The Proprietary Trap
Open Architecture 101 as it generally relates to access control and security technology
- By Steve Fisher
- Sep 01, 2014
The word “open” brings a
certain degree of cache
to discussions regarding
computing technologies.
Generally used to describe
a degree of availability and interoperability
around both software and hardware,
it’s the de facto standard for most
network and computing equipment as
we can purchase hard drives, keyboards
and other devices designed to operate in
an ad-hoc or a-la-carte manner from any
wide array of providers.
It wasn’t always like this, however.
A History of Proprietary to Open
The entire computing world at one
time was strictly proprietary. In other
words, the election to use one piece of
software or hardware dictated the requirement
to get additional expansion
and support from the single provider
for the lifetime of that purchase. With
the advent of the personal computer
and the standardization of Windows as
a common networking and enterprise
platform—what was once the private
domain of IBM and only a few others
became the domain of anyone.
This change in processing naturally
found its way into the integrated security
equipment industry, which was totally
proprietary at the time. By now, commercially
available computers could be
purchased anywhere.
Next, was the “opening” of data.
Once the market realized the inherent
value in breaking away from overpriced,
proprietary computers, they demanded
more flexibility. The industry complied
by providing openly available databases
and structures that allowed customers or
third parties to share the data.
The concept of open architecture
in the security world moved quantum
leaps forward with HID’s introduction
to the market with a common, inexpensive
standard Wiegand proximity line of
readers and cards. Now, the market enjoyed
the value of purchasing computers
of their choice as well as compatible card
and reader technology that served to
open the market away from proprietary
bit formats on cards and
proprietary readers.
Today, the most important move in
the security integration equipment sector,
specifically as it relates to access
control, is the mammoth move toward
being able to claim some degree of open
architecture within one’s system offering.
Some providers are perfectly comfortable
explaining to customers that
they are open architecture because they
allow customers to purchase computers,
enterprise databases, cards and readers
from any other source while maintaining
a proprietary lock on the single most
expensive element of the access control
system, the field-based controlling hardware.
Others have gone so far as to invent
proprietary web servers to place on the
network and label them as “network appliances,”
assuming that the acceptance
of such should go without question.
The truth of the matter, though, is being
well-camouflaged by providers that
want to use the term “open” in the marketing
of their product while they creatively
fight off any future competition
by ensnaring a customer into a proprietary
model. Unfortunately for the customer
and our industry as a whole, the
truth will not become available until the
customer becomes frustrated and begins
to look for other options.
Preaching and Demonstrating
the Value
Since 1997, Open Options has been
preaching and demonstrating the value
of having an open architecture system to
customers. Because of this, a few industry
veterans recognized the increasing
value in being open and set a course to
fulfill the value offering of open architecture
within the access control industry.
Mercury Security, as well as a couple of
others, set out on a business mission of
providing a truly open field-controlling
hardware panel set. The others have since
fallen out of favor, so Mercury enjoys the
result of having in excess of one million
control boards in their combined install
base—vastly surpassing any of the single
proprietary companies offerings—as
well as having in excess of a dozen active
software development firms writing controlling
software to work in conjunction
with the field hardware offering.
Customers now have the option to
purchase open computers, storage devices,
cards, readers and controlling field
hardware from many available outlets, in
direct contrast to proprietary offerings
that limit customers to dealing with only
one provider. Due to the sensitive nature
of security, the “keys to the castle” cannot
be made as openly available as commercial
and consumer products, but they
do not have to be single source proprietary,
either. The security industry, therefore,
must continue to develop standards
and strive to open those venues that provide
customer value while providing protection
so that the castle’s keys are not
openly available to the general public.
With the installation of Mercury
hardware the customer can rest assured
that they have numerous options in software
providers that can work in conjunction
with the hardware, which is in direct
contrast to the customer that opts to
purchase proprietary hardware from the
proprietary carriers.
Buzz Words Debunked
Since we have marginally defined open
architecture as it relates to the access
control industry, we should dive into the
facts surrounding the buzz of terms like
“web-enabled” and “network appliance”
that are so flippantly thrown around.
Many of these systems claim, “With
this web-enabled network appliance, you
don’t need to load any software.” Really?
As a general rule, few, if any, software
programs or software programmers are
perfect. All available operating systems
issue numerous patches throughout the
lifetime of the product.
Most providers stress that any internet
browser can run their software, yet
fail to mention that the software itself is
proprietary. In this case, something camouflaged
as an open product indeed lays
the proprietary trap so that these providers
can “lock customers in.”
Proprietary hardware and software
is anything but open architecture in the
design of an access control system. Sure,
one can run their browser on their open
architecture computer to control open
architecture readers but everything in
between is proprietary to the core. Others misuse the term “open” by simple
misrepresentation led about by their
company’s integration of other third
party systems. Just because integration
at the software level is possible with
other software does not mean that you
have an open architecture system.
More Than a Concept
Open architecture in access control is
more than a concept. It is a set of operational
constraints that restrict to
the minimum any core element of the
entire system that cannot be sourced
from others. In today’s truly open architecture
offerings, the software will
always remain proprietary; however, it
constitutes the single, least expensive element
of an access control system and
can be readily replaced without removing
or manipulating a single piece of
hardware. The customer can move forward
knowing that 95 percent of their
investment in system topology and architecture
is secure from planned and
expensive obsolescence by the provider.
There are numerous demonstrable
examples of the value to the customer
in open architecture. In one situation,
some customers purchased systems
that actually contained open architecture
hardware from Mercury, yet it was
sold as proprietary. These disgruntled
customers quickly learned that numerous
software products were available
to control that hardware and hundreds
of entire systems had been migrated to
different software and providers. Under
this open architecture constraint,
the software provider is incentivized
to provide only the best solution, so
the development emphasis is placed on
providing the best software product.
Recent acquisitions within the access
control industry have led to the
obsolescence of one of the major proprietary
vendors. With thousands of
systems in place, others look to find
ways and methods to keep those unfortunate
customers locked in. Others
are working diligently to provide those
customers with a ready solution as long
as they are willing to be locked in with
them. True to their core, Mercury Security
has seen the problem and addressed
it with a direct board replacement. This
solution opens those systems, so that
customers can no longer be dictated to
in terms of support expenses, system
additions, etc.
In other words, some proprietary
vendors are more than anxious to solve
this obsolescence with a proprietary offering
of their own, thereby offering the
customer the chance to jump out of one
proprietary skillet into another proprietary
fire. Using the Mercury Security
solution, the customer moves beyond
this trap of proprietary hardware into a
modern system with modern functionality,
features, and most importantly, a
dynamic future of enhancements, network
compatibility and options.
Open Options works to help customers
that are in the proprietary
trap of planned obsolescence to step
forward with the least expensive option,
save large investments into their
formerly proprietary system and move
forward with advanced technology of
mobile interfaces.
There’s a considerable amount of
marketing hype in the security industry
regarding open architecture and network
appliances. The two are not necessarily
the same, and in many cases, are fundamentally
different. Buyer beware.
This article originally appeared in the September 2014 issue of Security Today.