The Backstreet Boys, Loretta Lynn, Florence Henderson, Rosemary Clooney, Keith Whitley, Boots Randolph and Steven Curtis Chapman. What do these notable names have in common? All of them have been inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, a museum that houses a collection of artifacts and memorabilia highlighting the careers of over 50 inductees.
Located in Mt. Vernon KY, the Hall of Fame stands a little over 30 miles away from the team at Modern Systems, Inc. in Somerset.
The Kentucky Music Hall of Fame was founded in 2002 to promote, preserve and protect the history and future of Kentucky music, housing one of the state’s largest musical collections.
With a facility that houses rare and valuable items, it only makes sense that a robust security and access control system would be needed.
This project came to be due to a referral from a longtime Modern Systems customer that does business in the same area as the museum. This customer just so happened to have a Modern Systems yard sign out on their property.
According to R&G Technologies, referral leads convert 30% better than leads generated from other marketing channels. Current customers are oftentimes one of your business’ biggest asset.
Kevin McKinney was the Sales Representative that designed and oversaw the project for Modern Systems. McKinney worked directly with Avery Bradshaw, the Hall of Fame director.
Avery presented the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame’s challenges to Kevin hoping that the Modern Systems team could suggest products and services to best suit their needs. Avery approached Kevin with a basic idea of what he needed — he was looking for a new security system that the staff could control and access remotely, as well as a remote access door system. With there being a lot of memorabilia, it was important to have a system that could protect it all.
During the planning stage, Avery mentioned an incident to Kevin that occurred a few years back when the museum’s heating and air system went down. Museums ideally need to remain within a designated internal temperature to preserve the precious items inside.
In this case, the temperature rose to a very dangerous point. When hearing this story, Kevin was able to suggest temperature sensors and monitors, giving museum staff the ability to detect temperature fluctuations when and if they were to occur.
The KMHF staff wanted to be able to control access to parts of the museum at certain times for each individual employee. Kevin was able to suggest an access control system that fit the needs of the museum.
The system is now able to give employees access to the office area, based on authority levels and schedules. So, if a staff member works from 9-4, their access card will only work during those times. By having this system in place, the museum can be protected against unwanted entry into specific areas at all times of the day.
With a collection worth several million dollars, it was very important to the KMHF staff to have the means to secure the entire collection while business remains in operation. The museum’s mission is to preserve history, and by safely securing these artifacts in the museum, it will allow staff to preserve items for generations to see and learn from.
“Kevin from Modern Systems did a great job of explaining and quoting the project,” says Bradshaw. “He walked me through what we needed for a building this size to protect our valuable artifacts.”
So as not to experience a lapse in protection, Kevin and the team were able to install the new system simultaneously with the old system still in play. The technicians on the job worked during business hours and had to work around all of the museum’s exhibits and passing guests on tours.
“The installation process was very quick and easy on all of us here at the Hall of Fame,” says Bradshaw. “Our guests were still able to enjoy the museum even while the installation was going on.”
The main part of the facility where the museum is located is estimated at around 10,000 sq. ft made entirely of metal, a gift shop that is about 5,000 sq. ft and the connection of these two buildings is the Hall of Fame that is roughly 3,000 sq. ft.
Due to this unique design, Kevin and his team determined wireless technology would be ideal. In order to guarantee a strong signal between all of the newly added sensors in the museum, it was an inherit challenge determining the best place to house the wireless receiver. A central location in the 10,000 square foot building was selected as the best spot for it. That way, all sensors could have a strong signal.
With the successful planning and installation of these systems, the staff at the KMHF could only be satisfied customers. This development has improved the efficiency of securing the building. The team can now remotely monitor any employee that is in the building as well as allow access to other people that may need to the building after hours.
But most of all it has also given them extra peace of mind about the security of the artifacts.
Although this specific job did not see any upgrades or installations to the camera systems, that project has already been unofficially planned as the next phase.
“We are in the planning stages of upgrading our existing camera systems, and we will be using Modern Systems for that project as well,” Bradshaw says.
The impact a simple yard sign had in sparking the relationship between Modern Systems and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame is music to our ears.
