Rethink Credentials

Rethink Credentials

  • By
  • May 16, 2023

Access control readers have been around commercially since the 1980s, along with physical badge credentials to open doors. Initially, these were magstripes, then proximity cards, then smart cards. The problem is, however is, these are still cards. Plastic cards that identify who you are, and where you work. In a world where technology is being innovated faster than ever before more sustainable alternatives are required.

The smartphone has provided the ultimate handheld user experience without which no one can leave their home. Now holding the ability to store keys and access buildings, businesses and university campuses have no choice but to keep up with the times and implement mobile access credentials instead of the traditional plastic credentials that face the risk of being lost and stolen and cost organizations time and money.

Do You Still Need a Badge and Reader to Open a Door?
Physical credentials have always meant physical wired readers needed to accompany them, creating a double cost.

Many companies have shifted to incorporate multi-technology readers into their product mix to provide a migration pathway from cards to mobile access, this solution adds further ‘upgrade’ cost. Up until now, mobile access has still required an access control reader.

Turning Access Control on its Head with Readerless Technology
Sentry Access uses the user’s smartphone’s NFC to perform the role of the reader by verifying the credential with the help of the wireless Sentry Access NFC tile interacting with Sentry interactive’s cloud infrastructure, the buildings controller and the access control server.

Effectively, the Sentry Access wireless self-powered NFC tile takes the role of the fob or keycard in a traditional access control sense. The user’s credential is registered as a secure digital key for the specific doors they have been granted access to, preventing unauthorized users from gaining entry.

Sentry mobile access is inherently more secure than a physical credential which can be easily lost, shared, stolen or cloned. If a smartphone is lost or stolen it fails over into a secure state, as is supported by multi-layered authentication through biometric fingerprint or facial recognition to unlock.

Badgeless, Readerless and Frictionless
Sentry Interactive offers customers a frictionless cloud-based access control platform, providing mobile access credentials to keep the company safe and secure. The mobile credential removes the PII concerns, creating a safe and secure user experience for the employee.

With Sentry Access, Sentry Interactive innovates access control, enhances user experience, and strips out the need for readers, and the hardware and installation costs associated with them.

This article originally appeared in the May / June 2023 issue of Security Today.

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