Looking back at the time between a&s International’s 100th and 200th issues, we can see that access control has certainly evolved. New authentication methods have emerged, while more and more players are focusing on solutions – rather than single products – to stay competitive.
But perhaps the biggest technological breakthrough over the past eight years is access control’s migration to IP. Whereas compared to video surveillance, access control’s IP accession came relatively late, the significant of such move is nonetheless the same as it has brought revolutionary changes to the industry.
Looking back at the time between a&s International’s 100th and 200th issues, we can see that access control has certainly evolved. New authentication methods have emerged, while more and more players are focusing on solutions – rather than single products – to stay competitive.
But perhaps the biggest technological breakthrough over the past eight years is access control’s migration to IP. Whereas compared to video surveillance, access control’s IP accession came relatively late, the significant of such move is nonetheless the same as it has brought revolutionary changes to the industry.
Consolidation is a major ramification of IP, which allows different systems to be integrated into access control on the same IP network. Companies integrated resources and formed alliances to draft open standards that allow further integration and interoperability.
Meanwhile, with IP, new applications have come about, allowing users to perform even more functions than opening doors. Some of the new technologies enabled by IP are detailed below, which would definitely influence the industry in the next 5 years.
Intelligence on the edge
Traditionally, security intelligence resides on the central server in an access control system. But with IP-based access control, intelligence increasingly resides on the edge device. For users, benefits are manifold. First, intelligence on the edge eliminates single points of failure. Also, these edge devices are self-diagnostic. Any problems on them can be alerted to the administrator through the IP network, no matter where he or she is or what device is being used.
Identity Management
Over the past eight years, access control has seen itself linked with the human resources department to check the employees’ time-attendance. As time went on, with the empowerment of IP, this functionality has been expanded to include identity management, or managing individuals’ identities within an end-user organization both in the physical and logical space. As such, convergence of physical and logical access control is desired to increase efficiency for the administrator. For example, once an employee leaves his job, his record will be deleted automatically from both the physical and logical space.
Cloud
One of the major developments in security has been the movement towards the cloud. “For access control and enabling mobile platforms, cloud has been a huge driver. We’ve seen that in both residential security and in commercial security,” said Steve Van Till, CEO of Brivo. “Even in identity management, we’ve seen a lot of the convergence that’s going on taking place in cloud. It’s an easier place to do it.”
IoT and Wearable Devices
A typical example of convergence with IoT is the integration between access control and building management systems. Lights and air-conditioning, for example, can turn on and off automatically once someone has entered the building. Elevators, meanwhile, can be activated only upon someone entering the premises. Such automation can help users save tremendously on energy. IoT can also enhance access control when combined with wearable devices, which are expected to see growing popularity in the future.
Special Announcement of a&s International’s 200th Issue
a&s International’s 200th issue is coming up next month, which demonstrates how a&s International has been recognized by the global security market for the last 16 years. The a&s editorial team has planned a series of featured articles to recap the most significant security events, technologies, and industry changes, from 2007 to 2015 to celebrate the 200th issue. Hope you won’t miss it!
