Aiphone builds audio and video intercom systems for multifamily buildings, offices and gated entries, from two-wire apartment stations to network entry panels. SecureComm installs and services Aiphone systems in Denver and across Colorado, covering station layout, wiring and network design, door release, integration with access control and repair of systems already in place.
An intercom is the part of a building that decides who gets in, and it is judged by what happens when a visitor presses a button and nobody feels like walking to the door. Aiphone builds its range around that moment: an entry panel with a camera, a directory of tenants, a station inside the unit and a release on the door. The systems reach from a two-wire building where the existing wiring can be reused to a network system where every station is a device on the site’s own switch.
Where Aiphone fits is a building with a shared entrance and somebody who has to answer it: apartments, clinics, small offices, gated parking. Where it fits less well is a single door that only needs a card reader, or a site that wants entry handled entirely by an app with no station in the unit. The choice between repairing a two-wire system and moving to network hardware sets the budget, and it is rarely decided by the panel alone.
What a visitor sees and hears
The camera in an entry station is often the weakest part of an otherwise sound design, because it is installed for the installer’s convenience rather than the tenant’s view. A panel mounted at the wrong height, or angled toward a bright street, produces an image where nobody is recognizable. We set height, aim and hood on site, check the view at night with the entrance lit the way it will actually be, and confirm that a tenant sees a face rather than a silhouette. Where the station sits behind glass, we check the reflection at the hour the entrance is busiest.
Audio decides whether the call works at all. A station beside a busy road, a windy vestibule or an air handler needs a handset or a noise-canceling arrangement, and the resident needs a volume they can hear from across a room. Hands-free stations are convenient until the tenant is standing in a loud kitchen. In a retrofit, the number of conductors in the existing riser decides how much can change, so we survey the building before promising features.
Two-wire, network and the wiring decision
Older multifamily buildings usually have a two-wire or multi-wire riser running from the entry panel to each unit, and reusing it is often the difference between a repair and a reconstruction. The trade is capability: two-wire systems carry audio, a door release and a limited set of features, and the run length and wire condition cap what can be added. We test the riser rather than assume it, because a wire that carries audio may not carry a clean video signal. A riser shared with an elevator or a door operator also carries noise the original design did not anticipate.
Network systems use category cable and Power over Ethernet, which means each station needs a switch port, an address and a plan for what happens when the switch reboots. That is more design work up front and less copper in the riser. Either way, the release circuit, the power supply and surge protection at the entry belong to the intercom installation, and a run to a freestanding gate column is where summer storms find it.
Door release and access control together
The intercom opens a door through a relay, and the relay is half the system: a strike or a magnetic lock, a power supply sized for that hardware, and a release that behaves correctly when power fails. On an entry door we check the same things a card reader would demand, including a request-to-exit device and a door position switch, so the opening never depends on the intercom as the only thing holding it closed. A magnetic lock on a required exit is a life-safety question, and we raise it before any wire goes in.
Intercom and card access usually share one entrance, and the two systems have to agree on who is opening what. A resident calls in and releases the door, a visitor with a card is logged, a delivery driver presses a panel and reaches a phone. Where the site wants one audit trail, we keep the record in one place and check that a call, a release and a card event appear together rather than in separate logs nobody reconciles.
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Frequently asked questions
Can Aiphone use the wiring in an older building?
Sometimes, and the survey decides it. Two-wire systems are designed for that reuse, but the wire has to be tested for continuity, shorts and interference before anyone commits. If the riser is damaged or short on conductors, new cable is the honest answer, and that changes the project rather than the panel.
Does a video intercom need its own network switch?
It needs ports that supply Power over Ethernet and a design that survives a reboot, which may be a dedicated switch or a separate network on existing hardware. We keep entry stations off the office network where the site has one, and plan a power budget that accounts for every station on the run.
Can we add card access to an entrance that has an intercom?
Yes, and it is common to do both at once. The reader and the intercom release the same opening, so they should share a door position switch and an exit device instead of duplicating hardware. We plan the shared pieces first, then decide which system holds the audit record.
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