Professional Documents
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August 2001 NL-1
August 2001 NL-1
Videx is kind of like the new kid on the block. Although Videx has been in
business for over 15 years, they just recently entered the locksmith field with the
introduction of their TouchAccess in 1999 (See The National Locksmith, August
2000). In October 2000 they started shipping their newest product, the
CyberLock™. You probably wonder what could be so special about just another
lock cylinder on the market. Well follow along and I will show you something that
will truly convince you that you are living in the next millenium.
T h e CyberLock system is shipped as a starter kit ( see photograph 1). There are
eight different starter kits to choose from. The selection includes a 6-pin cylinder
kit, a cam lock kit, four different mortise cylinder kits, and two rim cylinder kits.
Each kit is complete and ready to use with one cylinder, two keys, and all of the
other components that make the system work.
There are five basic components that make up the entire system.
Normally when the pin retracts, the small 9 . With the two pieces of the plug
brass part does not move. It stays in the tip separated, you can see the small
of the holder. If the cylinder is rapped, the 10. The lever and drive plate.
pin that blocks the locking pin.
small brass piece will slide to block the
locking pin. If the cylinder has been
tampered with in this way, a valid key will
need to be inserted several times to tap the
little brass part back to where it needs to
be. They thought of everything didn't they?
T h e Mortise cylinder is basically the same as the pin cylinder
replacement. However, there are a few differences in the
cam lock, and I don't just mean on the outside. There is a
little difference on the inside too. But lets look at the
outside first.
T h e cam lock has a lever like any other cam lock but there
is an extra part or two. Photograph 10 shows the cam lever
and drive plate that is attached to the end of the plug. The
drive plate turns with the plug and strikes the pin that sticks 12. A view of all the parts
through the lever. Photograph 11 shows the same pin as it associatedwith the lever.
sticks through the lever and into the stop plate. All of the
associated parts can be seen in photograph 12. One of the
nice features includes a nylon locking nut. As you can see,
this cam lock is very well made.
11. The lever and stop plate.
T h e plug is a lot like the one we looked at in
photograph 2 (see photograph 13). The locking pin is
visible on the top of the plug. This part is the same
as earlier. The arrow is pointing to what makes this
plug different. It is pointing to one of two additional
locking pins. There is one on each side of the plug.
These pins are intended as tamper pins and will
14. One of the two holes designed
stick into holes in the side of the shell (see
to work with the tamper pin.
photograph 14).
13. Two extra tamper pins are
located on either side of the
T h e next part of the system to discuss is the lock plug.
CyberKey. Photograph 15 shows the standard
CyberKey. The key will operate from 32 degrees to
122 degrees Fahrenheit. In photograph 16, you can
s e e the three little metal pins in the tip of the key.
These metal pins just happen to match the three
contacts located on the CyberLock cylinder from
photograph 2.
Audit information is stored in the lock cylinder and the key itself. The 1100
most recent access events are stored in the lock cylinder. 1150 most recent
events of the user are stored inside the key. This means that you not only
have the ability to see who has accessed a specific lock, you also have the
ability to tell exactly where the user has tried to use the key.
Any information from the key or lock cylinder is transferred to the computer
through the CyberKey station (see photograph 20). The station is connected
to a desktop or notebook computer through a serial connection (see 20. The CyberStation is the interface
photograph 21). The computer has to run Windows 95, 98, or Windows NT between the keys and the computer.
4.0. My system is running Windows Me and the software seems to run fine.
T h e software that is used to program
the system is called CyberAudit. Within
the CyberAudit program is another
program called CyberCom. These two
programs work together to allow the
system manager to program the locks
to the keys and the keys to the users.
T h e People window is a
nice place to put personal
information about the
user (see photograph 30).
29. A list of all the system keys, their
Things like phone 30. Employee information can be stored
beginning dates, expiration dates,
numbers and addresses in the "People" window.
and other information is available in
are always nice to have.
the "Keys" window.
There is even a place to
put miscellaneous notes
and a photograph.
T h e "Logs" button brings up a very informative window that
includes key and lock names if they were added ( see
photograph 31). If you don't bother to use names, you get
the serial numbers of the locks and keys instead. The
time and date of the event is in the next column. You are
also able to view the status of the attempt. Some of the
different comments in this column can include: Authorized
to open, Access denied, New lock authorized, Key in lock
more than one minute, etc...
* T h e standard key is now the metal tipped key (see figure 19).
**Current versions of the CyberAudit software allow password changes.
GCO 1513