Here is an access control view from Anu-Leena Arola of wireless access control product company Idesco Oy.
Q: What has been your reaction to this shift in your industry.
A: Idesco was the first manufacturer to develop and market an entire family of wireless access control reader products emphasising not merely the integration of recycled materials but, much more importantly, the low power consumption of our products as well; ergo the old adage, imitation is the highest form of flattery.
Q: Doesnโt this put a new level of pressure on your company now the worldโs the largest RFID companies are jostling to compete against you?
A:Yes and no. Finland has historically had unique advantages in both RFID research and development as well as environmentally-friendly technology solutions. In many instances Finland has enacted laws, guidelines or incentives regarding recycling and environmental sensitivity in manufacturing that are significantly more progressive than in other countries. Our near total dependence on foreign energy has lent significant momentum to our pursuit of energy efficient technology. And fundamentally, I think Finnish social conditioning around conservation also plays a potent role. Factored together, this has created an ideal incubation environment for developing a dominant expertise in this niche.
Q: You emphasized low power consumption to be very important in the access control products you develop. How did your company come to that reasoning?
A: A crucial initial motivation for our eco20 product family was the fact high security installations operating 24/7/365 require costly power back-ups. Factor in that such reserves are distinctly environmentally UNfriendly. We knew lowering our productsโ power consumption would in turn help companies striving to minimise their reserve capacity. Invariably, cost savings equals an environmental benefit. Then we noticed how American business often portrayed environmentally-friendly products. It was a tad bemusing so little emphasis was given to the business argument for accrued savings from low power consumption. Of course, until recently the United States hadnโt needed to wrestle with energy costs in the manner Finland has long been accustomed to. Admittedly, as energy prices continue their rise, this emphasis is shifting. Still, for us, we have always emphasised the benefits to oneโs bottom line from our eco-friendly products over appeals to corporate or consumer conscience. Itโs why we now say eco20 actually means โbusiness-60โ.
Q: When you say โlow power consumptionโ, what do you really mean, how do they compare to other access control products on the market.
A: It is very significant. In some areas, we offer products that will consume as little as 4 per cent of the energy of most other manufacturersโ products. That means energy savings of up to 96 per cent. I should add that is within the domain of wireless access control which by its nature is significantly more energy efficient than, say, swipe card technology.
Q: You steered the development and introduction of the eco20 product family. How do you see the technology evolving in the short-term?
A: Well, thatโs the 65 million dollar question, of course. Certainly we expect component manufacturers will continue striving to improve energy efficiency while maintaining (or if possible, enhancing) performance. It has become a defining benchmark for component manufacturers. The inroads of IP technology in access control will likely and increasingly impact the evolution of low power access control products as well. What remains uncertain is how perceptions of IPโs vulnerability to attack will play out in future access control products. Certainly IP network management of access control networks appears to offer a rich opportunity for enhancing the energy-efficiency of a network as well as tightening access control integration into comprehensive security systems. But the relationship between IP and access control technologies still feels unsettled. Clearly perceptions need to change more there.
Q: What about reader-controller networks? Is this an area of potential gains in energy efficiency?
A: In principle, yes. However, this area of potential gains is complicated by the challenge of calculating optimal network topologies โ which can itself be complicated by requirements for securing the traffic between readers and controllers. Idesco has been pursuing solutions for such requirements but the standard network topology for most of the industry still remains rigidly top-down hierarchic from a system integration point and understandably so. Might energy efficiency gains lay hidden in some future distributed network topology? Conceivably, yes but component performance will likely require significant and continued improvement to warrant a serious examination of that paradigm. But it is an exciting prospect.
