The 75% Problem: How Wi-Fi Just Unlocked Total Building Security

AUSTIN, TX – September 03, 2026 – In the world of physical security, there’s a quiet compromise that has defined the industry for decades. While we focus on fortifying main entrances and critical perimeters with robust access control, the vast majority of doors inside a building—offices, IT closets, utility rooms, storage areas—remain unprotected, secured by little more than a traditional mechanical key. This isn't an oversight; it's a pragmatic concession to cost. By most estimates, these secondary openings account for 75% of all doors in a typical facility, and the expense of wiring each one into a centralized security system has been prohibitive. Until now.

Brivo, a global leader in cloud-native physical security, has announced an integration that directly confronts this 75% problem. By incorporating the Schlage® XE360™ Series lock with RealSync™ technology into its Brivo Security Suite, the company is leveraging a building’s existing Wi-Fi network to deliver real-time, enterprise-grade access control to potentially every door. The headline-grabbing claim is a cost reduction of up to 70% per door compared to traditional hardwired systems, a figure that could fundamentally rescale how businesses approach the security of their physical spaces.

“For decades, security managers have had to compromise on which doors to secure because traditional hardwired access control simply didn't scale across an entire facility,” said Steve Van Till, Founder and President of Brivo. The new integration, he explained, “eliminates the cost and infrastructure, making real-time visibility and policy enforcement achievable for every single door opening.” It’s a move that transforms access control from a selective, perimeter-focused strategy into a holistic, facility-wide system.

Deconstructing the Cost Barrier

The promise of a 70% cost reduction hinges on a simple but profound shift: moving from dedicated wires to existing wireless infrastructure. A traditional hardwired access point requires extensive cabling run through walls and ceilings, a dedicated power supply, and a physical door controller—all installed by skilled technicians. Industry analyses place these installation costs anywhere from $1,500 to over $5,000 per door, a prohibitive expense when multiplied across hundreds of interior openings.

The Brivo-Schlage solution circumvents this almost entirely. The Schlage® XE360™ lock connects directly to a building’s existing Wi-Fi network, drawing power from standard AA batteries. This eliminates the need for expensive wiring runs, dedicated control panels, and proprietary wireless gateways that other systems often require. The result is a dramatic reduction in upfront capital costs and installation complexity, making the business case for securing an IT closet or an executive office suddenly viable.

Beyond initial installation, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) also shifts. While wireless locks introduce the recurring, albeit minimal, cost of battery replacement, they offer significant long-term savings in flexibility. For businesses that reconfigure office layouts or move locations, wireless locks can be redeployed with minimal effort, saving an estimated 30% compared to the cost of rewiring. Furthermore, Schlage’s FleX Module™ Architecture allows a property to upgrade locks from a simple offline mode to the full real-time online system by swapping a small internal module, preserving the initial hardware investment and reducing electronic waste.

A Technological Leap: The ‘Always-On’ Wireless Lock

While wireless locks are not new, the Schlage® XE360™ with RealSync™ technology represents a significant evolution. Most conventional wireless locks operate on a “periodic check-in” model to conserve battery, connecting to the central system at scheduled intervals—perhaps once every few hours or once a day. This creates a lag. A command to remotely unlock a door or a request for an audit log might not execute until the next scheduled sync. Crucially, alerts for a forced or propped-open door would also be delayed.

RealSync™ technology upends this model by maintaining a persistent, 24/7 connection to the cloud via Wi-Fi. This “always-on” state enables the lock to function with the immediacy of a hardwired system. Remote commands to lock or unlock are executed in under 10 seconds, and door event alerts are transmitted instantly. For a security team, this is the difference between learning about a breach hours after it happened and being able to respond in real time. This is achieved through proprietary power optimization that delivers over a year of battery life on just four AA batteries—a notable feat for a continuously connected device.

Of course, placing a critical security device on a corporate Wi-Fi network raises immediate cybersecurity questions. Any IoT device inherently expands a network's attack surface. Security experts stress that the reliability of this system is contingent not only on the lock's encryption but also on the robustness of the building's network hygiene. Best practices like network segmentation—isolating IoT devices like locks from critical IT infrastructure—become paramount. However, the system’s ability to receive over-the-air firmware updates provides a crucial advantage, allowing Brivo and Allegion (Schlage's parent company) to remotely patch vulnerabilities and deploy security enhancements as they emerge.

Empowering a New Security Paradigm

The implications of this technology extend beyond simple cost savings; they empower a new operational model for both property owners and the security integrators who serve them. For facility managers, the Brivo Security Suite provides a single pane of glass to manage every access point, unifying hardwired perimeter doors, wireless interior doors, video surveillance, and visitor management into one centralized platform.

For security integrators, the solution opens up a new frontier. Instead of focusing projects primarily on high-value perimeter openings, they can now propose comprehensive, scalable security plans that encompass an entire facility. Mike Ridgeway, a Business Development Manager with integrator Action Security Group Inc., called the integration “a major operational advancement.” He noted, “The Schlage® XE360™ Series with RealSync™ gives us a new way to extend enterprise access control to more openings without the infrastructure and complexity traditionally required...it means faster deployment, greater flexibility, and a scalable path to bring more of the facility into the Brivo ecosystem.”

While the system's performance is ultimately dependent on the quality of a building's Wi-Fi network—a potential hurdle in older facilities with spotty coverage—its design acknowledges this. The locks can operate in an offline Bluetooth mode if needed, offering a fallback for challenging environments. The shift towards this model signals a broader convergence in the smart building landscape, where physical security infrastructure is becoming deeply intertwined with a building's core IT network. By solving the cost and complexity issues that created the 75% problem, this integration doesn't just offer a new product; it offers a more complete and attainable vision of what it means for a building to be truly secure.