GPSJ Autumn 2024 ONLINE - Flipbook - Page 42
GPSJ
SECURITY & ACCESS CONTROL
Open Standards
Jaroslav Barton, HID’s product marketing manager for physical access control in Europe looks at
the importance of open standards to deliver smarter, more efficient buildings which support a modern
hybrid workforce
Jaroslav Barton , HID Global
Open champions
It was a hugely successful Olympics
Games 2024 in Paris for Novak
Djokovic - the 37 year old Serbian
star - having won his first gold
medal by defeating Carlos Alcaraz
in the men’s singles final. Djokovic
achieves a feat known as a career
Golden Slam, an accolade given
to players who win all four major
Grand Slam singles titles plus an
Olympic gold. He joins only an elite
few to have ever done it, namely
Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Serena
Williams and Steffi Graf.
Which begs the question as to
why the famous tournaments - the
French Open, Australian Open and
US Open – are called like this? The
answer dates back to 1968—the
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beginning of the so-called ‘Open
Era’ of tennis—when all players
(both amateurs and professional)
were allowed to take part in the
same competitions. Matches were
open to all, ending a division dating
back to 1926 which had split the
sport into two: prestigious amateur
events comprising Grand Slams and
pro-only tournaments where players
won prize money.
And talking of an open era, 52
years after tennis became more
universally accessible to players,
the access control industry has
done something similar. While
interoperability has been on the
agenda for some time, in 2020,
OSDP finally became an International
Electrical Commission (IEC)
standard. Developed by the SIA to
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL AUTUMN 2024
improve integration among access
control and security products,
OSDP is an ‘open’ standard driving
development in the Corporate Real
Estate sector, particularly when it
comes to smart buildings.
This is significant. Fortune
Business Insights predicts that the
global smart building market size will
grow from $96.96 billion in 2023 to
$408.21 billion by 2030 - a CAGR
of 22.8% during the forecast period.
An open access control
architecture is integral to facilitating
this. Irrespective of the manufacturer,
OSDP-enabled readers and
OSDP-compatible door controllers
mean that customers aren’t locked
into any one vendor or proprietary
communications protocol. By
leveraging the latest encryption
technologies offered by OSDP
(which guarantees security), systems
can therefore be easily combined to
fulfil specific commercial, operational
and worker needs. This is enhanced
if manufacturers then offer open
APIs and software development
kits to third-party solution providers
and installers as this helps with the
integration and roll-out process.
Converged solutions are smart
In other words, ‘open’ access
control solutions can be combined
with a whole range of other
applications—a convergence of
systems which make up smart
buildings: heating, ventilation, air
conditioning, lighting, lifts, car and
bicycle parking, office focused
