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

It depends on the work. Alarm businesses and agents are certified by the State Board of Technical Registration, and contracting is licensed by the Registrar of Contractors. Ask your installer which certifications and licences they hold, and check the numbers with those agencies.

Does the heat affect a phone-based system?

GateStride uses the readers, controllers and locks you already have, plus a small node at each door, so it adds no new hardware to an exposed exterior wall. Where your existing equipment sits outdoors, its heat tolerance is a question for your installer.

We have offices in Phoenix and Scottsdale on different systems. Can one console manage both?

Yes. GateStride connects to each system through its own integration account and shows every site in one place, with separate occupancy lists. People can carry one phone credential that works on whichever doors you grant them.

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

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 Phoenix?

No. GateStride is software, managed remotely, so we serve the Phoenix area and the wider Valley 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 / Phoenix, AZ

Office access control in Phoenix — across the Valley, on the doors you already have.

Phoenix-area offices are spread across a Valley of separate cities: Downtown and Midtown along Central Avenue, the Camelback Corridor, Tempe near the university and Town Lake, the Scottsdale Airpark, the Price Road corridor in Chandler and the I-17 corridor up to Deer Valley. Most already run card access on their suite. GateStride keeps it, moves people onto their phones, stops the per-person running cost and keeps a record of who has left the building.

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Downtown Phoenix office buildings against desert mountains

How the Valley’s offices are laid out

The Phoenix metro is not one office market but several, each in a different city. Downtown Phoenix and the Central Avenue corridor through Midtown hold most of the high-rise towers; the Camelback Corridor is the traditional address for finance, law and professional services; Tempe has grown a dense cluster of newer offices; Scottsdale’s Airpark mixes offices with light industrial; and Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert and the North Phoenix and Deer Valley corridors are dominated by suburban low-rise buildings and office parks with surface parking.

That shape means many tenants control more than a suite door. In a Camelback or Central Avenue tower the landlord runs the lobby and garage, and the tenant manages its own suite readers; in a single- or two-tenant suburban building the company often owns the entrance, the side doors and the back gate. Those systems were frequently installed by a previous tenant, still work, and still run on cards that people keep forgetting in the car.

Heat is an operations issue. The City of Phoenix runs an Office of Heat Response and Mitigation, and summer heat warnings are routine. Walk-up phone unlock gets people from a hot parking lot into the building without searching for a badge, and keeping the existing readers avoids exposing new exterior hardware.
One company, several cities. A head office in Phoenix with a team in Tempe and another in Chandler or Scottsdale is common. GateStride manages every door in one place with a per-site who’s-inside list, whichever system each building runs.
Call centres, back offices and growth. The Valley’s service, finance and technology employers staff up quickly. With phone credentials there is nothing to print on a new hire’s first morning and nothing to chase on a leaver’s last day.

Where Phoenix offices overpay for access control

Phoenix offices that inherited their access system with the lease often keep paying for it without ever seeing a breakdown: per-user licences, replacement cards and the time it takes to manage both.

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 Phoenix

Extreme heat changes what an evacuation means. Standing in a sun-baked parking lot during a summer fire alarm is a risk in itself, so the faster a warden can confirm that everyone is out, the sooner people can move to shade or be released. The National Weather Service office in Phoenix issues heat warnings through the season, and an office that changes its hours or closes a site on those days needs to know who has actually gone.

Card systems count people in, not out, because exit doors release freely. GateStride records exits from the phone each person carries, so a roll call at the assembly point is a live list rather than a guess.

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 Phoenix 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 Arizona

Arizona certifies alarm businesses, and the people who control them, through the State Board of Technical Registration; individual alarm agents who install or service alarm systems need an alarm agent certificate and a fingerprint clearance card. The statute’s definition of an alarm system centres on intrusion, panic and duress systems that summon an emergency response, so stand-alone access control may fall outside it — but many installers also do intrusion work and hold the certification. Contracting work is separately licensed by the Arizona Registrar of Contractors; we have not verified which licence classification covers low-voltage access control, so ask the Registrar of Contractors and check your installer’s licence number with it.

Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 32-122.05

Who enforces door and egress rules in Phoenix

In the City of Phoenix, the Planning and Development Department enforces the Phoenix Building Construction Code. The 2024 edition, based on the 2024 International Codes with Phoenix amendments, was approved on June 18, 2025 and took effect on August 1, 2025. The Phoenix Fire Department’s Fire Prevention division enforces the Phoenix Fire Code, an amended 2024 International Fire Code, effective February 17, 2026. Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa and Chandler are separate authorities with their own officials, so check with the right city before changing how a door locks or releases. GateStride does not change door release.

Source: City of Phoenix: Building code

Privacy and biometric law in Arizona

Our research did not identify an Arizona statute dedicated to biometric privacy, or a comprehensive state consumer privacy law. Arizona’s data-breach notification law does define personal information to include unique biometric data used to authenticate a person when accessing an online account, so a breach involving stored credentials or biometrics can trigger notification duties. If you use fingerprint or face readers, ask your counsel what applies. Phone unlock without biometrics does not collect biometric data.

Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 18-551

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 Phoenix 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. Valley integrators commonly support platforms including LenelS2, Software House C•CURE, Genetec, AMAG, Brivo, HID, Honeywell, Kantech and Bosch; if your doors run one of them, GateStride works on top.

For Phoenix security integrators

Phoenix integrators cover a Valley of separate cities and a lot of suburban buildings where the tenant owns every door. GateStride is a way to grow revenue in those accounts without replacing hardware that has survived years of heat: a small node per door on the existing system, resale margin for each site you activate, and the customer stays yours. Our partner directory lists integrators by city and by the platforms they support.

Phoenix’s security community meets through ASIS International Phoenix Chapter · Arizona Alarm Association (AzAA).

See the partner program

Questions from Phoenix offices

Does an access-control installer need a licence in Arizona?: It depends on the work. Alarm businesses and agents are certified by the State Board of Technical Registration, and contracting is licensed by the Registrar of Contractors. Ask your installer which certifications and licences they hold, and check the numbers with those agencies.
Does the heat affect a phone-based system?: GateStride uses the readers, controllers and locks you already have, plus a small node at each door, so it adds no new hardware to an exposed exterior wall. Where your existing equipment sits outdoors, its heat tolerance is a question for your installer.
We have offices in Phoenix and Scottsdale on different systems. Can one console manage both?: Yes. GateStride connects to each system through its own integration account and shows every site in one place, with separate occupancy lists. People can carry one phone credential that works on whichever doors you grant them.
Do I have to replace my access control to use GateStride in Phoenix?: 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 Phoenix?: No. GateStride is software, managed remotely, so we serve the Phoenix area and the wider Valley 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 Phoenix 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.