This article originally appeared in the February 2020 issue of Security Business magazine. When sharing, don’t forget to mention @SecBusinessMag!
In the smart home category, to my eye, it felt like access control - believe it or not - was the dominant product on the floor. It is usually one of the first products you run into in a smart home, and I ran into no less than 15 companies displaying smart locksets, with the majority featuring some form of biometric authentication.
Many of the companies showcasing these products are based in Europe or Asia, so they may be unfamiliar to the seasoned North American security integrator; however, some of these traditional European models are making their way across the Atlantic.
One such brand - Danalock - made its North American debut at CES 2020 in the Salto Systems kiosk within the Z-Wave Alliance pavilion. Salto’s Colin Dupree said that the Danalock products also marks the beginning of Salto’s foray into the North American residential access control market, whereas Salto has focused primarily on enterprise and commercial applications in the past.
I also caught up with the team at Kwikset, whose new Halo Smart Touch lock was generating a lot of buzz. The product’s dominant feature is a fingerprint reader that can store up to 100 fingerprints. A company spokesperson told me that all the fingerprints are stored on the lock itself as opposed to the cloud, to keep the data secure.
Another interesting take came from SecuRam - a traditional safe lock manufacturer - which showcased its new fingerprint smart deadbolt. The interesting part was that it included fingerprint, keypad and traditional key access in the same device. The company also displayed some multi-family and commercial locks, but according to the sales rep I spoke with, most of the product have found a foothold in Europe and are just now emerging in the North American market.
Hampton Products announced extensive additions to its smart home line – including cameras, video doorbells, lighting and control products – but in the access control category, showcased the new Array Revive Connected Deadbolt, which provides smart door lock technology to residents who must keep their existing exterior deadbolts in place and use a landlord’s traditional, metal keys.
Other companies showcasing smart locksets that I saw on the floor included Yale, Schlage, Hugolo, Alfred and more.
Biometric-enabled padlocks was another booming category on the show floor. I caught up with a familiar company in our industry, Tapplock, which showcased its CES Award winning Tapplock lite, the company'sthird and newest smart padlock. The product features an adaptive algorithm that allows the lock to become faster and more accurate with each use, and it can store up to 100 fingerprints to allow multiple users to access the lock. The company also showed off the Tapplock one+, which features a 7mm reinforced stainless-steel shackle and an IP67 waterproof rating that allows the lock to function even when completely submerged.
Hampton's Benjolock was another exhibitor in this category, with a new biometric bike U-lock, as well as biometric cabinet/drawer locks and the BenjiLock 43mm padlock and TSA travel/luggage lock.
Commercial Access Control
For products in the commercial market, I caught up with Seco-Larm, which was showing off its Enforcer Bluetooth access control keypad with corresponding app. Alex Aaron demoed the app for me, which should enable end-users to easily program access control keypads. He told me to expect to see this product much more prominently in March at ISC West.
Additionally, HID Global was performing a fascinating demo of Ultra Wideband (UWB) wireless technology and how it can replace traditional access control cards. Check out a quick video of the demo at www.securityinfowatch.com/21120731.
Paul Rothman is Editor-in-Chief of Security Business magazine (www.securitybusinessmag.com). Email him your comments or topic suggestions at [email protected].
