Lincoln Electric System (LES) provides power to about 275,000 people in a 200 square mile service area within Lancaster County, Nebraska. LES is the second largest retail electric utility in Nebraska and the 23rd largest public power electric utility in the United States (by number of retail customers), growing by more than more than 2,500 new customers every six years. LES rates rank in the lowest 10 percent in the country, according to a nationwide survey of 106 US cities.

Security plays a vital role in a nation’s electric infrastructure and the mandates for physical security, cybersecurity and customer privacy compliance are growing as fast as the need for power. The North American Electrical Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection Program coordinates efforts to improve physical and cybersecurity for North American utilities as it relates to reliability, including standards development and compliance enforcement.

Recently, LES constructed a new data center to stay abreast of its increasing data storage needs and to demonstrate its reputation as a progressive leader in the community. As part of a country-wide collaboration, LES will share rack space in the new data center with various city and county government entities – meaning the need for physical security far exceeded traditional key locks and controlling perimeter access.

LES chose to install the TZ Centurion System throughout the new data center because the System easily meets and even exceeds the level of protection that LES Corporate Security demanded for cabinet level micro-security.

“TZ Centurion was really the only solution considered because it offers the most efficient and cost-effective way to secure our racks with a more granular level of protection,” Pat Marik, LES Network Administrator

The solution enabled LES to control and audit access to each cabinet on a person-by-person basis and obtain timely and accurate access reports. The System – integrated with existing work practices – also enables all data center users to maintain controlled access to their racks using their existing proximity cards.

Download the full Case Study for more details.