Installing an access control system can be an expensive proposition, given the investment in related hardware and software. This is where access control as a service (ACaaS) comes in as an ideal alternative.
Access control has long performed the task of keeping assets and people safe. However installing an access control system can be an expensive proposition, given the investment in related hardware and software. This is where access control as a service (ACaaS) comes in as an ideal alternative.
That’s the point raised by
Genetec, which recently announced its Security Center Synergis SaaS edition.
According to Genetec, ACaaS is seeing an increase in demand. Citing IHS Markit, Genetec pointed out that cloud-based access control systems will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 9.6 percent until 2021, which is more than double the rate of on-premises access control (4.2 percent).
“Access Control as a Service is a growing trend that is winning over both the integrator and the end user community for various reasons. Integrators are more efficient in deploying their customers’ access control because they have significantly less to worry about. They don’t have to install servers, including the OS and the access control software on the servers,” said Derek Arcuri, Product Marketing Manager at Genetec. “End users have less to maintain because they have fewer components to maintain. They can shed IT responsibilities and refocus on core business activities.”
According to Arcuri, the potential of ACaaS is especially huge in certain segments. “We’re mostly targeting oil and gas, transportation and multi-site organizations across all verticals. This is because on-premises access control systems can be particularly taxing on the IT resources of customers with many sites to maintain,” he said. “Such customers enjoy being able to deploy a hybrid of on-premises and cloud-based access control systems that suit the needs of the site. Smaller sites can be connected via the cloud while the larger site can be equipped with on-premises access control systems.”
It’s against this backdrop that Genetec announced its Security Center Synergis SaaS edition, which will be available in November and was demonstrated at ASIS 2017. “When we introduced Synergis Cloud Link a few years ago, our forward-looking strategy was to offer a future-proof gateway appliance that is cloud-ready,” Arcuri said. “Today, we take great pride in announcing Synergis SaaS edition, which will allow customers to leverage all the benefits of access control as a service as they renew their legacy access control systems, while retaining elements of their existing infrastructure.”
Synergis is the access control solution in Genetec Security Center, an open-architecture, IP security platform that combines video surveillance, access control, automatic license plate recognition (ALPR), communications, and analytics.
According to Arcuri, Synergis SaaS edition removes the need to purchase and install costly on-premises servers and streamlines maintenance, allowing the corporate IT staff to focus on other business-critical projects. “Synergis SaaS edition is a new edition that allows customers to purchase Synergis on a termed basis. It can be deployed as a fully hosted system or a hybrid system. When deployed as a fully hosted system, the Synergis SaaS edition provides access control as a service,” he said. “The Synergis SaaS edition is unique in that it delivers enterprise class access control with advanced capabilities. It scales for small to large, multi-site deployments. Contrary to most ACaaS offerings, Synergis SaaS edition supports a variety of widely deployed controllers and electronic lock manufacturers.”