Brivo Labs working on ‘contextual’ access control
18 March, 2014
category: Corporate, Financial, Government
Brivo Systems is known for its cloud-based physical access control technology but the company doesn’t want to rest on its laurels. The company has launched Brivo Labs to work on what would be the cutting edge of physical access control technologies.
The new group is working on “contextual” physical access control systems with the tagline “Single sign-on for the physical world,” says Lee Odess, general manager at Brivo Labs. Typically physical access control is about keeping people out but Brivo Labs is about enabling access based on permissions. “We’re looking at social access management,” Odess explains. “Instead of controlling access we want to know how people can manage their access.”
Brivo Labs is calling this Social Access Management and will enable clients to use the same identity at the office, at a sports stadium, movie theaters and even at home, Odess says.
One of the first systems Brivo Labs is working on is called randivoo – pronounced rendezvous – and deals with visitor management. Instead of signing into a clipboard, which is the norm at many office buildings, a visitor would step up to a kiosk, Odess says. But the process actually begins well before then.
Randivoo is being built into Salesforce.com and will enable employees to provision access for visitors. Prior to the visit, the sponsor will send an email with a meeting request. From there, the guest will download the pass – a QR code – on to a smart phone. The system will also automatically send a reminder the day before the meeting.
When the guest arrives at the building, they go to the kiosk to scan the QR code and are issued a credential that will enable access to the appropriate area in the building, Odess says. The system eventually may also take advantage of NFC and low-power Bluetooth instead of the QR code. After the guest scans, the code the employee who is sponsoring the meeting will also be notified that the guest has arrived through a text message, instant message on the computer or other means.
Brivo plans to enable guests to use any type of social identity, including Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. “We’re enabling the building or the person to determine what level of security they want,” Odess says. “It depends on the contextual security that the enterprise wants to use.”
The idea is to have this type of physical access control system used at movie theaters, sports stadiums and other venues as well, Odess says. Brivo Labs is also looking at how Google Glass, the Nike Fuelband and other wearable technologies can work with physical access control technologies.