As we begin our move into a new office space in the heart of downtown Toronto, one of our goals is to open our space to coworking. One of the obstacles we are facing is how do we give access to those joining us in the office space with keyless entry? We played with the idea of building our own NFC, Arduino, and app locking system, but that wouldn’t solve the various smartphone users coming in daily and the time it would take to build out a universal solution is too daunting at this current moment. Today, to our excitement, we stumbled upon a new solution, the Lockitron.
The ingenious keyless entry system doesn’t call for installing complicated hardware, rather it comes with a locking system that fits over a standard deadbolt lock “in seconds.” The device then allows anyone given permission the ability to unlock a door from anywhere in the world by SMS or the internet.
You can also unlock the door in person if you have an iPhone 4S or 5, Lockitron will utilize its Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity to recognize when you’re approaching – a technology that will find its way to NFC and Android’s in the future. Lockitron can also notify you whenever the door is unlocked adding an additional sense of security and accountability when someone visits.
Lockitron is available for pre-order right now, with shipments expected to arrive in March of 2013 and currently only runs for $149.