Avery says ‘Hello’ to the photo ID system market

BREA, Calif. - Avery Dennison, a company perhaps best known for its “Hello, my name is” labels and other office supplies, announced its entrance into the physical security market during the ASIS International Show with a suite of visitor ID system products. The product launch comes a year after company officials first identified an opportunity in the physical security market as an extension of the products the company already offered, such as its existing badge business using sticky labels. Avery Dennison projects the visitor management market will reach $200 million by 2006 and estimates that less than three percent of companies in the United States with more than 50 employees use any sort of electronic visitor registration system. “Companies have a stronger need to know who has access to their facility,” said Mary Miller, director of new business development for Avery Dennison’s office products, North America. According to Miller, while many companies use badges to identify visitors and provide the person with access to the building, companies still use a paper logbook to keep track of visitors’ comings and goings. The problem, said Miller, is that the handwriting is often illegible and if the book is lost, a company has no way of knowing who was in the building on a given day. The system that Avery Dennison is offering will replace that paper logbook, and enable companies to print identification badges with an image of the visitor. Instead of signing into a paper logbook, the visitor would now scan his or her badge with a barcode scanner, which would then in turn create a log on the person. Adam Bratter, group product manager for Photo ID Systems for Avery Dennison, expects the solution will appeal to a broad market base, both from small to large organizations. The product will be available through traditional Avery Dennison channels, such as office product dealers geared towards the commercial market and also to security integrators and dealers. What is also unique about the product is the software can work with an existing system, or a starter kit is available that includes the software, a web camera and bar code scanner, USB hub and sample photo ID badge supplies. Miller said integrators can take the system up another level by integrating Avery’s photo ID system with access control products from GE Interlogix through an alliance recently forged between the two companies. The alliance enables companies to keep track of people gaining access into a building using one database, instead of a separate system for employees and visitors.