Neop: connected access and lighting
Neop synchronises bookings, access and lighting to make your facilities self-sufficient. Battery-powered connected lock or 4G keypad reader: no network cabling to run out to the court.
Overview
Neop is a French manufacturer that has been equipping sports facilities since 2016, with more than 3,000 connected courts and over 600 clubs equipped. Its solution is recommended by several FFT tennis leagues.
The principle fits in one sentence: a booking turns into a court that is ready to play on. The player books from your organization, receives their access code by e-mail or SMS, then the court unlocks and lights up at the right moment, with no one having to step in. The organization stays in control: access monitoring, permanent codes and badges for the team, remote operation.
What the solution brings day to day
For facility operators:
- no more unlocking courts by hand or managing a bunch of keys;
- the lighting only runs when it is needed, since it follows the bookings;
- courts stay available over wider opening hours, without tying up a volunteer;
- the installation can be operated and monitored remotely, from the Neop app or a web interface.
For players:
- the court is unlocked and lit when it is time to play;
- access is immediate and self-service, with no stop at the reception desk;
- more time slots become bookable, including early in the morning or in the evening.
Opening up the player's whole route
A single booking can open several successive passages: the main gate, the club house, the changing rooms, then the court door. The player enters one single code and follows their route to the court, without having to remember one combination per door.
Each of these access points is set up according to one of two logics, as you prefer: a fixed time range — for example Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. — or an opening conditional on a booking in progress. Temporary access can also be opened for an outside contractor, and the organization's team has its own permanent codes or badges.
Connected lockers can round out the installation, to make rackets and balls available with the same code as the booking.
Setups suited to every situation
Club tennis gains wider opening hours without making the organization heavier to run: members access the courts on their own and the lighting takes care of itself.
A private padel facility, where time slots follow one another closely, benefits from the synchronisation between access and booking, as well as from multi-site monitoring on a single screen.
An isolated outdoor court is the case where the solution stands out most: the built-in 4G link and the solar option avoid having to bring network and power out to the court, which often accounts for most of the cost of the works.
The available equipment
The connected lock is a handle that operates the door's latch bolt. It is self-powered, with a service life of up to five years, communicates over the LoRaWAN network and remains weatherproof both indoors and outdoors. It accepts codes and badges, both permanent and temporary, and reports its battery level remotely.
The 4G keypad reader combines a keypad and a badge reader, operated by a 4G Hub. As it uses the 2G/3G/4G mobile network, it works without installing any additional network on the site. Slim and weatherproof, it drives any type of electric locking: an electric strike for tennis access, the club house and swing doors, or an electromagnet for intensive use and padel access.
Several configurations are available depending on the context: compact, panel-mounted, with backup power supply or with a solar option.
Connecting your Neop account
- Open Administration›Settings›Access Control & Piloting, then More Information on the Neop card.
- Turn on Activate the Neop module.
- Enter the API Identifier and the API Password provided by Neop.
The API Status block confirms that the connection is working. Until it turns green, codes cannot be sent to the equipment.
Linking your calendars to the spaces
This is the step that makes sense of everything else: without it, the system does not know which door to open for which booking.
In the linking section, match each calendar with the corresponding Neop space. A calendar with no linked space keeps working normally for bookings, but does not trigger any opening.
Setting the time tolerance
A player arriving five minutes early would find the door locked if the code were only valid to the second. Two settings avoid this situation:
- Tolerance before the start of the time slot: the number of minutes early that are allowed;
- Tolerance after the end of the time slot: the number of minutes to get back out or collect belongings.
Adding security with one code per booking
The A different access code for each booking option generates a single-use code rather than a shared code.
This is the setting to choose as soon as the court is accessible to occasional players or guests: a code passed on by word of mouth loses all value after a few weeks.
Operating the lighting and heating
The same installation can control the court's lighting and heating, in addition to its door.
Switching on is tied to the access code: the light comes on when a player listed on the booking enters their code. Nothing is triggered if no one shows up, which avoids lighting a court that a player booked and then forgot about — on end-of-day time slots, that is where most of the savings are made.
Contact
Neop supports organizations from the project study through to commissioning, and relies on a network of trained installers in France and internationally. Technical support is available 7 days a week.
- Website: neop.eu
- E-mail: equipe@neop.eu
- Phone: 05 87 07 01 02, or +33 5 87 07 01 02 from abroad
- Address: 81 ter rue de Beaupuy, 87100 Limoges, France
