GateKeeper at CalAPCO 2026

At 2:13 a.m., the next telecommunicator cannot wait for the workstation.

October 18–21, 2026
Town & Country Resort | San Diego, California
Booth #511

A shift changes. A telecommunicator moves to another console. A supervisor needs immediate access. Someone steps away during an active incident.

Inside an emergency communications center, workstation access is not an ordinary IT task. It is part of the response.

GateKeeper is exhibiting at the 2026 California APCO State Training Conference to show California’s public-safety communications community a faster way to secure shared workstations—without placing another obstacle between telecommunicators and the systems they need.

CalAPCO 2026 takes place October 18–21 at the Town & Country Resort in San Diego. The statewide conference is expected to feature more than 60 professional-development sessions, over 100 exhibitors and two days of vendor exhibits. It is described by California APCO as the largest annual APCO International event on the West Coast.

The Shared-Console Problem

Consider a common shift change:

The outgoing telecommunicator leaves a workstation open because signing out could interrupt the workflow.

The incoming employee begins working under the previous person’s session because logging in again takes too long.

The work continues—but the audit trail no longer reflects the person actually using the computer.

That is not simply a password problem.

It is an identity, accountability and operational-readiness problem.

GateKeeper helps emergency communications centers give authorized employees fast access to shared Windows workstations, automatically secure computers when users leave and maintain clearer records of who accessed each computer.

A Better Shift Change

With GateKeeper, the experience can look different:

The outgoing user walks away.
The workstation locks according to the agency’s configured policy.

The next user arrives.
They authenticate with an organization-approved credential rather than continuing under the previous employee’s identity.

The workstation becomes available.
The authorized user can begin working without repeatedly typing long passwords or depending on a personal phone.

IT retains control.
Administrators centrally manage users, computers, permissions and authentication settings through GateKeeper Hub.

Three Things to Experience at Our CalAPCO Booth

1. The Walk-Away Test

Watch what happens when an authorized employee leaves a workstation.

GateKeeper can automatically lock the computer based on user proximity, reducing reliance on telecommunicators remembering to press a key combination or waiting for a conventional inactivity timeout.

2. The User-Switching Test

See how another authorized employee can take over a shared workstation under their own identity.

GateKeeper supports secure shared-computer workflows, individual user attribution and configurable Windows lock, logoff or session-disconnect behavior.

3. The Phone-Free MFA Test

See how an agency can introduce strong workstation authentication without requiring employees to retrieve a personal phone for every login.

GateKeeper offers hardware-based, proximity and other supported authentication workflows that can operate without depending on a phone or internet connection at the point of authentication.

Designed for the Reality of Public-Safety Communications

GateKeeper is especially relevant when an agency is dealing with:

Shared dispatch workstations

Multiple employees use the same computers across shifts, but the agency still needs individual accountability.

Slow console transitions

Incoming personnel need to begin working quickly without inheriting another employee’s active session.

Unattended computers

Administrators cannot rely exclusively on every user remembering to manually lock a workstation.

Password fatigue

Telecommunicators repeatedly type, reset or share credentials because the approved process does not fit the operational workflow.

Restricted personal devices

Phone-based authentication is impractical, discouraged or prohibited in parts of the facility.

Multiple centers or departments

IT needs to manage workstation-access policies consistently across different sites, teams and computer groups.

California APCO’s 2026 educational program includes cybersecurity, IT and GIS for public safety, emerging technologies, NG9-1-1, communications-center operations and public-safety software—topics closely connected to the workstation-access challenges GateKeeper addresses.

Bring Us One Difficult Workflow

You do not need to arrive with a complete technology plan.

Bring us one problem:

“Our dispatchers share Windows accounts.”

“Our timeout policy locks computers at the wrong moment.”

“Users keep working under the previous shift’s session.”

“Phone-based MFA does not work in our center.”

“We cannot reliably identify who used a shared workstation.”

“Our security requirements are slowing down operations.”

The GateKeeper team will help break the workflow into four questions:

1. Who needs access?
2. What computer or application are they accessing?
3. How should they authenticate?
4. What should happen when they leave?

From there, we can determine whether GateKeeper is a fit for the agency’s environment.

Who Should Meet With GateKeeper?

Stop by if you work in:

• Emergency communications or PSAP operations
• Public-safety IT
• Cybersecurity
• CAD or RMS administration
• Communications-center management
• County or municipal technology
• Law-enforcement technology
• Identity and access management

California APCO brings together public-safety communications officials and emergency responders from local, state and federal agencies. California’s APCO organization represents more than 1,600 members across the state.

Meet GateKeeper at CalAPCO 2026

October 18–21, 2026
Town & Country Resort
San Diego, California
Booth #511

The next person at the console should not inherit the previous person’s identity.