Technology Drives Security today

There is a clear shift  where the decision makers are changing because it’s not only the security or facility manager but also the IT team and CIOs, that  are getting involved in taking decisions on the physical security features that should go into the system, says Vishwanath Kulkarni, Director of Sales, Physical Access Control, India and SAARC, HID Global. Not only HID, but all other physical security companies are defining their strategies around this.

Physical security today is converging rapidly with the IT initiatives; what are HID’s observations and where do you think this will lead in terms of changing strategies?

Absolutely, there were days when there used to be a facility manager or security manager who had the final say for all the security related requirements. But today, most of the physical security systems are getting integrated on an IP. Most of them had a camera and access control for everything. The final data goes through an IP. So there are a lot of initiatives coming up on physical security primarily because of that.

What products does HID global offer in this space?

PACS division (the Physical Access Control System) primarily focuses on 3 major products.

1. The card or credentials, which are used to open a door.
2. A reader which enables it.
3. The controller which connects the reader to the card that also defines the use cases.

HID has also has developed a new technology – a reader cum controller which is directly sitting on an IP at the door.  That is required because all the data should flow from the controller to a command center.  Many customers ask for this kind of a solution as well. Beyond that, we also offer mobile access which is basically digitizing a card and instead of using a physical card, a mobile card can be used, essentially having the credentials stored in it.

Mobile access is one of the flagship products that we have launched last year in India. It has seen rapidly growing adoption and great success across all verticals.  We are getting very good feedback from both from the channel community and the end user and consultant community.   Of course, the  comfort level still  needs to come, but market indications say  a lot of people want to enhance their technologies in that direction.

This is going to be a regular hybrid kind of a product where a reader is capable of reading a mobile as well as a card. Most of the customers want mobile access in a few areas; some still want plastic cards, while some enterprises want their senior leadership to use mobiles, and regular employees to use plastic. So even with different requirements, we can see that every customer wants to upgrade their technology to mobile access.

This convergence is the future. The advantages are clear- the future is on mobile. Using a physical card, you might have a limitation on expansion. So, with a physical card there might be some challenges, but we can use the same mobile to do a safe print from my printer or log in and we can create a lot of use cases this way, which is an advantage. That’s how the market is growing and we are also following the trends of digitization.

Digital is fast becoming the preferred delivery model for almost all technologies. What role will channel partners play in this diminishing hardware footprint era?

The hardware footprint is not diminishing.  In some cases, yes, but in access control and physical control, it cannot be done away with. Hardware is always going to be there. In access control, a reader and controller are always going to be there and the card as well. When I say there will be adoption, it will be more on a hybrid way- mobile access as well as cards. But I don’t see hardware diminishing in the near future. As I said, many of our channel partners who have been with us for the last few years are very excited. In fact, we are getting new IT partners who will help us grow the business, since the market for the new products demands new IT infrastructure, integrated with physical access or security system.

Technology today drives governance initiatives as well. How do you see this new paradigm impact on innovations in technology led physical security?

Yes, in the Smart India initiative there have already been some success stories. But everyone has a different concept of Smart Cities. A Smart City generally starts with a smart building.  It just doesn’t have to be Wi-Fi connected or it has to have a network or a BMS, but beyond that even an access control, CCTV, and various other access and security applications need to be in place. Identity management apps   help a building become smart and these buildings then become part of a greater smart city. So, in a way we have a greater play in the smart cities initiative because of smart building access systems we build.

Today everyone is worried about security identification, which would be for security reason or analysis, so almost all buildings today are access controlled, whether through a biometric play or in other ways. So we do have a large play in the Smart Cities culture, and our partners also have a presence.

New technologies in security are a critical requirement of all enterprises. How do you see this moving forward from swipe cards?

Swipe cards are a technology which is 15-20 years old. Today, other than biometric, everything is contactless.

Going forward from the contactless cards we have come up with more solutions like COPs technology which is to do with security on cards which makes it very robust and secure. It is one of the technologies which we are using in plastic cards and it is being accepted worldwide as an innovative solution. Also we are focusing on mobile access, which again is a new technology. At the card level there is a technology transformation happening and even at the reader level there has to be technology where you can connect two readers that can go on IP. But this needs extra cabling which is not required with a reader which has a controller built in and it can directly hook on to an IP anywhere. Today, every building is completely based on IP, so there is the option of being completely cable free, except for the cable that connects the network. So it saves a lot of money for the facility, as well as on the maintenance cost. This is something that even the channel partners understand and they are trying to utilize.

Also, HID Global’s mobility solutions are powered by Seos® technology that, supported by Bluetooth Smart and NFC, stores secure identities on Smartphones for opening doors and gates. This solution enables Android or iOS phones to communicate with readers using a close-range “Tap” mode, or from a distance with HID Global’s patented “Twist and Go” mode. Active feedback including vibration and sound enhances the user experience when opening doors. Seos powers solutions that range from building access, computer login and cashless vending to Internet of Things (IoT) applications, time-and-attendance, secure print authentication and an ever-increasing number of other uses that are in demand. With solutions powered by Seos, customers can use any combination of smart phones, smart cards, tablets, wearables, bank cards, keyfobs, inlays and other smart devices to secure more applications than ever before.

In delivering new technologies to the market, do you think we need a change in level of partnerships- it cannot just be re-sellers anymore. How does HID meet this challenge?

We have partners who have been in this industry for the last 15 years, they are adapting to the new technologies. They are also benefiting. There are IT partners in physical security, and also core physical security partner in the IT side of security. This is because the customer feels that the IT department is important but is more concerned with the physical access control. So while he wants a specialized security partner, he also wants to build a specialized IT infrastructure to cater to that. This co-working will define the applications in new digital India. Every channel partner also understands that, so they are accrediting themselves to meet that requirement.

What challenges do you see for growing in the Indian market, across verticals and technology offerings?

Slow adoption of technology is one of the biggest challenges we see across verticals. The challenge in a developing market like India is twofold: one of the issues is evangelizing and promoting technology solutions in nascent marketplaces with channels which aren’t very well-developed, but certainly desire to move forward quickly. Secondly, there are no standards which govern security which challenges the deployment of appropriate and relevant technology into the market place.

Despite these challenges, India continues to represent tremendous growth opportunities. HID has been able to leverage this growth through various engagements in these countries over the last few years. There are a number of different areas of our business that have been very successful throughout Asia Pacific, which indicates the vast number of great opportunities to come.

In some sectors, CISOs understand the need for the technology but they don’t want to get out of their comfort zone (already existing infrastructure). Their existing system is running smoothly and meeting their requirement, so they don’t feel the need to invest more.  That’s why we have tried to help them understand that this new technology is one of the strongest security applications, but many CISOs still have doubts, and that’s where I see a challenge.

But the biggest challenge of all is, low cost products coming into the market from the unorganized segment. While they don’t have much presence across the enterprise segment, being at the low end’s much unorganized segment; it is a challenge in the market.

Also, what may be the biggest overall industry challenge are the prevailing attitudes about access control. Industry education is often required in order to encourage adherence to best practices. Reliance on legacy infrastructure, technology and mindsets will make it hard for organizations to keep up with today’s technology advances that address a world of increasingly sophisticated threats. For instance, if the market continues to delay shoring up its best practices now against today’s threats to traditional cards and readers, it will be difficult for enterprise infrastructures to seamlessly move to digital credentials carried on Smartphones in a BYOD deployment environment with new and different security threats.

But more than these challenges, I can say with the new initiatives like Smart Cities, and the kind of technology adoption that companies are taking, the challenges are being met in the proper way.