CARMEL, IN, September 23, 2013– Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies will formally announce its aptiQmobile web-based key management system at the ASIS Exhibition on September 24 in Chicago. aptiQmobile lets near-field communications (NFC)-enabled smartphones be used like a badge ID to gain access to buildings and other ID card applications. The process uses strong security standards and is very easy to use.
To turn NFC-enabled smartphones into an access control credential, allowing people to use their smartphones to enter buildings in the same way they present a badge ID, users simply download the aptiQmobile app to their smart- phones. Then, the user’s access control administrator uses the aptiQmobile cloud service to send a secure mobile credential directly to the user’s phone. Once the mobile credential is downloaded, the user opens the app and taps his or her smartphone on the reader in the same way one uses an ID card.
In previous NFC pilot programs at VillanovaUniversity and the University of San Francisco, users enclosed their iPhones in a case to create the NFC capabilities. With the newest version of aptiQmobile, students and employees can now use Android phones, as well, without the need for a unique case. Employees are doing just that in a current trial at the corporate campus of Heartland Payment Systems, using aptiQmobile on their phones for access control.
The highly publicized pilot programs at the University of San Francisco and VillanovaUniversity have shown the value of using smartphones as access control credentials.
University of San Francisco students have embraced aptiQmobile, preferring the convenience of using their phones to digging for their One Cards. Such convenience is important to the administrators, but equally important is the security of using their existing contactless credentials, keeping transactions secure. The combination makes for a first-rate experience for both students and staff.
VillanovaUniversity has found that using smartphones as badges saves time that can be better spent on other issues. Assigning the credential to the students’ phone takes less work than printing and delivering a badge and since students are very protective of their phones, doing so should lead to a greatly reduced replacement rate. If a phone is lost or broken, a new ID can be reissued to the new phone without having the students even come into the office.
Introduced in April, the aptiQ Developer Network, which already consists of eight access control software companies, is providing a channel-friendly, customer-centric way of bringing NFC to market, letting aptiQmobile providers become the innovative suppliers of this convenient way of using a mobile access control credential.
“The issuance of aptiQmobile credentials leverages our cloud-based Credential Management Services infrastructure and builds on decades of helping organizations and homeowners secure their properties with tens of millions of mechanical keys and cards,” said Raj Venkat, Ingersoll Rand vice president, readers and credentials. “By pioneering the use of smartphones as access control credentials, we now address the spectrum of our customers’ credential needs from keys to cards to mobile credentials.”
At the ASIS Exhibition, to be held in Chicago’s McCormick Place September 24-26, attendees visiting the Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies booth 663 will see a smartphone enabled by aptiQmobile being used just like a smart card ID for access control. They can also learn more about the successful pilot programs at VillanovaUniversity, the University of San Francisco and Heartland Payment Systems. Those not attending the conference can go to www.aptiQmobile.com.
