2020 SOLUTIONS For FM: Open Architecture For Access Control By Mercury Security

An open architecture model is the lynchpin for adopting the latest technologies in access control to meet the changing requirements facility executives face. A talk with Mercury Security President, Matt Barnette, elaborates on the company’s innovations as well as industry trends.

Facilities leaders and their teams are in the market for innovative solutions to meet their evolving needs. The recent issue of Facility Executive magazine included a selection of SOLUTIONS 2020, and featured below is the Q&A with Mercury Security from that December 2019 article. We continued the conversation with a brief podcast, which you can listen to by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.

Open Architecture For Access Control

Facility Executive: What is a notable product your company is providing for facility management professionals in 2020?

Mercury Security: Since 1992, Mercury has been the forerunner in access control hardware and solutions built on open standards for interoperability, such as MQTT, PSIA, OSDP, and BACnet. These standards enable extreme scalability and make it possible to manage disparate systems more efficiently via a common infrastructure. This freedom to choose coupled with a comprehensive approach on cybersecurity best practices, provides end customers a strong foundation for any access control deployment.

Mercury Security
Mercury Security is a forerunner in access control hardware and solutions built on open standards for interoperability, such as MQTT, PSIA, OSDP, and BACnet.

The open model is the lynchpin for easily adopting the latest technologies in access control to meet these constantly changing requirements; it addresses the need to incorporate building automation and other smart building capabilities into a single, streamlined infrastructure as more connected environments become the norm.

Standards-based open architecture also ensures that solutions can be easily upgraded to support changes in technology and applications—without ripping and replacing existing systems. Open hardware provides a streamlined path to move organizations from proprietary and/or obsolete systems to an open, flexible, and interoperable platform for systematic access control.

Facility Executive: How is this offering relevant to the work of facility management leaders? How will it help them achieve their goals?

Mercury Security: Consultants, integrators, and end-user organizations are increasingly demanding cybersecure systems that utilize industry-leading solutions that are optimized to meet the full range of their evolving technology requirements for access control. Open architecture hardware is the first critical step in making this possible. Additionally, open, access control systems are interoperable with widely available hardware platforms, so organizations can utilize a broad range of applications, software, technologies, and solutions from a variety of different manufacturers to achieve best of breed building security. This freedom of choice and flexibility is why organizations are increasingly moving to an open model—the key for ensuring increased ROI, scalability, and cybersecurity throughout the lifecycle of their access control system.Open Architecture Access Control

Embracing open architecture components at the controller hardware level will drive access control infrastructures that are scalable to meet current and future needs as the security industry evolves. This will be especially important for end user organizations seeking to simplify the integration of new access control technologies, elevator control, building automation, IoT applications, and third-party solutions into a common platform.

When trying to choose the right access control system, start by evaluating software providers that focus on cybersecurity and incorporate security-by-design practices. Mercury Security partners are best of breed technology companies that provide a wide range of solutions solving the most pressing security business challenges while maintaining best practices in IT and cybersecurity.

In a follow up interview, Matt Barnette, President of Mercury Security, provided further insight into his company’s Open Architecture for Access Controls, its impact on facility management operations, and related facilities trends. Click below to listen.