Ownership Means "Owning" the Opening
Posted on Fri, Dec 03, 2010
Written by ASG Security Summit Gold Sponsor ASSA ABLOY
It’s been said that in the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rented car. The point being that ownership conveys responsibility. Why would someone be expected to take a long-term interest in something if they only have a limited connection? This applies to a rental car, office equipment or even a door.
Yes a door. When integrators, like ASG, team together with reputable manufacturers to take ownership of the door, the customer benefits by receiving an opening tailored to the specific needs of that application. A number of innovations have swept through the door and hardware industry, making it necessary for integrators to tie doors into their portfolio.
Credentials
The simplest of these innovations is the ability to secure more openings with a single credential. This development is a good starting point because it serves as a bridge between mechanical and electromechanical technologies. As an example, electronic cylinders are now available that operate off a credential that incorporates both a mechanical key and an HID proximity tag, thus enabling the end user to combine a traditional lock and key system with a card access system without having to issue multiple credentials.
Components
One of the quieter technology trends making the integrator’s life easier is the combination of components into a single device. This convergence blends two technologies or more into one hybrid product. These innovative opening products typically integrate a card reader, locking device and other door monitoring functions into one component.
Networks
Strides have been made to embrace open standard technologies that ease the integration of doorway components into the security system software. Essentially, the opening is becoming just another appliance on the network.
New locks are being launched which drastically lower the cost of near online or online access control by leveraging the existing IP network infrastructure in the building. This eliminates the need for expensive and redundant security system wiring. It also spreads intelligence and decision making abilities to the lock on the edge of the network allowing more system redundancy than in the past. We look at the door as the ultimate “edge” device.
Highly Intelligent Openings
Current electronic access control platforms are still primitive in their ability to monitor doorway security. The status of the lock—latched or unlatched—can be monitored, but that’s about the depth of the real-time information that can be obtained from the entire opening. The lock has limited sensory ability to relay information back to the security hub, while the other opening components have no such ability. What we believe is needed to rectify these limitations is a communications platform that can be embedded within each component. Controller-area network (CAN or CAN-bus) technology offers this ability.
Integrating an onboard processor into each doorway component and then connecting them over a CAN-bus gives each device a mind of its own and the ability to communicate. The implications of this are huge. For starters, openings will have self-diagnostic features now found in cars, only with greater capabilities.
Additionally, every device has auto-configuration intelligence and will know its identity and how it is expected to function as soon as it’s plugged into the system. Since this is a bus platform, it will operate in the same manner as a computer and its periphery devices. When an automatic door opener or lock is plugged into the system, the device will be immediately recognized and incorporated into the system.
Viewing doorways in a new light
As a result of these transformations, openings now fall more into the integrators traditional line of business. Technological advancements have created a wide variety of options to secure each opening. Whether combining multiple credentials, leveraging existing network infrastructure, integrating discrete components, or adding decision making capability, today’s doorways are allowing a much broader set of products above and beyond $300 mechanical locks and $3,000 online access controlled openings. This allows for the selection of the right product to provide the right level of security within a given budget.
Opening components have evolved to the point that it now makes sense for integrators to take ownership of this once overlooked piece of the puzzle.
Who owns your doors? How are they being utilized as an integral part of your overall security architecture?
*photo: ASSA ABLOY