Physical Security Interoperability Alliance (PSIA) hosted a special interoperability event with seven companies involved in the access control market, demonstrating the emerging Public Key Open Credential (PKOC) specification.
The Interoperability Validation Testing was hosted at Convergint’s facility in Centennial, Colorado and featured products from ELATEC, Kastle Systems, JCI, Last Lock, rf IDEAS, SAFR Scan (RealNetworks), and Sentry Enterprises.
PKOC Specifications
David Bunzel, PSIA Executive Director, noted,
“We recognize that access cards are not going to go away in the near future and having an open credential, like PKOC, on a card provides an effective means to support this market need. The SentryCard was part of the PSIA’s interoperability testing and not only easily integrated PKOC, but demonstrated the interoperability needed in the access control market.”
PKOC is a very exciting initiative, providing a free, interoperable credential, which will usher in a new era in the security market. PKOC has specifications supporting both NFC cards and BLE for mobile credentials.
“Sentry Enterprises is a proud member of PSIA and strongly believes in the organization’s goal of creating greater interoperability in access control.”, said John Calzaretta, the President of Sentry Enterprises.
“The PKOC specification addresses key industry challenges related to complexity, cost, and security. When combined with SentryCard’s absolute proof of identity, the PKOC standard will help to usher in a new era of innovation in physical security.” noted Calzaretta.
PKOC at GSX
PKOC will be demonstrated at GSX in a couple of venues. JCI will be hosting a PKOC demonstration in the JCI Innovation Room, D221, which will include devices from the above companies as well as IDEMIA.
“PKOC solves long standing industry challenge which has plagued our industry with complexity, cost, and security issues related to credentials.” says Jason M. Ouellette, Director of Engineering at Johnson Controls Inc., (JCI) Security Products, and Chairman of the PSIA.
“Interest in PKOC has accelerated and we are excited as PSIA members to demonstrate this in the context of interoperability across readers, credential smart cards and biometric devices which can be utilized on multiple physical access control systems. It is simple, but works and you have to see it in action to appreciate the true benefits of an open and interoperable solution!”
PKI level authentication
With PKOC, interoperability is simple, the credential is secure with PKI level authentication and there is no cost for a PKOC compatible credential. PKOC is now offered as BLE Mobile and NFC plastic card, proving asymmetric PKI level authentication can be truly portable to all transport modalities. I am eager to see how this ecosystem expands once the word gets out.
Security industry professionals attending GSX are able to set an appointment to see PKOC in demonstrated in the JCI Innovation Room, D221, up until September 7, 2023. Email: [email protected].
The PSIA has been active in developing and promoting open specifications that support interoperability in the physical and logical security industries. Industry publication, Security Technology Executive, declares interoperability “The Next Great Phase of Physical Access Control.” SecurityInfoWatch.com expounds on the predicted demand for PACS interoperability by saying, visit: psialliance.org
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Source: psialliance.org