The new age of access control from Bosch

Access control has become a vital component of any security concept worldwide. The protection of intellectual property rights, prevention of theft and sabotage or simply compliance requirements - there are a multitude of reasons why companies of all kinds need to use a comprehensive access control system to restrict, manage and control access to their facilities. However, operated in isolation from other safety and security systems, even the most sophisticated access control system cannot really live up to its promises. In such an environment, operation and monitoring can quickly turn into a nightmare, as each system has its own architecture, its own user interface and its own management tool. This is why more and more organizations are looking out for an access control solution that easily integrates with video monitoring, intrusion detection and sometimes even visitor management to form a homogeneous security system with a consistent user interface and central management and operations.
Moreover, suppliers are more and more often faced with requirements of their customers to supply a documentation of all access attempts, whether successful or not, to protect against industrial espionage. To fulfill this requirement, not only employee access must be captured and recorded, but also the entire visitor traffic.

Video integration for more safety

While modern access control systems allow an efficient management of access rights, they are rather powerless against abuse if operated on their own. In critical environments it is mandatory to add a second layer of security by integrating access control with some kind of video surveillance. To prevent abuse, all access requests can then trigger one or more video cameras.

Integrated systems can provide alarm verification, instantly displaying live video images from nearby cameras when there is an alarm event at a door - such as when a person presents an unauthorised credential or when a door is forced open. Forensics can also benefit from such integration if the video recordings are referenced in the access control system's event log. Such a feature greatly facilitates identification, retrieval and playback of past events and alarms if necessary.

Open standards ease integration

Integrating access control, video monitoring, and intrusion detection can be rather easy when all components come from the same vendor and if this vendor also offers a management platform like the Building Integration System from Bosch for all of them.

Integrated systems "off the shelf" can greatly ease installation and configuration of the security solution. Logical integration eliminates the need for multiple software platform and interfaces -- resulting in fewer complications and greater event-driven functionality as well as reduced installation time and costs. What's more, this kind of integration also promises more efficient operation and a clearly reduced need for training, but above all also a higher security level. An open standards-based management system even makes sense in those cases where one vendor supplies everything, as it opens up the entire installation for future expansion.

User interface is key

An integrated security system is a very complex apparatus, and if this complexity is not hidden from the user, the system will be highly prone to human error and maloperation. Such systems do need very clear and intuitive user interfaces, avoiding information overload while offering all the information that is currently needed.

This is even more important when several components or dialogs are open, which will often be the case if you deal with access control, video surveillance and maybe intrusion detection from the same console.