Case Closed: How PDK Transformed Security for Winstead PC Law Firm
For a law firm, security extends far beyond the digital world. Protecting confidential client information also requires controlling who can access offices, sensitive workspaces, and restricted areas. And as firms expand across multiple locations, maintaining consistent physical security becomes increasingly complex. At Winstead PC—a leading law firm with thousands of employees spread across Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and New York—that security challenge had become difficult to ignore. Different offices relied on different access control vendors, aging hardware created ongoing maintenance issues, and managing employees across multiple systems added unnecessary complexity.
To modernize its security infrastructure, Winstead partnered with TruControls, a Texas-based access control installer, to deploy award-winning access control from ProdataKey (PDK). What began as a single-office replacement quickly evolved into a firmwide standardization project that unified every location under one cloud-based platform.
The First Install: Securing the Dallas Office
The law firm’s adoption of PDK began with their Dallas office, where the existing access control system had reached the end of its useful life. Support from their vendor was lacking, hardware failures were common, and replacement hardware was increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to find. They knew it was time to make a change.
Rather than investing further in obsolete equipment and poor vendor support, Winstead sought the assistance of TruControls to help them find a new provider that would promote long-term reliability, cloud-based management, and a significantly better user experience. Austin Lafferty, Owner of TruControls, describes the exact needs that the team at Winstead presented to him: “They wanted something consistent, easy to use, and a platform that would give them lots of alerts and information.” Based on that, Austin knew PDK was the perfect solution.
From there, Austin and the TruControls team jumped into action and set up the Dallas office with ProdataKey. After installing a Cloud Node, a mix of Red 1 and Red 4 door controllers, and Red™ High-Security Readers, and distributing credentials, it didn’t take long for the law firm to decide to expand their system.
From Multiple Systems to One Unified Solution
The success of the Dallas deployment quickly opened the door to something much larger. "Once we did the Dallas location, they let me know that they have nine other locations that they want secured as well," says Austin. "As of today, we’ve secured ten sites across five different states—making the system 122 doors altogether." This widespread adoption of PDK provided a unified solution that was much-needed by the Winstead team.
"Before PDK, we had different vendors in every city," explains Chris Di Masi, Chief Information Officer at Winstead PC. "We didn't have that consistency that we have now with PDK." Before deploying PDK, each office worked with its own security vendor, placing significant pressure on IT staff to maintain relationships with various vendors and constantly switch between different management platforms.
Standardizing on a single platform eliminated that inconsistency. Instead of learning multiple interfaces, coordinating with multiple vendors, or maintaining different operating procedures, the firm's security team now manages every office through one cloud-based system. The standardized approach also simplifies future growth, as new locations can be deployed using the same architecture and administrative processes already established across the organization.
A Seamless Mobile Credential Experience
As Winstead expanded its PDK deployment, providing a reliable mobile credential experience became a priority. "Every single one of their doors has a Bluetooth reader," says Austin. "Because of that, every employee knows that their phone is going to be able to get them in anywhere that they need to go."
Using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) credentials within the PDK Access app, Winstead employees can now securely access authorized areas with their smartphones. For employees and global managers who travel between offices, that consistency removes uncertainty. Whether working from their home office or visiting another Winstead location, the experience remains exactly the same.
At the same time, support for low-frequency and high-frequency Red RFID credentials provides additional flexibility where physical credentials are preferred or required. The combination of Bluetooth-enabled readers and cloud-managed credentials gives Winstead a modern, convenient solution that improves both usability and security.
Managing Thousands of Employees with Ease
Managing access control for more than 3,000 employees could easily become a time-consuming administrative task. Instead, Winstead uses an intuitive integration to dramatically simplify the process. "We've set them up with the Microsoft Entra integration," Austin explains. "They've got over 3,000 employees to manage, so that integration really helps them administer all of those user profiles and information."
Rather than creating user accounts manually, Winstead's integrated system allows them to automatically onboard employees and incorporate them into the PDK.io system with ease.
“Whenever an employee gets hired, HR puts them in Entra, and then everything's automated from there. Their information gets sent to PDK, to the right site, to the right access group, and then PDK automatically sends them a Bluetooth credential. That was a huge win for them."
Austin Lafferty - Owner of TruControls
Automation reduces repetitive administrative work while ensuring employees receive the correct permissions as quickly as possible. New hires can begin using their credentials immediately, while changes to employee roles can be reflected consistently across the system. For an organization with thousands of users spread across multiple states, eliminating manual provisioning has become one of the deployment's most significant operational benefits.
Security Compliance Made Easy
For law firms, physical security plays an important role in broader information security and compliance initiatives. By replacing fragmented systems with one standardized platform, Winstead strengthened the physical security controls that support its overall security program.
"Having this consistency and the overall access control system is a really important component of maintaining our ISO 27001 certification, which has strict requirements when it comes to physical controls," says Chris. Standardized access policies, centralized management, detailed activity reporting, and consistent credential administration all contribute to a stronger compliance posture.
Building a Stronger Security Platform for Winstead PC
What began as a single access control replacement in Dallas evolved into a complete transformation of Winstead's physical security strategy. Today, PDK secures all ten Winstead offices across five states, providing centralized management for 122 doors and more than 3,000 employees. With cloud-based administration, Bluetooth mobile credentials, a Microsoft Entra integration, and role-based access Groups, the firm has replaced a patchwork of disconnected systems with one modern, scalable platform.
The result is greater consistency for administrators, a seamless experience for employees, simplified user management, and physical security controls that support the firm's long-term compliance goals. For Winstead, standardizing on PDK wasn't simply about replacing aging hardware—it was about creating a unified security platform capable of supporting the firm's operations today and well into the future.
If you want to learn more about how ProdataKey could benefit your business, schedule a demo today.
ProdataKey is a team of security integrators with decades of hands-on, in-the-field experience.
PDK believes that the best technology is created by professionals who know what it takes to secure a facility properly and provide the end user with a solution that instills confidence and safety.
PDK is passionate about creating technology to enhance the security, safety, and overall experience of both the professionals installing electronic access control and those that live with and use the system. PDK continues to create technology every day to enhance its products and the products of its technology partners.
