Does Anyone Have Any Practical Experience With Axis Access Control?

In searching for a product for an application, I keep bumping into AXIS Access Control, model A1001 series, primarily for its ease of use, drag and drop features etc. Has anyone ever used it, and if so, how did it perform for you and the customer? My customer continues to review products and is not happy with AMAG, WIN-PAK etc. "The GUI is not user friendly" nor intuitive, essentially it is a lot harder than he would prefer to operate. Entry Manager seems pretty easy to use, at least to me.

Hello Mark:

IPVM tested Axis A1001 and Entry Manager early this year. It's easy to setup and configure, especially if you're not a 'power user' or if you're someone who only occasionally uses access control management.

However, it does have some drawbacks that are worth noting:

1. Everything is hosted onboard the controller. This means you don't have to buy separate servers or software, but it also means that (management task) performance gets laggy, especially for large cardholder sets or systems with many connected controllers.

2. Reporting is clunky. Unlike AMAG, WinPak, etc, cutting into and pulling out reports of access events is cumbersome, fixed to a set number of filters, and difficult to export. Basic reports (ie: Door #3 Activity on May 20th) are fine, but complex queries (ie: Did badge #456 try to enter Door #3 on May 20th) is clunky compared to other platforms.

3. Axis Entry Manager works only with the two-door A1001 controller (~$550) . Integrating single doors, or far-flung remote doors mean you have to purchase the A1001 for openings where a single-door controller might be cheaper (<$250), or where using a standalone wifi lock might avoid the cost of running cables to a remote spot.

4. Common 'must-have' features like photo ID badging, integration with video systems, and intercom are not supported by Entry Manager.

I encourage you to read our test report, and if you have other questions follow-up.

There is one additional drawback not covered by Brian above. There is a very limited pool of memory on these units. The user account limit for the entire set of joined controllers is limited to 400 users (in theory) and there are I believe no more than 30k events captured at each door controller. This event count is rapidly exceeded. Some controllers in particularly busy areas (break room doors, main entry) can fill this log up within a day or two. The oldest transactions are purged FIFO.

However, as with all Axis product the system is fairly open. Much like their cameras, Axis is providing the hardware and looking for third parties to build the front end. With appropriate third party software the system can support more users, longer logs, badging, integration with VMS, etc. Imron IS2000 comes highly recommended by Axis though I have not had a chance to fully test yet.