By Damon Dageenakis
From the October 2024 Issue
Controller technology is increasingly important for enabling versatile processing close to the security decision point in today’s access-control infrastructure. This requires expanding the power and storage available on the hardware and increasing the options for developers to create new solutions. With these capabilities, the latest controllers can connect to a wider range of sensors and, because they don’t rely on upstream network communication, they can run diverse and sophisticated apps locally with high performance. This allows them to execute complex procedures in real-time using advanced analytics at the edge.
Adding these capabilities also enables disparate sensor-based systems to be integrated into one unified solution for enhanced security, efficient management, and innovative building capabilities. Achieving these capabilities with an existing access control infrastructure requires intelligent controllers that can leverage open architectures to improve upgrade flexibility. The resulting ROI, scalability, and cybersecurity benefits are delivered throughout a longer life cycle, and the transition can be accomplished while still supporting legacy solutions for optimal flexibility.
Unlocking The Edge
Today’s intelligent controllers provide a bridge between urgent and immediate security needs and tomorrow’s emerging opportunities and realities. Their use of a modern containerized architecture, application-ready platform, and Application Programming Interface (API)-based interface simplifies the development and deployment of new features at the security edge, now and in the future.
Controllers based on an open platform accelerate this security evolution, offering reliability and continuity with a longer lifecycle and simplified integration and management. By incorporating vulnerability scanning, compliance-ready technology, and secure boot, these controllers also ensure trusted code at the edge.
Upgrading to next-generation controller technology delivers these new capabilities and a simplified path to future upgrades as well as continuous integration at scale. It also increases ROI by reducing integration costs and minimizing the impact of migration. Being able to integrate third-party applications ensures users aren’t “locked in” to current capabilities and can instead support new functionality over time with unlimited options, flexibility, and freedom to choose products, systems, and integrations. This is accomplished through a common application and interface, without the need for a complete rip-and-replace overhaul.
Planning A Migration
The selected controller hardware should support standards ranging from Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP) and BACnet to PSIA, MQTT, and a variety of networking protocols.
When controllers also leverage a future-ready third-party app development environment within them, this further simplifies and expands integrations while putting control of each integration into the hands of those who are implementing the technology.
The controllers should also be supported by an ecosystem of OEM partners, so they easily integrate with complementary devices that are natural companions in the access-control infrastructure, including wireless locks, intrusion detection products, and elevator solutions that work together within the system. As devices are added to the ecosystem, organizations have more options to add features that build upon their previous integrations and upgrade investments.
Once an organization standardizes on an open-architecture controller, it can benefit from both existing and future supported devices and integrations within the ecosystem through a simple firmware or app update. Many organizations with legacy infrastructure worry that upgrading to these capabilities will severely disrupt operations during the transition. The latest controllers eliminate this issue.
Smoothing The Transition From Legacy Infrastructure
Many, if not most, of today’s installed controllers have been on the wall for a decade or more. They may perform as originally intended but if they aren’t proactively upgraded, they may need to be upgraded unexpectedly either because of a security breach or when they reach End of Life (EoL) and are no longer supported.
For those worried that the transition will wreak operational havoc, the latest controllers alleviate these concerns by operating in “legacy mode.” They emulate the prior generation product through backwards compatibility, enabling older controllers to be rotated out of service in phases rather than all at once. Delivered through firmware, this emulation capability is also valuable during future upgrades.
Further simplifying upgrades, the physical design of all new controllers has the same footprint as previous product generations, so the transition requires only a seamless board swap. There is no fear of a forced upgrade from a prior generation product family. Organizations can implement upgrades at their own pace.
Other Considerations
As with any security solution, a multi-layered approach is critical when deploying controller upgrades. All products must be designed, built, and integrated with a cybersecurity perspective in mind, from the ground up. The controller developer must operate with the policy of a secure design lifecycle, from the processors to the firmware, APIs, and Software Development Kit (SDK). Controllers must leverage the latest encryption and other standards and capabilities that IT departments demand of all network elements, and incorporate the highest levels of data security, the latest feature sets, and modern network protections. Companion IO modules should support bus encryption and the OSDP and OSDP Secure Channel for high-end AES-128 encryption.
As open-architecture controllers evolve to execute complex procedures in real-time using advanced analytics at the edge, they will strengthen security in a future-proof PACS edge-computing solution that can support dynamic operations. This same PACS solution increases security today while providing a vibrant third-party application development environment that enables access-control infrastructure expansion at the speed of software without any forced timetable or “rip-and-replace” costs and complexity.
Dageenakis has spent the past 22 years in the security industry, with 18 of those years bringing high-tech security and technology solutions, including hardware/firmware, software, and SDK/APIs, to market at HID. He has managed the majority of HID’s physical-access products, including readers, credentials, and controllers. In his current role, he leads the controller value steam, including the Mercury product line.
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