FST21 partners with HID for increased coverage, more secure access control

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.—FST21, a provider of intelligent controlled access and automation solutions and services, in early November announced a new technology partnership with access control provider HID for integration of its RFID technology into FST21's intelligent building solution SafeRise.

When FST21 first expanded beyond its Israeli roots into the U.S., it billed itself as “the future of intelligent building safety and security solutions based on a fusion of second-generation video/voice biometrics and analytics.” Rather than using an access control card or old-fashioned key, SafeRise uses advanced facial recognition combined with voice recognition, for access control.

According to FST21 GM Avi Lupo, the HID partnership, which grew out of customer requests, increases the coverage footprint—and therefore security—of an FST21-secured installation.

“We got the request from customers: 'We've got 20 doors in the building that have most of the traffic, but we need to use other doors as well.' Now we offer the capability to manage all the traffic in and out of the building,” Lupo said. “I believe that we're creating here a new segment within the security industry. We're providing new markets. It's a new type of service the industry can provide to its customers that expands the capabilities of each partner to offer a complete solution.”

HID Global executive director of business development for Networked Access Solutions Brenton Scott felt the pairing was a good fit.

“It's a good fit because the partnership enables control of those areas where they need access control, but maybe the biometrics deployment for which FST21 is so well known is not a perfect fit,” Scott said. “It's a marriage of technologies that enables people to do things in more than one way in a particular system.”

FST21 is working with a number of central stations currently, including Cyberdoorman in New York, Kent Security in Florida, Data Watch in Washington, and ION247 in Birmingham, Alabama. Lupo said Wayne Alarm in Lynn, Mass. would soon be monitoring SafeRise installations as well.

Lupo said SafeRise monitored doors will have the option to include an RFID reader in conjunction with face and voice recognition in the installation of a door, providing the ability to have recognition based on RFID only, supervised by the video, or as a combination between the RFID information and the biometric recognition.

“I think the technologies we're seeing here—the artificial intelligence and the smart technology that's built into the FST21 head end—in my opinion, is truly incredible,” Scott said. “I think we're going to see this kind of thing gain a lot of traction.”