dormakaba Electronic Access and Data: What to Verify Before You Buy
dormakaba, formed by the 2015 combination of Dorma and Kaba, covers electronic access from the credential in a pocket down to the strike in the frame. In practice a Georgia buyer meets it through a handful of families: E-Plex electronic pushbutton locks that start standalone and extend into managed deployments; Keyscan access control with its controllers and management software; RCI door hardware including strikes, magnetic locks, request-to-exit devices and power supplies; and a reader and credential range that now includes mobile credentials.
The catalog is broad enough that the risk is not picking a bad product. It is buying a combination that does not actually fit the building, the badges or the software already in place. These are the checks KSEDCO runs before a proposal is written.
Which software generation the site is already on
Keyscan sites fall into two camps: those running the current Aurora software and those still on the older System VII generation. The gap matters. It determines whether the existing database converts or has to be rebuilt, what server operating system and database engine are required, and how long a cutover window needs to be. Answer this first, because it reshapes everything downstream.
Who the license is registered to
Door counts, client seats and feature modules are all licensed, and the name on the license is the one that controls the system later. Get it registered to the building owner or the tenant paying for it, and get the renewal dates in writing.
Controller generation and firmware
A panel that has been in a closet for a decade may not accept the firmware the current software expects. Confirming that before purchase is the difference between adding readers and replacing every controller on the site.
Reader protocol and cable
Moving from Wiegand to OSDP is worth doing, but OSDP wants shielded twisted pair with proper termination. Existing six-conductor runs pulled for old readers frequently will not support it. Pull the cable question forward into the estimate rather than discovering it on install day.
Credential technology and facility code
Read a working badge before ordering readers. Older sites are often on legacy low-frequency proximity, newer ones on high-frequency smart credentials, and mixed campuses on both. Mobile credentials add their own questions: how a user is enrolled, what happens when a phone is replaced, and whether the credential survives a device swap without a site visit.
The door itself, and egress
RCI hardware is where the system meets the opening. Magnetic locks in particular carry egress requirements that vary by occupancy and by jurisdiction, and they are checked with the authority having jurisdiction rather than assumed from a previous project.
Standby power sized for Georgia storms
Summer outages here are frequent and short, hurricane-driven ones on the coastal plain are less frequent and much longer. Decide what the doors and the controllers should do in each case, then size the batteries and surge protection to that answer. A data center in the corridor north of Atlanta and a warehouse behind the Savannah port will give different answers.
Multifamily is a different problem from commercial
Apartment and student housing work around Perimeter, Cumberland and Athens runs on turnover. Unit locks, perimeter doors, amenity spaces and vendor access all have to be manageable by onsite staff without an integrator visit for every move-in. That is an operations design, not just a hardware list.
Your exit plan from us
Ask any integrator, including this one, where the database backups live, who holds the administrative credentials, and whether another company could take the system over. If the honest answer is uncomfortable, that is the finding.
Want an existing dormakaba site measured against this list before a purchase order goes out? KSEDCO answers on (888) 360-0035, and the request form reaches the same people. Our access control page covers the wider program.
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