Security Portals
When you need to know exactly who came through.
Interlocking security portals — often called man traps — enclose one person at a time and refuse to release until the building is certain that's all there is.
A brand of FAAC Technologies
A portal is not a fast turnstile
Speed gates are built to move authorised people through quickly while discouraging the obvious abuses. A security portal is built to do something categorically different: to make unauthorised entry physically impossible rather than merely detectable.
The mechanism is the interlock. Two doors that can never be open at once, an enclosed cabin between them, and a set of sensors that must agree a single person is inside before the inner door will release. Weight sensing, passage checking and anti-hostage detection all feed the same decision. If the portal isn't satisfied, nobody goes anywhere.
That is what you specify when an unauthorised entry would be a reportable incident, an insurance question or a headline — rather than an annoyance to be reviewed on camera afterwards.
Also known as: man traps, mantrap portals, interlocking security cabins, airlock entry booths. Different names, same principle — a controlled space between two doors that only one verified person can occupy.
Where portals earn their cost
Three environments where the consequence of one extra person is severe enough to justify the hardware.
Data centres
Customer workloads under audit mean you have to prove access, not just log it. A badge event with two people attached looks identical to one with a single person — the portal is what makes the log true.
More for data centres→Banking & cash handling
Cash rooms, vault lobbies and counting areas where the threat is both unauthorised entry and coerced entry. Anti-hostage detection matters as much as anti-tailgating.
Jewellery & high-value retail
A controlled entry that lets staff admit customers deliberately, with armoured construction where the risk is a forced entry during trading hours.
Standard features
Built to be argued with.
The CoMETA range is supplied with a bulletproof and anti-burglary structure as standard, along with the detection systems that make single-occupancy enforceable.
- Bulletproof and anti-burglary structure as standard
- Weighing system to verify a single occupant
- Single-person passage checking
- Anti-hostage system — one person at a time
- Metal detector available as an option
- Biometric data acquisition available as an option
Model range
The CoMETA range
Footprint and construction vary by model — square, cylindrical and half-moon bases, with architectural and armoured variants.
ClassicCo135Square-base portal with single-person passage checking — the straightforward interlocked cabin where the opening is conventional.
CylinderCo136Round-base cabin with passage checking, suited to lobbies where a curved footprint sits better architecturally.
Cylinder anti-burglaryCo137Round-base portal with anti-burglary construction in addition to single-person verification.
PanoramaCo138Large round base with a removable structure, for entrances where sightlines and openness matter alongside security.
Half MoonCo140Half-moon base with passage checking plus abandoned-person detection.
Swinging-slidingCo158Self-supporting bulletproof-glass leaves certified to RC3 — certified resistance built into a glazed façade rather than an enclosed cabin, for a 1150 mm opening.
ArchitecturalCT484An architectural solution positioned for emergency entrances.
Access controlCT496Built for secure, quick access control where throughput and appearance both count.
Armoured Biometric FilterInterlocking armoured portal with biometric integration, for the highest security requirements.
Not every model suits every opening, and the right choice depends on your threat model as much as your floor plan. Tell us what you're protecting and we'll narrow it down. See also turnstiles and speed gates where throughput matters more than absolute enforcement.
Full technical detail
Model-by-model detail, brochures and the wider security product catalogue.
- FAAC — security portals ↗The full CoMETA range with model detail and options.
- CoMETA — Co158 swinging-sliding portal ↗RC3 version: dimensions, glazing rating and options.
- Man trap portals ↗Interlocking man trap configurations and applications.
- Wider access control range ↗Turnstiles, speedgates and pedestrian access products.
Security enquiry
What are you protecting?
Tell us about the control point — what's behind it, how many people need through it, and what you need to be able to prove afterwards.
Auckland & Christchurch — servicing nationwide