ABLOY: Padlocks Only the Beginning for BEAT

ABLOY’s latest product, a keyless padlock, is only the beginning of a broader rollout of Bluetooth-enabled locks, Locksmith Ledger has learned.

One day after Abloy Oy unveiled ABLOY BEAT, Jerry Burhans, managing director of ABLOY USA, tells us that the company has big plans for its new platform.

BEAT is the combination of an ABLOY Super Weather Proof padlock and a mobile app that opens the lock. It’s available for order and is expected to be shipped by the third quarter of 2020.

For now, ABLOY is offering just the 340 version of the company’s heavy-duty padlock, Burhans says, but that will change so different sizes of padlock will be compatible with the BEAT system, just as the company updated its various padlocks to incorporate its PROTEC2 or CLIQ technology. ABLOY also is looking at adding different types of products, including door locks, cam locks and cabinet locks to the BEAT line.

Eventually, “we’ll have a total Bluetooth line,” Burhans says. “We’re just starting with the one padlock.”

The most important element of the BEAT system is the Abloy OS in the BEAT app. The software allows for what Burhans calls “a truly hybrid system” by integrating mechanical locks, high-security locks and keyless Bluetooth locks in the same key-management system.

The level of security that’s required for each lock would determine the type of lock that you would use in each location, but you could view a graphical map of the entire key system and store employee-access information on your cellphone, in addition to opening the Bluetooth-enabled locks.

Burhans compares ABLOY’s solution to CCTV. “When you go through CCTV’s history of going from analog to digital to IP, lots of people invested lots of money in different technology and really lost a lot of money in terms of value,” because none of the old technology worked in conjunction with the new, he explains. That won’t happen with BEAT. “This will allow you to continue a legacy mechanical system and add Bluetooth key products that are application-specific, saving customers money.”

Burhans says BEAT products will be available through the ABLOY USA Channel Partner Program and not directly to end users.