Bosch has launched an update of its Building integrated System (BIS) software.
Bosch has launched an update of its Building integrated System (BIS) software.
BIS 4.4 further enhances two key functionalities for access control: central cardholder management and the system’s overall resilience.
The BIS central cardholder management functionality allows corporate security operators to centrally create, update, and delete cardholders and assign and withdraw authorizations. With BIS 4.4, the operator is further equipped to centrally monitor all access events and alarms from every connected site, such as across the full network of stations of an underground public transport system. It is also a perfect solution for global manufacturing industries or energy and oil enterprises, which typically operate from geographically spread sites.
BIS 4.4 ensures that all multi-site cardholder information and access authorizations are created on a central server but also replicated on all connected site servers. This ensures that the same cardholder information is available in every location. All access events from connected sites are also replicated back to the central server for central monitoring.
BIS ensures continuous operation with its three-layer architecture. The purpose of the third layer, the Master Access Controller (MAC) is to manage scenarios across multiple Access Modular Controllers (AMCs) without the need for management software.
BIS 4.4 further enhances this third layer with a redundant Master Access Control server, so that even in the event of a host system failure, central security operation can continue. Also, in the unlikely event of a server failure, a redundant server can take over operations, communicating with all local AMCs. This ensures that authorized personnel have seamless, uninterrupted access in the event of a MAC failure, but also that centralized security personnel continue to maintain full access control.
This increased resilience particularly benefits distributed systems, systems in critical infrastructure, or manufacturing plants which require full 24/7 functionality such as those typically found in large, global enterprises with many different sites spread across several different regions.
Alongside the increased system availability delivered by BIS 4.4, the new software version also ensures more efficient licensing management. As all cardholder information and access authorizations are stored and maintained on a central server, and can be replicated to all connected local site servers, data is streamlined, eliminating the duplication of information ensuring optimal license requirement estimations.
In addition to the 12 languages that the BIS user interface already supports, BIS 4.4 provides extended global support with an Arabic Operator User Interface for users in the Middle East.