I know that the military uses ActivCard based devicses for 2 factor network logon. possibly a solution along those lines would work with a magnetic door locking system. Those generally need battery backups but are already designed for interior breakaway release contacts for the doors, which would maintain the proper fire safety regulations.
A token based security option such as SecurID may be an option for one factor of your solution. It uses a card that generates a 5 or 6 digit pseudo random numeric key every 30 or 60 seconds that is compared against a server running the same algorithm. The User enters an ID code and the current token in addition to their password (depending on the setup) to access the device. I know of a phone company that used/uses this method for remote infrastructure managemnt. The cards last 3-5 years running on an internal lithium battery. Opening the device causes a light sensitive chip to spike the battery into the chip which stores the algorithm. If you have the technology to recover that you probably already now the algorithm.
For complete no power access, you would have to go with something like the 'simplex' style push button locks but these have a limited maximum combination pool a six button lock is about 1100 permutations. There are some physical lock types where the keys are rather difficult to duplicate for instance 2 and 3 dimensional keys. With these solutions you would not have any reporting of who entered though.
I agree on biometrics there are too many variables that can cause problems. The most stable of the biometric checkers is probably hand shape recognition. Though I know that many social service organizations are using fingerprint scanners for client identificaton. the key part is maintaining the scanner element in a clean state.
Hope this helps.
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by: kode99Posted on 2007-07-05 at 15:07:46ID: 19427849
If you want something simple and stand alone this HID unit will do prox card and PIN code.
http://www.hidcorp.com/pro
Combined with a DC door lock which only requires power to unlock and can be easily backed up with a 12 volt power supply with batteries.
Otherwise you can go with a read/keypad that is connected with a access control panel.
http://www.hidcorp.com/pro
There are a multitude of access control systems out there. I would suggest actually getting a price from a security firm that does this kind of work. Installing the door lock has to be done properly and it is probably helpful to have somebody to support your installation.
If your building has security currently you may find that you can get a access control addon for the existing system.
The HID stuff is industry standard works with pretty much any access control setup that is not totally proprietary. I would actually avoid anything that only works with propietary readers.
I would skip on biometrics as they can be more trouble than they are worth.