How iLOQ works in practice
How can an electronic lock work without batteries?
This is usually the bit that gets people's attention.
iLOQ uses energy-harvesting technology, meaning the lock obtains the small amount of electrical energy it needs when it is actually used.
There are two main approaches you'll commonly come across.
With iLOQ's digital-key technology, the mechanical action of inserting the key generates the energy needed for the key and lock to communicate.
With iLOQ's mobile technology, an authorised NFC-compatible smartphone provides the energy required by the lock while also acting as the user's credential.
You may see the names S5 and S50 used when researching iLOQ. Broadly speaking, S5 relates to the digital-key approach, while S50 is associated with NFC and smartphone access.
We don't think the model number is the interesting part, though.
The useful part is that you can have electronically managed physical access without installing a battery in every lock or running a power cable to every door, cabinet or compound.
If you've got ten locks, avoiding battery maintenance might be nice.
If you've got 2,000 of them spread across the country, it becomes considerably more interesting.
Does iLOQ need Wi-Fi, power or mobile signal?
Not necessarily.
Many iLOQ locks don't need a permanent power supply, network connection or Wi-Fi connection at the lock itself simply to operate.
That's particularly useful when the thing you're securing is a utility cabinet, plant room, service area, remote compound or somewhere else where installing conventional access-control infrastructure would be expensive or downright awkward.
There are some sensible qualifications.
Mobile credentials need connectivity at certain points so that access rights can be registered or updated, and some configurations can require online authentication or periodic credential refreshes.
So we wouldn't claim that iLOQ never needs connectivity.
The more useful point is that you don't necessarily need to provide power and an internet connection to every individual lock just because you want to manage access digitally.
It also means a battery-free lock isn't dependent on the building's mains supply to provide the power it needs to operate.
That's a useful characteristic when the engineer trying to get through the door has arrived because the electricity has already gone off.
What happens when people, keys and permissions change?
This is where iLOQ starts solving much bigger problems than simply making a lock electronic.
If an ordinary mechanical key disappears, you may have no idea who has it, whether somebody has copied it or whether it'll turn up in the glovebox of an ex-employee three years later.
With digitally managed credentials, access rights can be changed or removed.
The exact way those changes are distributed depends on the iLOQ solution being used, but the important principle is that losing a credential doesn't necessarily mean accepting that it will continue opening your locks forever.
The same applies when people change jobs, leave the organisation or only need temporary access.
A contractor servicing three sites doesn't necessarily need a key capable of opening 300.
A maintenance engineer can be given the permissions they actually require.
And with suitable iLOQ configurations, access can also be restricted according to time or other access rules.
It turns a key-management problem into an access-management problem.
And access is much easier to change than a piece of metal.
Smartphones, remote workers and fewer stupid journeys
With compatible iLOQ mobile locking, an authorised NFC smartphone can act as the key.
The phone carries the access rights and also provides the NFC energy needed by the lock.
For a mobile workforce, that can be particularly useful.
Imagine an engineer needs access to a remote site tomorrow. With a conventional key, somebody might have to arrange a collection, send the key somewhere, meet them on site or ask them to drive to head office before travelling back in roughly the direction they came from.
Digitally managed access can make that considerably simpler.
Nobody really wants a clever lock. They want fewer stupid journeys.
That's one of the reasons we think iLOQ becomes particularly compelling when contractors, engineers and mobile teams are constantly travelling between dispersed locations.
Retrofit, padlocks, cabinets and the real world
Another attractive part of iLOQ is that it isn't limited to shiny new buildings designed around electronic access control from day one.
In suitable applications, conventional mechanical cylinders can be replaced with intelligent iLOQ cylinders without having to run new power and data cabling to the door.
That's useful because real buildings generally come with walls, ceilings, old doors and other inconvenient things architects neglected to remove for you.
The technology isn't restricted to normal doors either. The iLOQ range includes options for applications such as padlocks, cabinets, gates, compounds, technical rooms and remote infrastructure.
This matters because across utilities, retail estates, commercial property and industrial environments, "access control" can just as easily mean a padlock on a remote gate, a plant-room door or a service cabinet as a card reader beside reception.
The technology has to fit the real world. Not the other way around.
Is iLOQ the same as normal access control?
Not really.
Traditional electronic access control often relies on powered readers, controllers, cabling, networking and electrically operated locking equipment.
That's a perfectly sensible approach in plenty of buildings.
It becomes less attractive when you've got hundreds of locations, limited local infrastructure and lots of people who need different levels of access.
iLOQ sits somewhere between conventional mechanical locking and conventional electronic access control.
You retain the simplicity of a physical lock, but gain digitally managed permissions, the ability to change access rights and, depending on the system, access-event information and audit trails.
That's why we tend to think of it as intelligent locking rather than simply another card-access system.
Who does iLOQ make sense for?
There's no magic number of locks where somebody rings a bell and tells you that you now need iLOQ.
It usually becomes interesting when conventional key management starts creating operational problems.
That might mean:
- lots of locks or access points;
- lots of employees or contractors;
- people regularly joining, leaving or changing responsibilities;
- remote or geographically dispersed locations;
- temporary access requirements;
- locations where installing power or cabling would be difficult;
- or a key cabinet that has somehow developed into a full-time member of staff.
If you've got one small office and everybody knows where the spare key lives, conventional locking might continue to serve you perfectly well.
If you're spending increasing amounts of time working out who has which key, where it is and how you're going to get it to somebody by tomorrow morning, there's probably a better way.