Data center security and physical protection of company assets are increasingly the focal point of information managers and the solid protection of the company's facility is vital to keeping the business safe and secure. Biometric security is one option that more companies are turning to as an access control mechanism but there are additional technologies that, when used in conjunction with fingerprint scanning, can really solidify safety protocols.

What are mantraps?
With that in mind, one of the world's oldest security measures is the mantrap. According to Tech Target, the method has been around in one form or another since the Middle Ages. Today's device, though, is far cry different from the ones employed by the Knights of the Round Table.

The current version is a pair of doors that interlock and are interfaced, as well. How it works is that when the first door is opened through fingerprint scanning the person being admitted passes into a room that contains a second, automatically locked door. When verified through biometric security the door then opens and the person is passed through. 

One of the major concerns of the modern mantrap is to prevent potential passback of security credentials or one person following another into a secured area. A Data Center Journal story described the process and explained that, as with any security protocol, there are some concerns for data center staff. 

Safety, said the source, is a huge concern and the mantraps need to be constructed largely-enough for disabled people to access and get out of. There are also fire and emergency concerns and no one can be forcibly detained in a mantrap during emergency conditions under fire codes in the United States 

A biometric adjunct
Integrating a mantrap protocol can work with any security technology but is best used in cooperation with fingerprint scanning . Because biometrics are considered among the best protections on the market today, using mantraps as a secondary line of defense works very well if a company has security issues and reams of data to protect, the source advised deploying mantraps and using them as a definitive protective measure for any company.

Conversely, noted the Data Center Journal, if the company has no track record of incursion-related loss and is not dealing in extremely sensitive data then the mantrap technology may be overdoing it. However, there is no reason why company managers should not research the technology available, especially if they have already deployed biometric technology  as part of their current security protocols.

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