Page 18 - Security Today, September/October 2022

A Triple Crown Winner
for Security Professionals
Access control technology has always seemed to take a backseat to sexier video surveillance solutions, despite its proven ability to control physical access and egress to protected areas versus video’s legacy role as a deterrent and responsive solution. The practical application of new AI-driven access and video solutions is definitely changing these traditional perspectives with access control now thrust into the limelight for physical security, work- force management and health safety applications.
By adding the extreme personal identification and authenti- cation accuracy of biometric facial recognition to conventional access control platforms, security professionals can leverage their existing investments in access control platforms to provide a much greater range of applications across the enterprise.
Physical Security
Aside from the obvious impact that the global pandemic contin- ues to play in the development and deployment of new physical security solutions, there are a multitude of reasons why biomet- rics are trending for a myriad physical security applications. Since all individual’s biometric identifiers are different and unique to each individual, they are inherently more secure than any tradi- tional, manufactured physical access credentialing devices.
Biometric identities also cannot be lost, stolen, replicated, or forgotten, providing both a tremendous convenience for users by
“Biometrics readers play a critical role in this transformation due to extreme personal identification and authentication accuracy.”
Fractal Pictures/Shutterstock.com
eliminating the need to carry access credentials, as well as a tre- mendous cost-saving benefit for organizations that can virtually eliminate the use of physical credentials.
Multimodal forms of identity authentication can be as simple as requiring a pin or QR code, providing an added layer of secu- rity when required.
New plug-and-play biometric facial recognition readers de- ployed for access control embedded with enhanced security ben- efits beyond what legacy access control and other biometric sys- tems offer. For starters, facial recognition is frictionless, allowing users to move through entry/egress points quickly and efficiently without having to stop or touch anything.
Users need only glance at the device to gain access. In cases of tailgating or piggybacking, advanced facial recognition devices will detect such infractions and issue alerts for real-time risk mitigation, a feature that conventional access control readers simply cannot ac- commodate without supplemental devices such as video cameras.
Advanced facial recognition devices are also inherently by de- sign video devices, capable of providing video monitoring at exte- rior and interior entry/egress locations. With the addition of two- way audio, these same devices are also effectively video intercoms. The ability to function as a fully integrated access reader, video camera and video intercom promise to reduce equipment purchase and installation costs, further increasing return on investment (ROI) and decreasing total cost of ownership (TCO) associated with maintaining these otherwise disparate system capabilities.
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022 | SECURITY TODAY
COVER STORY