By: Gavin O’Keeffe, Global Technical Director, PACOM
It doesn’t seem that long ago that Barcode and Magstripe card technologies were the main types of credential used to determine the authenticity of a cardholder. Then came the move towards RFID, which served the industry for the best part of two decades – albeit with different variants.
Over the last two or three years we have seen a significant change in authentication types with the introduction of Biometric devices. Initially they had limited acceptance but nowadays they are far more readily purchased in the market – no doubt as the adoption of the same type of authentication has been offered to and undertaken by users of Apple and Android phones.
But the industry has also seen the rapid rise of alternative access solutions including mobile phones which use BLE (Bluetooth Technology) to transmit card numbers; cameras to automatically detect a vehicle’s license plate on entry at a boom gate; and, most recently, facial recognition where a camera can determine unique facial characteristics of a cardholder and accurately identify them.
In all these cases, one thing has remained constant – the access control system is still the gate keeper and determines whether a person is permitted or denied access. And a good access control solution provider should be able to offer a customer all of the above technologies so they have choice as to which solution best fits the needs of their environment.
One of the reasons Pacom has been leading the industry for over 35 years is because we are constantly evolving and investing in the very latest technology. In early 2019 Pacom is uniting with our sister organisation, 3XLOGIC, in order to provide unparalleled facial recognition technology that will provide users with a highly secure and accurate non-invasive form of entry at any location.
Look out for our new product announcements in the New Year, exciting times and prospects ahead.
