that can be used with HID proximity cards, a touch pad system, or both together, customized for each volunteer for heightened access control. In addition, a log of entrants into the building, forced entries, outages, and battery power are recorded by the software component of the system, providing increased access control intelligence to the League’s management. The entire system enables end users to log on to the system and run their access control application remotely.

“With a very worthy cause, and an opportunity to advance the training of ALOA members, it was not difficult to step up to the plate and donate the WAMS system for this project,” said Ron Siess, OSI Security Devices vice president of Business Development. “It was a very instructive day and The Assistance League of Las Vegas was very grateful to all who contributed to the project.”

“This looked like a perfect opportunity to launch off a new access control system,” said Jerry Newton, Ace Locksmiths’ CEO. “I like what they do and it’s great to see somebody trying to do some good.”

The ALOA-sponsored group helped to provide valuable assistance and an innovative security approach to this critical community organization. League funds that would have been spent on an access control system will now be reallocated to assist initiatives like Operation School Bell, providing clothing and school supplies to underprivileged children ages five to 15, increasing their incentive for attendance, academic performance, and self-esteem.

“To us, this is such a boon because the money we need is for the children,” Assistance League’s Margy Purdue-Johnson said.

About OSI Security Devices
OSI Security Devices, shortly after it’s founding in 1986, introduced one of the world’s first battery-operated stand-alone electro-mechanical locks. Built to stringent military and industrial specifications, Omnilocks have been successful in meeting the demands of government, university and industrial customers throughout the United States. Stand-alone reader/locks programmed by PDAs have solved difficult access control challenges in some of the toughest environments imaginable. OSI has now introduced WAMS, which stands for Wireless Access Management Solution. This system allows easy upgrades for their stand-alone systems and provides a full featured, software based system, which is totally wireless end to end. OSI is headquartered in Chula Vista, California. To learn more, please visit www.omnilock.com.

About HID Global
HID Global is a leading manufacturer in the access control industry, serving customers worldwide with proximity and contactless smart card technologies; central station managed access controllers; secure and custom card solutions; digital identity and photo card management software solutions; secure card issuance solutions; and RFID electromechanical cylinders. Headquartered in Irvine, California, HID Global operates international offices that support more than 100 countries and is an ASSA ABLOY Group company. To learn more, please visit www.hidcorp.com.

After more than a month of community feedback, jury deliberations, and public voting, the winner of Global Green and Brad Pitt’s ‘Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans’ will be announced Thursday, August 31st during a press conference. During the announcement, Brad Pitt, Matt Petersen, and the other jury members will answer questions about the winning design, how the decision was made, and the benefits of rebuilding New Orleans in a sustainable manner.

The competition was conducted in two stages. In Stage 1, participants were asked to provide a sustainable urban design of a 1.25 acre site that focuses on a green, healthy multi family building with a community center and single family housing. Submissions were asked to achieve several sustainable design and green building goals, including net-zero energy goals (e.g., meeting all energy needs for buildings on the site through passive and active strategies).

In Stage II, finalists identified from the first round drew on their submissions from Stage I, working with local architects and community groups, to create a plan for selected areas in different neighborhoods of the city. They designed single-family housing and a community facility in the neighborhood.

Competitors were also challenged to develop innovative architectural and planning solutions that respect and draw from the rich design heritage of New Orleans while balancing sustainability and affordability.

The six finalists are:
Drew Lang Architects/Drew Lang - NYC, NY and New Orleans, LA
Brininstool and Lynch/Brad Lynch - Chicago, IL
Workshop APD/Matthew Berman and Andrew Kotchen - NYC, NY
Schwartz Architecture/Frederic Schwartz - NYC, NY
MetroStudio/Ken Gowland - New Orleans, LA
Eskew, Dumez and Ripple/Steve Dumez - New Orleans, LA

To view the finalists, click this link. (Please note that voting is closed.)

The competition is a central component of Global Green’s sustainable rebuilding initiative for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, which began 10 days after the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. This competition intends to help jump start that process by presenting the city – and the nation – with a series of exciting and achievable proposals for sustainable architecture, climate friendly buildings, and green urbanism. Given the worsened impact from the storm due to coastal erosion and global warming, Global Green USA hopes to evoke designs that represent restorative design and climate neutral strategies.

Global Green USA - the American affiliate of President Gorbachev’s Green Cross International – was founded by Diane Meyer Simon in 1993. Its newly opened field office and green building resource center will serve as a focal point of green building expertise for New Orleans residents and is the face of its “Healthy Homes, Smart Neighborhoods” initiative whose Honorary National Task Force includes: Julian Bond, Gen. Wesley Clark, Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman, Lee Hamilton, Pat Mitchell, and David Orr. Global Green USA has been a national leader in green building for affordable housing, schools, and communities for more than a decade and has influenced more than $20 billion dollars in green construction.

This Web Exclusive comes from Anchor Audio Inc.

In an effort to squeeze maximum utility out of minimal equipment outlay, budget-conscious schools, hotels, churches, and other facilities are increasingly turning to the portable public address system as an answer to the high cost of installing a fixed system in every room where sound or music might be required. This trend toward opting for a mobile PA system that most anyone can quickly set up and use can yield savings over the limitations imposed by a fixed system.

An outdoor amphitheater might require a sound system, another might be required in the auditorium, and yet another might be required in the gym. Further, classrooms and conference rooms have ever-increasing requirements for sound equipment. Permanent, installed sound systems for each of these locations would be cost prohibitive for most institutions; however, one or two shared portable systems could provide a solution at an affordable price.

In recent years, portable sound system technology has evolved to provide a serious alternative to installed sound systems. In many cases, a portable system will actually deliver clearer sound than an installed system because all of the components are designed to work together as a package. The amplifier, mixer, microphones and speakers are factory engineered to work together without distortion. In a permanent installation, the professional sound contractor attempts to achieve this balance of components with varying degrees of success.

“Today, sound systems are vital in the classroom,” says Summer Vyne, team supervisor with CCS Presentation Systems, of Scottsdale, AZ. “A great deal of content now is being delivered via CD from publishers, instead of books. A lot of the curriculum now has sound to it. Portable systems are the solution so teachers can share, as they may not have the funds for everybody to have one installed in the room.”

Vyne says, “the portable solution in a classroom averages $120 - $150, depending on the options. It would average $1000 plus for an installed solution, because you have to pay for 5 - 6 speakers in the ceiling to have the coverage, all the wiring, the amplification system, maybe a wireless microphone. Then, whatever they want to plug into it — a mixer, a DVD/VCR, or other components.”

Dave Johnson, acount executive with Troxell Communications, adds, “For a larger venue such as an auditorium, a portable system would run around $2,000 and a permanent system would be $13,000 and up,” he says.

The high cost of permanent systems comes from the separate components that must be purchased, including amplifiers, CD players, mixers, and speakers and the skilled labor to assemble and operate the system. But the portable systems are built to be all-inclusive of these components. “In most cases, different elements are already built in or listed as accessories,” says Johnson. “The packages also allow for expansion.”

Another factor which plays into economy is ease-of-use, as the majority of schools and such institutions don’t have on-staff sound engineers. “The installed systems get a lot more complex,” says Vyne. “They come with their own sound boards and equalizers. When you get into an installed system, you’re going to have a lot more buttons and it can be very intimidating for someone who doesn’t know a lot about sound. We usually have to train the users on them. The portable systems are pretty self-explanatory. They have a lot less adjustments on them.”

Johnson agrees. “With the higher-end hard-wired systems, we have an on-staff sound engineer we send out for free with the first use of the system to show them how to use it, and if need be he can be hired for subsequent performances” he says. “The portable systems are much more functional and much easier to train people to use. The buttons are labeled for an individual, not a high-end engineer. Everybody and their brother can just turn it on and get it rocking.”

The portable systems also carry another advantage for most users – there’s no installation involved. “We can almost direct-ship them to teachers and they or school personnel can easily set them up,” says Vyne.

“With hard-wired systems it takes installers and there’s labor involved,” she says. “Sometimes with schools it can be difficult, especially if they’re older. They have to spend a lot of time putting up conduit because they have hard ceilings and hard decks. The portable systems are made to be very easy and quick to set up, and very easy and quick to use. You just set it up and off you go.”

Portable sound systems provide an economical, flexible, reliable and easy-to-use alternative to installed sound system. They are becoming the product of choice for high quality public address in the institutional marketplace.