Does an access-control installer need a licence in Georgia?

Georgia licenses low-voltage contractors at the state level. Ask the company for its Georgia low-voltage licence number and look it up through the Secretary of State’s licensing search before work begins. Your city or county may have its own permit requirements for door work.

Can GateStride manage our Midtown office and our Alpharetta site together?

Yes. GateStride runs remotely and connects to the system at each site, even if they are different makes. You manage people from one place, and each office has its own who’s-inside list. Hardware work at each site is still done by a licensed local integrator.

We shelter in place during tornado warnings. Is exit tracking still useful?

Yes. Knowing who has left also tells you who is likely still in the building, which helps whoever is checking interior rooms. It is an accountability tool only; follow your own severe-weather plan and the building’s procedures.

Do I have to replace my access control to use GateStride in Atlanta?

No. GateStride overlays the system you already run, reading its events and calling its own unlock. Your readers, controllers, locks, request-to-exit and fire release stay exactly as they are.

Does GateStride have an office in Atlanta?

No. GateStride is software, managed remotely, so we serve metro Atlanta without a local office. The small node at each door is installed by a licensed security integrator, often the one who already services your system.

Will it lower what we pay each month?

It can, if you pay per-user or per-mobile-credential fees, buy replacement badges, or spend staff time issuing and revoking them. Use the savings calculator with your own invoices to see the figure for your office; if you pay none of those, the case rests on the features instead.

Can we see who has left the building without anyone swiping out?

Yes. Exits are recorded from the enrolled phone, watch or tablet people carry, while the door keeps releasing freely as it does today. That gives a live who's-inside list and a one-tap roll call during an evacuation.

Locations / Atlanta, GA

Office access control in Atlanta — one way in for every site, at a lower running cost.

Atlanta’s offices are scattered across a wide map: towers Downtown and in Midtown, Buckhead along Peachtree, the Central Perimeter in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody, Cumberland near the Galleria, and the North Fulton office parks of Alpharetta and Peachtree Corners. Most companies there already have card access on their doors. GateStride keeps that system, lets people open it with their phones, cuts the per-person cost of running it and records who has left.

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Where Atlanta companies lease office space

Atlanta has several office centers rather than one. Downtown and Midtown along the Peachtree spine hold the high-rise towers, with Midtown drawing technology and professional-services tenants near Georgia Tech. Buckhead mixes towers with mid-rise buildings, and the Central Perimeter around the I-285 and GA-400 interchange is one of the region’s largest suburban office markets. Cumberland/Galleria serves the northwest side, while Alpharetta, Peachtree Corners and Duluth host office parks for technology, logistics, healthcare and financial companies, and the airport area houses offices tied to transportation and distribution.

For a company of 10 to 500 people, that usually means one of two setups. In an intown tower, the landlord runs the lobby, elevators and parking deck and the tenant runs access on its own suite. In a suburban park, a mid-size tenant may lease a whole low-rise building and control every exterior door, the loading entrance and the parking-side door itself. Many Atlanta firms run more than one of these at once, each with its own panel and badge stock.

Spread across a sprawling metro. A company with a Midtown office and a site in Alpharetta or near the airport can lose an hour in traffic between them. GateStride manages every door and person from one place, with a who’s-inside list per site, so nobody drives over to change a badge.
Logistics and professional services. Trade, transportation, professional services and healthcare are among the region’s largest employers. Those businesses hire and rotate staff steadily, and every change on the access system is a badge printed, recovered or forgotten unless credentials live on phones.
Parking decks and summer heat. Most Atlanta staff drive and walk in from a deck or surface lot, often in the heat or in a downpour. Walk-up phone unlock opens the door as they reach it, without stopping to find a card.

Where Atlanta offices overpay for access control

Atlanta companies often run several offices, and access-control costs multiply with them: per-user licences on each system, badge stock at each site, and admin time spent at each front desk.

Per-person fees

Cardholder, user or mobile-credential charges that rise with every hire, even though no door changed.

Badges that walk out

Lost, broken and never-returned cards and fobs, each one a purchase and a gap until it is disabled.

Office-manager hours

Issuing badges on day one, chasing them on the last day, and letting people in who forgot theirs.

The replacement quote

New readers, controllers, wiring and subscriptions proposed for a system that still works.

GateStride connects to the system you already own as a single integration user and manages your people itself, so staff who move to phone access stop adding per-person credential costs on the underlying system, and nobody needs a badge printed. Put your own numbers into the savings calculator to see what that is worth for your office, and check your vendor’s licence terms with your integrator.

Knowing who is still inside, in Atlanta

Atlanta does not get much snow, which is exactly why a little ice or snow can bring the region to a standstill. When a winter storm or severe weather is forecast, companies close early and send people onto the roads in a hurry, and whoever closes up needs to know that nobody is still inside. Exit records answer that per site without a round of calls.

The opposite case matters too. Severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings can mean people move to interior spaces rather than leave, and a fire alarm in a Midtown or Buckhead tower sends every floor to the stairs at once. Knowing who has left and who has not makes either situation easier to manage.

Most card systems log people coming in, not going out, because exits release freely. GateStride records who left from the phone they carry, without a swipe, and turns a fire drill into a one-tap roll call. How exit tracking works.

Exit tracking supports accountability. It is not a substitute for free egress, your evacuation plan or your certified fire and life-safety systems.

Rules that apply to Atlanta offices

Before anyone touches a door, three things are worth knowing. This is general information, not legal or life-safety advice; confirm specifics with the agencies below and your own counsel.

Checking your installer is licensed in Georgia

Georgia licenses low-voltage contractors at the state level, and commercial security integrators in the state display a state low-voltage licence number. Our research could not load the licensing board’s own page, so we do not summarise licence classes or requirements here. Before anyone works on your doors, ask for the company’s Georgia low-voltage licence number and verify it through the Georgia Secretary of State’s licence lookup. Some cities and counties have their own business and permit rules as well.

Who enforces door and egress rules in Atlanta

Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs publishes the State Minimum Standard Codes, which currently list the 2024 International Building Code and the 2024 International Fire Code, each with Georgia amendments. Local building departments — the City of Atlanta or the surrounding cities and counties — issue permits and inspect, and questions about the Life Safety Code (NFPA 101) and the fire code amendments go to the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Check locally before changing how a door releases. GateStride does not change door release.

Source: Georgia DCA: Current State Minimum Standard Codes

Privacy and biometric law in Georgia

Our research did not confirm Georgia’s position on biometric privacy, so we do not describe a statute here. If you plan to use any biometric readers, or to turn on GateStride’s optional facial recognition, confirm the current Georgia and federal requirements with your counsel first. Phone-based unlock on its own does not collect biometric data.

GateStride’s default uses device credentials and non-biometric person detection, so no biometric data is collected. Facial recognition is optional, off by default, and offered only where it is legally compliant and you choose to enable it.

Works with the systems Atlanta integrators install

You keep your vendor and your integrator. GateStride overlays Kantech EntraPass, Honeywell, LenelS2 OnGuard, Software House C•CURE, HID and Brivo by reading their events and calling their own unlock. See the integrations, the architecture, or how an upgrade compares with ripping everything out for a cloud platform. Atlanta integrators commonly support platforms such as Genetec, Honeywell, Brivo, HID, Paxton and Linear eMerge; if your office runs one of them, GateStride sits on top.

For Atlanta security integrators

Metro Atlanta’s commercial integrators cover a lot of ground, from intown towers to suburban parks and airport-area sites, and many of those customers have systems that do not need replacing. GateStride gives you an upgrade to bring them: phone unlock and exit tracking on what is installed, resale margin per site, no rip-out, and an account that remains yours. Partners are listed in our directory by city and system.

Atlanta’s security community meets through Georgia Integrators Association (GIA).

See the partner program

Questions from Atlanta offices

Does an access-control installer need a licence in Georgia?: Georgia licenses low-voltage contractors at the state level. Ask the company for its Georgia low-voltage licence number and look it up through the Secretary of State’s licensing search before work begins. Your city or county may have its own permit requirements for door work.
Can GateStride manage our Midtown office and our Alpharetta site together?: Yes. GateStride runs remotely and connects to the system at each site, even if they are different makes. You manage people from one place, and each office has its own who’s-inside list. Hardware work at each site is still done by a licensed local integrator.
We shelter in place during tornado warnings. Is exit tracking still useful?: Yes. Knowing who has left also tells you who is likely still in the building, which helps whoever is checking interior rooms. It is an accountability tool only; follow your own severe-weather plan and the building’s procedures.
Do I have to replace my access control to use GateStride in Atlanta?: No. GateStride overlays the system you already run, reading its events and calling its own unlock. Your readers, controllers, locks, request-to-exit and fire release stay exactly as they are.
Does GateStride have an office in Atlanta?: No. GateStride is software, managed remotely, so we serve metro Atlanta without a local office. The small node at each door is installed by a licensed security integrator, often the one who already services your system.
Will it lower what we pay each month?: It can, if you pay per-user or per-mobile-credential fees, buy replacement badges, or spend staff time issuing and revoking them. Use the savings calculator with your own invoices to see the figure for your office; if you pay none of those, the case rests on the features instead.
Can we see who has left the building without anyone swiping out?: Yes. Exits are recorded from the enrolled phone, watch or tablet people carry, while the door keeps releasing freely as it does today. That gives a live who's-inside list and a one-tap roll call during an evacuation.

See it on your Atlanta doors

A short demo on the access control you already have — no rip-and-replace.

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Sources

Last reviewed October 2026. Trademarks belong to their respective owners; GateStride is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by any access-control manufacturer.