IEN: What innovations are in store for users in security equipment and systems?

Diodato: My observation is more along the lines of value-added ROI regarding the issuance of the security tag. Sometimes this can go a long way to convince the financial people to invest in security, since there are so many fringe benefits of installing an access control system.

From our vantage point in the security industry, we encounter the integration challenge everyday. Security systems and products are usually designed to be standalone or connected to other related systems such as CCTV or asset tracking. Recently the trend has been to broaden the base of "alien" systems or products to which security and access control is to be connected.

Everything centers on the badge (or tag, card, credential) carried by the employee. It is a unique identifier that can be used (if properly integrated) for many non-security-related processes. One in particular is a Quality Control process in an automotive plant. At specific points along the assembly line, a kiosk is available to an inspector to pass/fail a vehicle based on certain criteria. The employee's ID tag serves as the personnel identifier and the vehicle is tracked by VIN or temporary bar code sticker. Automatic vehicle and personnel identification streamlines the process and eliminates errors due to human error in the data entry process.

Likewise, material pull stations, vending machines for tools or medical supplies, Time and Attendance information stations, fuel and other liquid dispensing processes can be monitored and secured by utilizing the tag issued by the security department.

The devil, of course, is in the details. Your average vending machine, for example, would not inherently know how to read a security badge -- or how to communicate the history of activity to the responsible party. Luckily, a very simple protocol converter can often do the horribly complex task of translating the security information to the vending bus architecture as well as to an IT network.

Being aware of such converters can allow for easy integration planning without searching (or forcing) a vendor of one system to implement the features of another.

Another advantage is an evolutionary approach to system enhancement rather than total replacement.