Who licenses access-control installers in Dallas?

The state, not the city. The Texas Department of Public Safety Private Security Program issues the electronic access control device company licence under Occupations Code Chapter 1702, and technicians register under a licensed company. Ask for the licence number and look it up before work begins.

We have offices in Dallas and in a suburb like Plano or Irving. Is that a problem?

Not for GateStride, which manages all sites in one place even if they run different systems. For door hardware changes, remember each city is its own building and fire authority, so your installer works with the right one for each address.

Our Uptown building controls the lobby and elevators. What does GateStride touch?

Only the system that controls your own suite doors. The landlord’s lobby, elevator and garage credentials stay as they are; your staff use their phones for the doors your company manages, and visitors still check in with the building as before.

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

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 Dallas?

No. GateStride is software, managed remotely, so we serve the Dallas–Fort Worth area 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 / Dallas, TX

Office access control in Dallas — one set of doors, every suburb, without the per-badge bill.

Dallas offices sit in Downtown and Uptown high-rises, along the LBJ Freeway and Preston Center, in the corporate campuses of Las Colinas and Legacy West, and in suburban parks from Richardson to Frisco. Most already have card readers on the suite door. GateStride keeps that system and changes what it costs to run: phones replace badges, staff who move to phone access stop adding per-person credential charges, and every exit is recorded so you know who is still inside.

Request a Dallas demo Work out your savings

Where Dallas offices are, and who controls their doors

The Dallas–Fort Worth market spreads north and west from the city centre rather than stacking in one core. Downtown and Uptown hold the classic multi-tenant towers; North Dallas has mid-rise office along the LBJ Freeway and the Dallas North Tollway; Las Colinas in Irving is a dense corporate district near DFW Airport; and Plano’s Legacy and Legacy West area has grown into a headquarters cluster around large corporate campuses. Richardson, Addison, Frisco and Fort Worth add their own office parks, many of them two- to six-storey buildings with a handful of tenants each.

For a company of 10 to 500 people that geography shapes the access setup. In a tower, the landlord runs the lobby, elevator and garage credentials, and the tenant pays for and administers its own suite readers. In a smaller suburban building, the tenant often controls the front door as well. Either way, the suite system is usually something the company inherited or bought years ago, still working, still on cards, and still billed per person.

A metro of separate cities. A head office in Uptown and a branch in Irving or Plano means different landlords, different buildings and, often, different systems. GateStride puts every door at every site in one console with a separate who’s-inside list for each.
Relocations and expansions. Dallas companies move between submarkets as leases end and teams grow. Phone credentials move with the people; there is no box of old badges to reconcile when the company changes floors or buildings.
Storms that change the plan mid-day. North Texas spring weather can turn a normal workday into a shelter-in-place or an early dismissal. Knowing who is still in the office matters as much then as during a fire alarm.

Where Dallas offices overpay for access control

In Dallas the cost of access control is spread thin: a cardholder fee here, a box of replacement badges there, an afternoon of the office manager’s time every time someone joins or leaves. Multiply that by several sites and it adds up quietly.

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 Dallas

Downtown and Uptown tenants know the high-rise fire drill: everyone down the stairs, floor wardens at the assembly point, and a list on paper that may or may not match who badged in that morning. Because exits release freely, the card system cannot tell the warden who has already left.

North Texas adds a second scenario. When a tornado warning sends people to interior rooms, or when ice makes the drive home dangerous and a company closes early, the useful question is the same: who is still in the building, and on which site. A live exit record answers it without a phone tree.

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 Dallas 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 Texas

Texas licenses this work at the state level. Under Chapter 1702 of the Texas Occupations Code, a company that installs or maintains electronic access control devices needs an electronic access control device company licence from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Regulatory Services Division, Private Security Program. Companies that install alarm systems hold a separate security services contractor licence, and individual technicians must be registered with a licensed company. Fire alarm work is licensed separately by the State Fire Marshal’s Office at the Texas Department of Insurance. Ask any installer for the company licence number and check it on the DPS lookup.

Source: Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1702

Who enforces door and egress rules in Dallas

In the City of Dallas, the Development Services building inspection function (now part of Sustainable Development) administers the building code, Chapter 53 of the Dallas City Code, based on the 2021 International Building Code with local amendments and effective May 12, 2023. Dallas Fire-Rescue’s Fire Marshal enforces the fire code, Chapter 16, based on the 2021 International Fire Code with Dallas amendments and effective February 10, 2023. Irving, Plano, Richardson and the other suburbs are separate authorities, so a branch office outside the city answers to its own building and fire officials. Check with them before changing how a door releases. GateStride does not change door release.

Source: City of Dallas: Construction codes

Privacy and biometric law in Texas

Texas regulates biometric identifiers through the Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, Business and Commerce Code Section 503.001. A business that captures a fingerprint, retina or iris scan, voiceprint or record of hand or face geometry for a commercial purpose must give notice and get consent first, may not sell or disclose it except in limited cases, must protect it with reasonable care, and must destroy it within a reasonable time, generally no later than a year after the purpose ends. Only the Texas Attorney General can enforce it, with civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation. This matters if your readers use fingerprints or faces; phone unlock without biometrics is outside the Act.

Source: Texas Business and Commerce Code, Section 503.001

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 Dallas 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. Integrators across the Dallas–Fort Worth area commonly support LenelS2, Software House, Genetec, AMAG, Brivo, HID, Honeywell and Kantech, among others; if one of those runs your doors, GateStride works on top of it.

For Dallas security integrators

Dallas–Fort Worth integrators already drive between a dozen suburban cities to service offices, campuses and multi-tenant buildings. GateStride lets you add value at those same sites without a rip-out or a new hardware standard: a small node per door on the system your customer already trusts, resale margin for every site you enable, and the service relationship stays with you. Partners appear in our directory by metro and by the platforms they support.

Dallas’s security community meets through ASIS International North Texas Chapter · Texas Burglar & Fire Alarm Association (TBFAA).

See the partner program

Questions from Dallas offices

Who licenses access-control installers in Dallas?: The state, not the city. The Texas Department of Public Safety Private Security Program issues the electronic access control device company licence under Occupations Code Chapter 1702, and technicians register under a licensed company. Ask for the licence number and look it up before work begins.
We have offices in Dallas and in a suburb like Plano or Irving. Is that a problem?: Not for GateStride, which manages all sites in one place even if they run different systems. For door hardware changes, remember each city is its own building and fire authority, so your installer works with the right one for each address.
Our Uptown building controls the lobby and elevators. What does GateStride touch?: Only the system that controls your own suite doors. The landlord’s lobby, elevator and garage credentials stay as they are; your staff use their phones for the doors your company manages, and visitors still check in with the building as before.
Do I have to replace my access control to use GateStride in Dallas?: 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 Dallas?: No. GateStride is software, managed remotely, so we serve the Dallas–Fort Worth area 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 Dallas doors

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

Request a demo Work out your savings

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.