PSIA introduces access control, intrusion detection profiles

The Physical Security Interoperability Alliance this week announced the availability of its first access control and intrusion detection profiles, as well as a tool to determine whether or not a manufacturer’s products are compliant.

According to a statement, the profiles will enable manufacturers to "easily and quickly" adopt specifications from PSIA by complying with a smaller subset of interoperability requirements. In addition, the PSIA says that the testing tool with give security integrators and end-users confidence that products complying with the profiles will work well together.

"We’re excited to introduce the first working profiles and test tool to the physical security industry," said David Bunzel, executive director, the PSIA. "These profiles will enable a very wide range of vendors to quickly and affordably comply with PSIA specifications and expand plug-and-play compatibility across the security ecosystem.”

Both the PSIA Access Control and Intrusion Detection Profiles draw their data elements from the PSIA’s broader Area Control Specification.

"The PSIA's Area Control specification is very deep and encompasses many combinations of security use cases," said Larry Lien, chairman of the PSIA, and vice president of product management for Proximex, a Tyco International Company.  "The Profiles enable vendors with narrower use cases to easily comply with our specs and guarantee product interoperability."

The PSIA Profiles Test Tool encompasses two distinct testers that simulate both "host" side systems as well as "device" side systems for profiles compliance.

"Its simulation capabilities make the test tool invaluable in helping vendors test and validate their PSIA compliance throughout the design and development phases of a product," said Neelendra Bhandari, engineering manager for Honeywell Security.

The PSIA Profiles Working Group includes Assa Abloy, HID Global, Honeywell, Ingersoll Rand/Schlage, Inovonics, Kastle Systems, Mercury Security, Proximex and UTC/Lenel. Kastle’s CTO and executive vice president Mohammad Soleimani chairs the group.

"Consultants, integrators and end users demand great certainty that products incorporating a specification will interoperate as promised and deliver the benefits they expect," said Soleimani. "The Access Control Profile and the Intrusion Detection Profile, plus the test tool, deliver this confidence by virtually ensuring that two or more profiles compliant-and-tested products will work together flawlessly."

For more information about the profiles, visit http://psialliance.org/Profiles.html.