|
«When expanding the access control system at a geographically distributed facility, the customer required that all parts of the system interact via the existing Ethernet network (TCP/IP) at the facility without laying additional cable routes between the ACS controllers. In addition, a strict condition was set for preserving the identifiers already used at the facility — readers and cards with the simultaneous possibility of using other types of identifiers at new control points. Are there any offers on the market for an optimal solution to such problems? Alexander GOLYNSKY, entrepreneur, Ukraine»
Evgeny KIN, head of the representative office of Nedap N.V. Security Management in Russia, answers the reader's question
At the moment, the ACS market is intensively developing the Ethernet network interface (TCP/IP) for communication between the functional modules of the system, the advantage of which lies primarily in its industrial standardization and global prevalence. ACS manufacturers who are now focusing their developments on the network protocol are constantly provided with improvements and new technologies that appear with the development of network standards in the IT industry. Ultimately, this gives them an advantage when considering the tasks of integration with other information systems at the facility or, say, convergence with the user authentication system for access to the facility's information resources. There is another important aspect — savings on system installation. When ACS elements work with each other over an existing network at the facility, there is no need to lay numerous additional communications to ensure the functioning of the system as a single whole. If we are talking about a geographically distributed system or replacing an existing ACS at a large facility with a new one, then this «mathematics» will manifest itself especially clearly.
Let us note once again that at the moment we are talking specifically about the connection between the ACS controllers, and not the connection between the controller and the system server. And it is here that the standard implementation of Ethernet (TCP/IP) based on the Linux OS in the Nedap AEOS IP controllers of the AP8001x/480Xx series provides an advantage in organizing this interaction. The main idea is to organize a territorially distributed access control system using a network protocol to ensure, for example, the «global antipassback» mode in the entire system or to ensure a response to the triggering of a sensor «accountable» to one controller on an actuator controlled by another controller in the network. In this case, the entire process occurs regardless of the availability of the system server in the network at the moment.
It is the presence of a fully implemented Ethernet protocol in Nedap AEOS IP controllers that allows them to communicate directly with each other, rather than through a server, while implementing a minimal network load at the facility. The presence of «peer-to-peer» peer-to-peer communications between controllers also allows for the creation and loading of full-fledged virtual scenarios into the controllers in advance — complex reactions of the system, a group of controllers when certain threats appear from the outside. In previous generation systems, this task was usually solved using upper-level software by implementing a certain reaction apparatus launched on the ACS server, which in itself is a fairly vulnerable component of the system.
When upgrading or expanding an ACS at a facility, in most cases the customer puts forward at least one, but very strict requirement: the employee passes must remain the same. And indeed, often the cost of replacing cards for thousands of employees of a large industrial enterprise or a company with a multi-branch structure more than covers the cost of replacing all the ACS equipment at the facility. In addition to the purely technical issue of replacing some identifiers with others, there is a real organizational headache for security personnel associated with the physical confiscation of all old passes from employees and the planned distribution of new ones.
For Nedap, as one of the world's leading ACS manufacturers, this problem arose far from yesterday, and at present the Nedap AEOS system offers a complete solution to the issue of preserving (or smoothly replacing) user passes when replacing the customer's existing system.
Nedap AEOS interface modules for third-party readers of the AP1003/6003/4X03 series are capable of supporting virtually all readers available on the market after preliminary configuration. In addition to readers with the most popular Wiegand and Data'Clock interfaces, devices with RS232, RS485, Omron and MagStripe interfaces can be connected to them. The library of behavioral components for these modules (embedded software) contains more than 80 types of various formats for readers with the specified interfaces.
Taking this opportunity, I would like to invite all interested readers of the magazine to the first free presentation seminar on the Nedap AEOS IP access control and security management system. The seminar will be held on October 29, 2009 in Moscow, in the conference hall of the Holiday Inn Moscow Sokolniki Hotel, st. Rusakovskaya, 24. For detailed information and to apply for the seminar, please send your request to ruseminar@nedap or contact the Russian representative office of Nedap Security Management by phone: +7 495 662 8984, nedap-securitymanagement
|
