Farpointe Data readers and credentials certified by SIA as OSDP-compliant

San Jose, Calif., USA - March 2, 2020 – Farpointe Data, the access control industry's OEM for RFID credentials and readers, today announced that the Security Industry Association's (SIA) approved Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP), which was recently made a global standard by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and can be used by any manufacturer, has become a major requested feature on Farpointe's mobile, contactless smart card and proximity readers. OSDP provides interoperability among various companies’ access control and security products card readers, door controllers and other peripherals at secured access doors/gates.

"Farpointe is honored to be among the first three manufacturers to have earned the SIA’s new OSDP Verified mark on its mobile, contactless smartcard and proximity solutions, " advises Scott Lindley, general manager of Farpointe Data. "SIA and IEC encourage broad implementation of the OSDP standard and integrators are following through. The recommendation is to specify OSDP for any access control installations that require real security such as government and other higher-security settings.”

With OSDP, all the functions which used to require many physical conductors in the cable run between the reader installed at the physical door location and the access control panel can be fully implemented using just two data wires.

"Customers especially appreciate that OSDP provides the transfer of large data sets for firmware updates," adds Lindley. "It also fosters clearer instructions for the implementation of SecureChannel, the OSDP encryption piece, to facilitate encrypted communications and updated messages for handling smartcard applications within the protocol. OSDP importantly offers the option of secured, two-way encrypted communications between reader and controller. This is independent of the encryption between credential and reader, building trust and confidence.

"Also, significant to highlight, OSDP is a real SIA and IEC approved industry standard," emphasizes Lindley. "It is not a piece of technology owned by any company and, thus, not proprietary. Today, it is an open standard that is global in scope and available for use by any manufacturer."