Developments in access control technology have led to such systems playing an ever more central role in the creation of smart integrated solutions. As a result, user demand has risen for security systems which are simple to install and configure, flexible and scalable enough to meet and exceed a variety of site requirements, able to integrate with other systems and which deliver a high degree of resilience and efficiency in the field. Bosch claims the Access Management System meets these demands.
Modern businesses and organisations demand integrated solutions which deliver security, site management benefits and business efficiencies. These advanced solutions must meet a number of criteria if they are to exceed customer expectations.
With the increased use of access control systems in such solutions, integrators and installers are seeking systems which are easy to install and configure, offer full scalability and the ability to integrate with other security solutions such as video surveillance, perimeter protection and intrusion detection systems.
Access control systems need to be highly resilient and always available. With the introduction of Access Management System, Bosch claims it has addressed these needs.
A simpler approach
The customer experience is designed to be as effortless and as simple as possible. Specifying the system is straightforward, as the software is offered in three pre-configured bundles. Lite supports up to 144 doors, Plus manages up to 512 doors and Professional supports up to 10,000 doors. All three versions can manage up to 200,000 credentials.
Configuration is simple by design. Existing floor maps can be imported into the system and icons representing access controllers, doors, cameras, security detectors and other building objectsare dragged and dropped onto the map.
Adding of users is straightforward, as enrolment and assignment of access profiles are all implemented in one GUI screen. Operation is also easy as the GUI is intuitive. It uses a dark colour scheme to reduce eye-strain and fatigue, making it operator-friendly. In addition, the colours of the Access Management System GUI are aligned with those of the Bosch Video Management System GUI, making integrations seamless for operators.
Scalable and future-proof
Users can add extra capacity whenever necessary. The Access Management System can be expanded without the need to replace hardware. All that is required are software upgrades and additional controllers, readers and cards. Therefore, increasing system size is cost-efficient. As it is regularly updated with the data security enhancements, it is a future-proof investment.
To ensure resilience and system availability, the Access Management System includes the Master Access Controller (MAC) as an additional layer of resilience between the server and the access controllers. If the server fails, the MAC takes over and ensures the controllers still communicate with each other and share necessary information from the card readers. Functions including anti-passback and guard tour can still be performed.
If the Access Management System server and the MAC fail, cardholders can still enter and leave areas with their badges because the database is stored directly on the controllers. This offline capability also allows the system to retain millions of events, even if the system is down.
Threat level management
Up to 15 configurable threat levels such as lockdown, controlled lockdown or evacuation, allow safety measures to be initiated quickly in critical situations. The threat level state is activated by one of three triggers: an operator action, emergency button use, or configured emergency cards being presented to a reader.
Threat levels can be configured for different actions,such as opening or locking all doors, or a mix of open and locked. Individual doors can also have their own security profile and allow only certain cardholders access.
To protect against cybercrime and loss of data, the database and communications between the server and access controllers are encrypted at all stages through support of the secure Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP) v2 protocol.
Access Management System also uses trusted digital certificates for mutual authentication between the server and client and uses secure design principles. These include ‘secured by default’, ensuring it is secure from the configuration stage.
