Page 32 - Security Today, May 2017

AE c c e s s t o P a r t n e r s h i p s By Ralph C. Jensen
veryone has a partnership in some form or fashion. cyber secure. Period. Mercury and our partners are building more Usually, one partner supports the other, and the two functionality into the products to extend the capabilities of the sys- together make a strong and formidable bond. It works tem making them more interoperable. An open platform that incor- that way in the security industry between any number porates industry open standards allows options. Minimizing the use of manufacturers. In fact, we’ve published numerous of any proprietary products allows customers to be assured they are
press releases over the years of companies touting their new found positioned for future growth as their requirements evolve and change.”
relationships.
Partnerships are an extremely efficient way to keep the open
architecture alive and well in the industry, and most generally, end users are the benefactors of the strength of a partnership. For 25 years, Mercury Security has been building products that are only sold through partners. The core technology designed, developed and manufactured by Mercury Security—access control panels, firmware and the software that drives them—is accentuated and brought to market by Mercury partners to help customers solve problems.
“End users should be asking for three things,” said Matt Barnette, president of Mercury Security. “Cyber-secure products, interoperabil- ity and open standards. These are the essential ingredients to flexible systems that can stand the test of time. Security devices need to be
“By sanctioning these three features, customers can buy products and services at a competitive price and never have to worry about how to expand the system as their business grows. With the increasing danger of cyberattacks, only selecting products that are constantly being tested and upgraded is equally important. The manufacturers that are being selected need to have a clear cyber policy and a pro- tocol that they can articulate to ensure end users are not opening themselves up to a problem.”
Barnette was recently named president of Mercury Security, and brought with him the ability to strengthen the partnerships already established by Mercury for more than two decades and define a road- map to success with new potential partnerships. He does understand what makes the access control market tick.
16
0517 | SECURITY TODAY
COVER STORY