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Our customers are curious: What are the top 5 access control trends of 2013? A lot of our existing and new customers are in the process of choosing a new access control system, or are in the process of upgrading their current access control system to suit their growing business. Before they invest in a new system, they often ask us about the upcoming access control trends. Like video surveillance, access control has come a long way in the last couple years and continues to grow and adapt with new technology. Many current access control systems are flexible and ready to adapt and grow with a thriving and expanding business.

According to an article titled, “Access Control Trends Point to a More Holistic Approach to Security,” by Kathleen Phillips, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Fargo Electronics, Inc, “The market for access control systems will continue to grow. Large corporations and government agencies that address the convergence of physical and logical security will need to upgrade their programs. But even greater growth could come on the lower end of the market. Currently, organizations with fewer than 500 employees may find it cost-prohibitive to implement a complete access control system. But new technologies…have brought the cost of implementing a card-based program down to a more reachable level for these organizations.”

Joel Griffin at SecurityInfowatch.com comments posted an article, “Roundtable Tehnology: Trends on the horizon in 2013,” in which he gives the Top 5 Access Control Trends in 2013 according to John Fenske, vice president of product marketing of HID Global:

1. “Frictionless” security. Speed and customer ease of use are key and so access control trends are gearing toward making security solutions that don’t slow users down. According to John Fenske, “Rather than make users carry separate cards, keys and tokens, the coming generation of frictionless solutions will embed these and other credentials inside Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled smartphones and other mobile devices.”

2. The use of mobile devices for access control will adapt and grow. Rather than using an access control swipe card, the new trend is to use NFC-enabled mobile devices, either handsets with secure elements or more typcially secured cell phones with current access control applications that allow a cell phone to be used as a NFC-enabled device. These devices will have control over card readers, “locks and other hardware that can read digital keys carried on these handsets,” John Fenske.

3. “Mobile will co-exist with cards.” John Fenske says it’s unlikely that smartphones will completely replace physical smart cards in 2013. More likely businesses and organizations will be able to implement a combination of choices: smart cards, mobile devices, or both within their access control system.

4. “Access control convergence,” John Fenske. Businesses and users want a single credential for “entering the building, logging onto the network, accessing applications and other systems, and gaining remote access to secure networks without needing a one-time password, token or key fob,” and one that is cost efficient and reduces deployment.

5. Improvments in card technology. Layers are going to be added to today’s gold standard for access control applications. The smart cards and badges of today will be enhanced with additional features (layers) of additional digital and visual security: images of higher resolution, and unalterable personalization attributes.

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*You can view Kathleen Phillips full article here: http://www.ien.com/article/access-control-trends/3092

*You can view Joel Griffin’s article, “Roundtable Trends on the Horizon in 2013,” here: http://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/10849648/roundtable-technology-trends-on-the-horizon-in-2013