iButton

Guard Tour Solutions

 Overview
Guard Tour Basics
Electronic Guard Tour is used around the world every day by
Security Guards to automate their jobs and confirm that they are
performing their jobs correctly. Guard Tour enables the Guard to
quickly and easily check the security conditions of any facility and
report all information back to a supervisor.

By using a small iButton reader, the Guard simply walks his rounds
and touches iButtons at each designated location to prove that he
checked that location at the prescribed time.

Collected data from the Guard’s reader is then uploaded to a

reporting system that generates reports for supervisors.
 Overview
iButtons in the Guard Tour Market
iButtons are used for Guard Tour Applications far more than any
other technology on the market.

Over 100 million iButtons have been sold to date for various
applications with over 75K sold each day.

Over 500K iButtons were sold into the Guard Tour market in 2004.

Sales into this market continues to increase for us, as it has over
the past 10 years.

Most new Guard Tour installations use iButtons over other

technologies.
 iButtons vs.
Other Technologies
Tag Durability
• The stainless steel “Can” that iButtons are made out of is far more
durable than barcodes or RFID tags. An extreme test would be to
abuse each technology with a hammer and see which ones last longer.
Each technology will eventually fail, but the iButton will last the longest.
We offer free samples for your testing.
• An iButton’s “Can” protects the chip inside from moisture. Basic RFID
tags are not made to be moisture resistant. If the RFID chip is exposed
to moisture it will become useless.
• iButtons have a 1 year warranty. Compare our warranty to other
product warranties.
 iButtons vs.
Other Technologies
Tag Readability
• iButtons are easy to touch at multiple angles. Readers automatically read
iButtons when touched in less than 10 milliseconds.
• Barcodes take longer to read due to alignment of the scanner by the user.
The user must also pull a trigger to activate the scanner.
• To read an RFID tag, users must simultaneously bring their reader to
within 2 inches of the tag and press a button to activate the reader.
• Recently a large RFID user released data stating that they have achieved
a 99% read rate with their tags*. We think 1 miss read out of 100 is not
something to brag about. iButtons achieve read rates of 99.999% which
is 1 miss read out of 100,000.

99% RFID Read Rates

Frontline Solutions
http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=145281
UsingRFID.com
http://www.usingrfid.com/news/read.asp?lc=n87525ox352zx
 iButtons vs.
Other Technologies
Tag Readability
• In outdoor or dirty conditions dirt or salt can build up on iButtons and
make them hard to read. This can be easily fixed by simply wiping the
iButton with a paper towel or cloth to achieve high read rates.
• Barcodes have this same issue.
• Some vendors say that RFID is not effected by dirt or salt build up. In
fact, the minimum read distance for RFID tags decreases when any
substance comes between the tag and the reader.
• When RFID tags are placed behind walls to protect them, read
distances will also decrease. Maximum distance for embedding tags
into walls is only 2mm.
• RFID tags are also extremely susceptible to Static Discharge which can
make them completely inoperable.
 iButtons vs.
Other Technologies
Mounting Issues
• Several mounting options are available for iButtons that enable them to be
mounted to anything, including metal frames and objects.
• To deter vandals certain mounts exist that make iButtons extremely hard to
remove.
• Barcodes can be easily torn off or destroyed with a simple ink pen. Metal
barcode tags can be easily bent or scratched to make them unreadable.
• RFID vendors claim that their tags face no mounting issues because they
can be mounted inside walls. This is nice if your building is under
construction. If not, this requires holes to be drilled and walls to be
repainted during installation.
• Since RFID tags can only be read from 1-2 inches away, guards will tend to
touch the reader against the wall if the tags are mounted inside the wall.
This leads to scratches and blemishes quickly appearing on your walls
once the system is installed.
 iButtons vs.
Other Technologies
Mounting Issues
• Most RFID tags can not be read if they are mounted on metal surfaces.
• Any substance, i.e. paint, walls, plastic, etc., that is placed between an
RFID tag and reader will reduce the read range of the tag to varying
degrees.
• If RFID tags are painted over or placed behind walls then they must be
placed in exactly the same location or some “marker” must be used at each
check point so that the guard can locate them. Remember read range is
only 1-2 inches unless very expensive tags are used.
 iButtons vs.
Other Technologies
Tag Cost
• iButtons have similar cost to RFID tags.
• Make sure tag features are the same when comparing cost.
• iButtons can offer you additional features that RFID and barcodes can’t
such as allowing users to record temperatures when read.
• Barcodes are very inexpensive, but you do need a rather expensive
printer to print them.
• When comparing systems, the entire system cost should be the issue
not just the tag cost. When system cost is taken into account you will
find that iButton systems always cost less.
 iButtons Readers vs.
Other Readers
One of the biggest advantages of using an iButton system over
others are the benefits that you get from using iButton readers. In
Guard Tour applications, guards are well known for trying to break
their equipment. iButton readers outshine other technologies by far
when the following issues are compared.
Durability
• iButton readers are far more durable than barcode or RFID readers.
• Some say that barcode and RFID readers don’t wear out like iButton
readers because they don’t require contact to read their tags. However,
the truth is that iButton readers are made out of solid metal and seldom
break from wear and tear from reading iButtons. RFID and barcode
readers must be made out of plastic to operate properly.
• All readers usually break for one reason; being dropped by accident or
on purpose.
• We recommend that you ask your vendor for a demonstration. Take an
iButton reader and a RFID or barcode reader and drop or throw them
repeatedly onto cement with equal force. Please make a note as to
which reader works longer.
 iButtons Readers vs.
Other Readers
Check Your Warranties
• Durability can be easily shown without performing a reader drop test;
just look at the readers warranty.
• Several iButton reader manufacturers offer warranties from 3-5 years on
their products.
• Most RFID and barcode readers come with a 90 day warranty.

Reader Cost
• iButtons readers should always cost less than barcode or RFID readers
when comparing readers with similar features (i.e. memory size, etc.)
• It is not possible to make a barcode scanner engine or a RFID receiver
for less than it costs to make an iButton probe which only consists of two
pieces of metal.
• Also take into account your reader repair cost over time.
– Warranties save you money.
– iButton readers have the longest mean time between failures of any
technology on the market.
 iButtons Readers vs.
Other Readers
Reader Upload Features
• iButton readers come with various upload capabilities from direct PC
upload cradle to Palm upload to direct Internet upload cradles.
• The simplest way to upload data from a reader is by using a memory
iButton and PC serial connection. This solution costs less than $50 per
system.

Battery Life
• Battery Life will always be longer for an iButton reader than any other
technology.
• It only takes 2mA of power for less than 10ms to read an iButton. This is
and will always be less power than it takes for a reader to read a barcode
or RFID tag.
• With a properly designed iButton reader; the reader can achieve a battery
life of 5 years or 1 million reads without recharge or battery replacement.
• Most barcode and RFID readers need to be recharged daily.
 iButtons Readers vs.
Other Readers
Other Advantages
• iButton readers are available in versions that can sense and record
shock and detect other events that can alert supervisors to guards that
are abusing their readers.
• Users can automatically read iButtons when the user touches the
iButton with a reader. Barcode and RFID readers require the user to
press a button or pull a trigger on their reader to read a tag.
• iButtons are perfect if you use incident wallets. An incident wallet can
hold more iButtons than RFID or barcode tags because RFID and
barcodes need more space between each tag to avoid reading the
wrong tag. Therefore, iButtons give you more versatility.