The Physical Security Interoperability Alliance (PSIA) has developed an Access Control Profile and Intrusion Detection Profile, both of which the organization said are firsts for the industry. The PSIA also released a tool for testing whether products conform to these profiles.

The profiles allow manufacturers to comply with a smaller subset of interoperability requirements, which will allow them to quickly and easily adopt PSIA specifications, the organization said. The testing tool is intended to give integrators and end users confidence that products that are compliant with each PSIA profile will be interoperate with each other smoothly.

“We’re excited to introduce the first working profiles and test tool to the physical security industry,” said David Bunzel, executive director of the PSIA. “These profiles will enable a very wide range of vendors to quickly and affordably comply with PSIA specifications and expand plug-and-play compatibility across the security ecosystem.”

Profiles are common tools in technology standards and address a particular use case within a standard or specification, covering every aspect of a subject. The PSIA Access Control and Intrusion Detection Profiles draw their data elements from the PSIA’s broader Area Control Specification.

“The PSIA’s Area Control specification is very deep and encompasses many combinations of security use cases,” said Larry Lien, chairman of the PSIA and vice president of product management for Proximex, a Tyco International Company. “The profiles enable vendors with narrower use cases to easily comply with our specs and guarantee product interoperability.”

The Profiles Test Tool certifies that a product or system fully complies with either or both of the new Profiles to ensure plug-and-play interoperability. Honeywell, Inovonics, and Kastle Systems are among the vendors who have used the tool to test conformance with the Area Control and/or Intrusion Detection Profiles. Additional vendors are using the Test Tool and expect to announce conformant products soon.

The PSIA Profiles Test Tool encompasses two distinct testers that simulate both host-side systems as well as device-side systems for compliance.

“Its simulation capabilities make the Test Tool invaluable in helping vendors test and validate their PSIA compliance throughout the design and development phases of a product,” said Neelendra Bhandari, engineering manager, Honeywell Security.

The PSIA Profiles Working Group includes ASSA Abloy, HID Global, Honeywell, Ingersoll Rand/Schlage, Inovonics, Kastle Systems, Mercury Security, Proximex and UTC/Lenel. Mohammad Soleimani, Kastle’s CTO and executive vice president, chairs the group.

“Consultants, integrators and end users demand great certainty that products incorporating a specification will interoperate as promised and deliver the benefits they expect,” Soleimani said. “The Access Control Profile and the Intrusion Detection Profile, plus the Test Tool, deliver this confidence by virtually ensuring that two or more Profiles compliant-and-tested products will work together flawlessly.”

Lien said the collaborative effort included a wide range of companies working together to create the vendor-neutral profiles.

“As usual for the PSIA, we had a tremendous group of companies leading our profiles development,” he said. “The profiles were not driven by one or two vendors but reflect a broad range of industry requirements.”

Bunzel said the ability to choose a variety of products and know they will work together will benefit everyone.

“We’re very excited about how the profiles will increase the number of standards-based products in the physical security world,” he said. “Consultants, integrators and end users will have many more choices for building powerful security solutions with low total cost of ownership.”

Vendors, integrators, consultants and end users interested in the Access Control Profile, Intrusion Detection Profile and Profiles Test Tool should contact the PSIA for more information. Additional Profiles will be released based on PSIA member input.