Bosch has released version 3.5 of of its access control software Access Professional Edition (APE). It comes with two new features: The global anti-passback feature, and more in its Software Development Kit (SDK).
The product firm says that the anti-passback feature prevents unauthorised sharing of credentials. Suppose an employee scans his badge and passes through an access control turnstile. A second employee has not been authorised to enter; passback occurs when the first employee hands his badge to the second person so he or she can enter the access-controlled area too. When anti-passback is activated, the access system checks who entered an area or room. The system only allows for re-entry if the card-holder had checked out before.
With earlier versions of APE from Bosch, the anti-passback function could only be used for readers that were connected to the same controller. Now, anti-passback works with all readers in the access control system. If needed, an exemption option allows selected cardholders (such as C-level executives) to be excluded from the check.
For installers, this added feature increases flexibility when planning access systems, Bosch says. Since anti-passback now works across all readers and controllers in a system, there is no more need to plan readers in connection with one specific controller.
The other new feature, the enhanced SDK, allows APE to exchange information regarding door control and door status with other security systems. Until now, only cardholder-related data could be shared within the different systems. Now, with APE 3.5, door-related information can also be exchanged with other integrated systems like video management. This allows for extra checks and adds to security, the product developers say.
So if a person wants to enter a room and presents his badge to the reader at the door, information and a photo of that person are saved in the APE access control system and shared with the video management system (VMS) from Bosch. Then the VMS checks via the video camera and the Intelligent Video Analytics whether the person at the door is identical with the person on the photo and tells APE if the door should open or not.
