Across the access control industry, the shift toward mobile, secure and standards-based credentials is accelerating. But for most organizations, legacy systems—and the cards tied to them—aren’t going anywhere soon, making this transition painful and slow. That creates a complex challenge: how do you enable modern access without breaking what’s already in place or having to replace all readers and credentials virtually overnight?
For one global provider of integrated building technologies, the need to support both ends of this spectrum came to a head during the development of its next-generation access solutions. Enterprise clients were asking for future-proof support for modern mobile and physical credentials and the use of open platforms like Public Key Open Credential (PKOC) and Aliro. At the same time, the solution had to maintain compatibility with existing systems, including legacy credentials. In collaboration with ELATEC, the company found a way forward: universal, credential-agnostic RFID readers that give their customers more options and control over their own migration path.