Data Centers Now Prevent Tail-gating with Mantraps

By CIOReview | Wednesday, March 5, 2014

FREMONT, CA: Data Centers are going one step ahead to ensure the safety of the data they house by making use of mantraps to prevent unlawful entry and tailgating. These mantraps even weigh a person as an additional security measure thus making it highly impossible to gain entry or exit without proper access or credentials, reports Michael Kassner, TechRepublic.

Mantraps are beginning to be used in the otherwise traditional Data Centers as they offer greater security and protection. The buildings which house the Data Centers are categorized into two types based on the security they offer. One of them is the multidiscipline buildings which are designed to accommodate the Data Center as well as the office space. These buildings have basic-security ratings as the people working in them have jobs which are not related to the maintenance and running of the facility. The other is the mission-critical buildings, which are single-purpose facilities. Access is limited to only those who are responsible for the upkeep of the Data Centers. Their entire exterior glass is bulletproof. All the door and window hardware is on the inside. Its fire doors are for exit only, while its security cameras cover 100 percent of the building grounds. Due to the increased physical security, these buildings can acquire higher security ratings.

A visitor to these facilities is screened thoroughly. The screening involves the submission of two forms of ID which would be returned later. A guest pass is provided for passage through the floor-to-ceiling turnstile. Three authentications are required to get through to the most secure part of the data center. The first is the turnstile. The second and the third steps in the authentication processes involve the mantrap.

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A mantrap is the key component in ensuring the security of the Data Center. It usually consists of a small room with two doors: one connected to the unsecured area and the second which opens into the secured area. A pass card is required to enter the mantrap from either the unsecured or the secured areas. Once inside the mantrap from the unsecured side, the door shuts immediately to prevent tailgating. The pass card is again required to open the door to the secured side of the Data Center.

Mantraps have different mechanisms to open their doors. They can have doors swinging open and shutting or just sliding open. They are even designed to weigh a person entering or leaving the secured area. The weighing scale is so sensitive that it can determine if someone is leaving carrying more than what they came in with or vice versa. For example, if you enter carrying a box, and you leave the box back in the secured area, then it is difficult for you to exit the secured area as your weight on entry and exit will be different.

Data Centers are highly secure that it is highly impossible for anybody to tailgate or gain illegal access into the secure facility. It is the real world Data Center, and not what is seen in the movies!

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