ISONAS Pure IP Access Control: Where the Line Stands Today
If you own ISONAS equipment or are weighing it for a new building, start with where the product line actually lives now. ISONAS is part of Allegion. Product pages, manuals and support documentation sit under Allegion, Pure Access Cloud is the management software, and the Schlage RC series carries the Pure IP approach forward with Schlage hardware and credentials. Legacy RC-04 reader-controllers and IP Bridges still commission to Pure Access Cloud, so an existing installation is supported rather than stranded.
What that changes in practice is where you look for parts and firmware and how you plan an expansion. Ordering an addition against remembered part numbers is the mistake to avoid. Check the current catalog first, then price the work.
The architecture, and what it moves onto your network
Pure IP means the reader and the controller are a single device at the opening, powered and connected by one Ethernet run. There is no panel in a closet, no separate low-voltage power supply, and no home run of reader cable back to a central point. Credentials are held at the reader, so an opening keeps admitting people when the network does not.
The trade is that access control becomes a network responsibility. PoE budget, switch port count, VLAN design, DHCP reservations and UPS runtime are now access control questions and belong on the access control schedule. On a data center or a distribution project that is usually an advantage, because those buildings already run disciplined network practice and structured cabling into every corner. In the metro Atlanta data center corridor, and in the warehouse space along I-75 around Macon, the network team is often the easiest partner on the job.
Two things Georgia sites have to get right
Grounding and surge. Any Ethernet run that leaves a building, crosses to a gatehouse or climbs to a roof opening is a path for a nearby lightning strike straight into a switch. Georgia sees a lot of summer thunderstorms, and a PoE architecture concentrates the damage where the switch is. Surge protection at both ends of exterior runs and properly bonded grounding are cheap next to a burned switch and half a system offline during a hot week.
Secure-side wiring. On a reader-controller design, the conductors that release the lock terminate at the reader. If that reader is mounted on the unsecured side of an exterior door, pulling it off the wall exposes the wiring that opens the door. This is exactly what the IP Bridge is for: it keeps the controller and the lock wiring on the protected side and puts only a reader outside. Use it on exterior openings and anywhere a reader is reachable from a public area, and specify tamper detection either way.
What you will be working with
- Reader-controllers, including reader-keypad versions for card-plus-PIN openings
- IP Bridges for secure-side control and for bringing conventional Wiegand readers onto the platform
- Weatherproofing accessories for exposed installations
- Pure Access Cloud for users, credentials, schedules, groups and audit history
- Proximity cards and fobs, third-party credentials, and mobile credentials
If you already run a system
Inventory what is installed, firmware included, before planning anything new. Confirm the Pure Access Cloud tenant is owned by your organization and not by a previous integrator, and that at least two people inside the company hold administrator access. Export the user list and keep a copy off the platform. Then identify which openings are still on original reader-controllers and which are candidates for current Schlage and Allegion hardware as the system grows, so the next phase does not become a rip-and-replace.
KSEDCO installs, expands, services and supports ISONAS and Pure Access systems across Georgia from our office at 2700 Cumberland Pkwy SE, Suite 410, Atlanta. Call (888) 360-0035.
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