AI biometrics in a mullion form factor

For years, the challenge with outdoor biometric access control in South Africa was simple: most biometric terminals were designed for sheltered indoor environments. The BioEntry W3 changes this entirely — bringing Suprema's deep-learning AI facial authentication into a compact 50 mm mullion-format device rated IP67 for full water submersion and IK08 for vandal resistance.

The result is a device that installs directly onto outdoor access points — boom gates, perimeter fences, turnstiles, and exposed building entries — delivering the same AI biometric performance as a full terminal at a fraction of the footprint.

Why AI face recognition outdoors?

Traditional outdoor access readers relied on proximity cards or fingerprint scanning. Both have limitations in South African conditions:

Cards — easily cloned, lost, or shared. A lost card is a security incident. A shared card defeats the entire purpose of access control.

Fingerprint outdoors — performance degrades with dirty, wet, calloused or abraded fingers. Construction sites, warehouses, and outdoor industrial environments make fingerprint sensors unreliable.

BioEntry W3 uses facial authentication — contactless, hygienic, impossible to share, and consistently accurate regardless of what the user's hands have been doing. The dual-camera system (IR + visible light) functions reliably in direct South African sunlight, low-light dawn/dusk conditions, and under outdoor lighting at night.

Suprema's smallest mullion form factor

At 50 mm wide and 195 mm tall, BioEntry W3 mounts directly to standard mullion profiles — fitting into spaces where larger terminals simply cannot. The 50 mm profile means it can be installed on:

  • Glass door frames at retail and office entries
  • Turnstile uprights at industrial facilities
  • Boom gate poles at residential complexes and parking structures
  • Thin profile frames in renovated buildings

Multi-credential in a slim package

BioEntry W3 is not just face recognition. The device also reads NFC and BLE mobile credentials, plus 125 kHz and 13.56 MHz RFID cards (MIFARE, DESFire EV1/EV2/EV3, HID iCLASS) — giving access managers flexibility to support multiple credential types from one device.

PIN entry via the on-screen keypad provides a backup credential for situations where facial authentication needs a secondary factor, or for users who cannot use biometric authentication.

BioStar 2 and BioStar Air compatible

BioEntry W3 integrates with both BioStar 2 on-premise and BioStar Air cloud. For existing BioStar 2 installations, BioEntry W3 adds outdoor AI facial capability without changing the management platform.

Available in South Africa

BioEntry W3 is in stock and available from Suprema South Africa. Contact our team to discuss your outdoor access control project.