Is there an alarm or access-control licence in Minnesota?

Not a separate alarm licence. Access-control wiring is licensed by the Department of Labor and Industry as technology systems work: the company needs a Technology Systems Contractor or electrical contractor licence, and the technicians are Power Limited Technicians employed by it. Check both on the DLI lookup.

Our building has skyway doors. Does GateStride work with them?

It works with any door that is on the access control your company controls. In many skyway buildings the landlord runs the skyway and street entrances, so GateStride would cover your suite doors; if your company controls a skyway door, it can cover that too.

Can we close early for a blizzard and know everyone has left?

Yes. Because exits are recorded from people’s phones without a swipe, you can check a live who-is-inside list for each site before locking up. It supports accountability but does not replace your emergency plan or the building’s life-safety systems.

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

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 Minneapolis?

No. GateStride is software, managed remotely, so we serve the Twin Cities 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 / Minneapolis, MN

Office access control in Minneapolis — from the street door to the skyway, without a badge.

Minneapolis offices come in two climates: downtown towers stitched together by the skyway, where people can go from parking to desk without stepping outside, and suburban office parks along I-494 and I-394 in Bloomington, Edina, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka and Plymouth. Add the converted warehouses of the North Loop and the Mill District, and nearly every one already has card readers. GateStride turns those readers into phone unlock, trims the badge and per-user costs, and tells you who is still inside.

Request a Minneapolis demo Work out your savings

Where Twin Cities offices are, and how they are entered

Downtown Minneapolis is the region’s largest concentration of office towers, and much of it is linked at the second level by the skyway system, which the Minnesota Historical Society describes as the world’s longest continuously connected pedestrian network. A small or mid-size company there may take part of a floor in a tower whose occupants arrive as often across a skyway bridge as through the street lobby. In the North Loop and the Mill District, brick warehouses converted to offices house agencies, software firms and studios, while downtown St. Paul has its own skyway-linked office core.

Beyond the two downtowns, the I-494 strip through Bloomington and Edina, Eden Prairie’s office parks, and the I-394 corridor through Minnetonka, Golden Valley and Plymouth hold healthcare, medical-device, finance and professional-services offices, many in single-tenant or low-rise multi-tenant buildings. Downtown, the landlord usually runs the lobby and the skyway entrances while the tenant runs its suite doors; in the suburbs a tenant often controls the whole building.

More than one front door. A skyway-level building has street doors and second-level skyway doors as well as the suite door, so people arrive from several directions. GateStride works on the doors your company controls and records who came in and who left through them.
Deep cold. Through a Minnesota winter, a door held open while someone hunts for a badge costs heat and comfort. Walk-up phone unlock opens the door as people reach it so it closes again quickly.
Spread across two cities and the suburbs. Twin Cities firms often have space in Minneapolis, St. Paul and a suburb or two. One account covers every site, with phone credentials issued and revoked remotely and a separate who-is-inside list per location.

Where Minneapolis offices overpay for access control

Access control in a Twin Cities office is usually paid for in small recurring pieces: credential and user fees, replacement fobs, and the time it takes to set up every new hire. Few companies add them up.

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 Minneapolis

The skyways make downtown Minneapolis easy to move through in January, but they also mean that people in a building at any moment may not work there, and that staff can leave by a bridge to the next building instead of the street. When a fire alarm empties an office tower, floor wardens counting their own people at the assembly point need to know who was actually in, and who had already left.

Winter weather brings its own kind of evacuation. When a blizzard is forecast and offices close early, or a site has to be emptied because heat has failed, the question “is everyone out?” is easier to answer with a live list of who is still inside than with a walk through every floor.

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 Minneapolis 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 Minnesota

Minnesota has no separate state alarm-company licence. Instead, low-voltage wiring for access control and alarms counts as “technology circuits or systems” under Minnesota Statutes 326B.31 to 326B.399. The contractor must hold a Technology Systems Contractor licence (or an electrical contractor licence) with a designated responsible Power Limited Technician or master electrician, and Power Limited Technicians may only work as employees of a licensed contractor. Both licences can be checked on the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) licence lookup.

Source: Minnesota DLI: Technology Systems Contractor bulletin

Who enforces door and egress rules in Minneapolis

In Minneapolis, Construction Code Services issues building permits and inspections, and Minneapolis Fire Inspection Services handles fire permits and registrations. The Minnesota State Building Code is administered statewide by DLI; its 2020 edition is based on the 2018 International Building Code, and DLI has an open rulemaking to move to the 2024 code, so confirm which edition applies when you plan any door work. St. Paul and the suburbs have their own building departments. Check before changing how a door releases; GateStride does not change door release.

Source: City of Minneapolis: construction permits

Privacy and biometric law in Minnesota

Minnesota has no dedicated biometric privacy statute, but the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act, signed in May 2024 and in effect since July 31, 2025, treats biometric data used to identify a person as sensitive data that needs consent. It applies only above certain thresholds, such as data on 100,000 consumers, and how it treats employee data and business contacts is worth checking with counsel before applying it to workforce access logs. GateStride’s default phone unlock does not collect biometric data.

Source: Hunton: Minnesota enacts comprehensive privacy law

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 Minneapolis 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. Twin Cities integrators commonly support platforms such as LenelS2, Software House, Gallagher, AMAG, Honeywell, Brivo, HID and Feenics; if your doors run one of them, GateStride works on top.

For Minneapolis security integrators

Twin Cities integrators already maintain access control across downtown towers, skyway buildings and suburban campuses. GateStride gives you something new to offer those customers without touching their hardware: phone unlock and exit tracking that sit on the controllers already installed. There is nothing to rip out and nothing to re-certify, the margin recurs for every site, and the customer stays with you. We list partners by city and by the systems they work on.

Minneapolis’s security community meets through Minnesota Electronic Security and Technology Association (MNESTA) · ASIS International Minnesota Chapter.

See the partner program

Questions from Minneapolis offices

Is there an alarm or access-control licence in Minnesota?: Not a separate alarm licence. Access-control wiring is licensed by the Department of Labor and Industry as technology systems work: the company needs a Technology Systems Contractor or electrical contractor licence, and the technicians are Power Limited Technicians employed by it. Check both on the DLI lookup.
Our building has skyway doors. Does GateStride work with them?: It works with any door that is on the access control your company controls. In many skyway buildings the landlord runs the skyway and street entrances, so GateStride would cover your suite doors; if your company controls a skyway door, it can cover that too.
Can we close early for a blizzard and know everyone has left?: Yes. Because exits are recorded from people’s phones without a swipe, you can check a live who-is-inside list for each site before locking up. It supports accountability but does not replace your emergency plan or the building’s life-safety systems.
Do I have to replace my access control to use GateStride in Minneapolis?: 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 Minneapolis?: No. GateStride is software, managed remotely, so we serve the Twin Cities 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 Minneapolis 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.