Alcatraz Streamlines Access Control for L.A. Hospital in Latest Case Study

Alcatraz AI has detailed the effectiveness of its access control technology in a newly published case study that looks at its deployment with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital (MLKCH) in Los Angeles. MLKCH opened its doors in 2015, and has since received several commendations for its forward-thinking approach to technology and security.

Alcatraz’s facial recognition technology is now part of that award-winning security setup. According to Alcatraz, MLKCH administrators had originally been shopping for biometric card readers when they stumbled across The Rock. They then made the decision to trial the face-based access control solution for the hospital’s security department, which represents roughly 70 of the hospital’s more than 2,000 employees. MLKCH administrators integrated The Rock with its existing Symmetry Access Control solution from AMAG Technology, and immediately reported a much smoother access control experience for employees.

In that regard, MLKCH noted that The Rock makes enrollment simple, since the system can learn an employee’s face when they present a previously-issued employee badge at a card reader. The Rock was able to identify people’s faces in as little as two days, at which point they no longer needed to present their badge to gain entry to the building.

Administrators can configure their systems to require both facial authentication and a badge as part of a two-factor authentication setup. MLKCH had originally planned to adopt such a scheme, but administrators were ultimately so satisfied with the performance of The Rock that they decided to get rid of cards and rely on facial recognition as the hospital’s sole authentication factor. The solution enables frictionless access control, and is sophisticated enough to spot tailgaters and other unwelcome individuals.

Moving forward, MLKCH is planning to install a dozen additional Rock units to secure its datacenters and key infrastructure that contains sensitive patient information. Hospital security staff noted that The Rock did not fall for any spoofing attempts during the initial deployment.

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February 9, 2022 – by Eric Weiss