Providing the Next Generation Access Control Systems

Q: In which industries is HID Global most present in the Mexican market?

A: There are six business areas within HID Global. I belong to the Physical Access Control Solutions business area, which mostly serves the banking, airport, manufacturing and education industries in Latin America. Examples of customers that we work with include banks to invest in real estate, airport that seek to expand, and ports, corporate and manufacturing clients that wish to upgrade their physical access solutions. 

Q: How has access control evolved in times of COVID-19?

A: Products using contactless technology for “touchless” access (especially using mobile phones) are definitely booming among our customers. Mobile access has been in our portfolio for several years and it helps companies be prepared to go back to work by reducing employee touch points. It is called HID Mobile Access, powered by our Seos technology.  To meet evolving and future industry requirements, we created a card with a microprocessor and an operating system. Thus, the Seos card was born, which allows the Seos operating system to be stored in the phone’s internal memory. This allows users to have a mobile ID card using a secure Bluetooth or NFC channel. It is a secure solution but also very convenient because it can be used with most smartphones in the market, including iOS and Android. 

Q: What are the additional benefits of using the smartphone for access control instead of biometrics like face recognition?

A: Most smartphones today can be unlocked by a biometric process, such as fingerprint or facial recognition. Our technology is complementary to that since the biometric to unlock the phone adds another layer of security. Administrators can choose the option of only granting access to the building if the smartphone is unlocked. As a result, if a person finds your phone or steals it, they cannot use it to access any building. 

Bluetooth technology allows a distance of up to 10m. However, we know that there are elements that can block the signal and we ensure a distance of 6.5m. We have two ways to send the mobile ID to smartphones. The first one is through the Tap mode, which can identify users from a distance of no more than 10cm. This method is ideal for pedestrian accesses. For vehicle accesses, however, it is convenient to have a wider spectrum for access controls to detect the cards inside the vehicle. One of the advantages of Bluetooth is that it works at 2.4 GHz, a frequency that can even penetrate armored glass, which is not possible with other identification technology. 

Q: What differentiates HID Global from its competitors?

A: We are pioneers and market leaders in physical access control solutions. Millions of doors are opened every month using our technology. Our products are ISO 27001-certified, which allows us to offer a service guarantee in the Software License Agreement (SLA) of 99.96 percent operability. We also have more than 300 engineers supporting the application.

At HID Global, we exclusively offer multispectral fingerprint technology, which can detect the subcutaneous layers of the skin even through latex gloves.

HID Global is an American manufacturer of secure identification products. The company is an independent brand of Assa Abloy, a Swedish door and access control conglomerate