Proactive and predictive possibilities
D’Agostino sees the convergence of AI into security spaces not known for their reliance on analytic data reshaping the landscape. AI can be used as a proactive step against intrusion at a security entrance like a swing door or turnstile and integrated into the access control and video security systems to provide rich analytics and situational awareness.
“It has long been known that there are often patterns to humans, and to the same extent, enterprise behavior. Access control, surveillance, and intrusion detection systems collect large amounts of data that is often stored and then deleted without much analysis. Enterprises are now more attuned to the ability to leverage this data. These are evolving now to common data formats, real-time analytics, and predictive tools. It seems like there would be a similar evolution in the capabilities of physical security systems where it is not so much as what is happening at a turnstile, swing door, or entryway, but what is going to happen,” contends D’Agostino. “This would leverage the existing systems, sensors, and data collection capabilities and use big data and analytics to drive management and monitoring. The more physical security systems adopt standard data types, sets, and structures (using syslog for logging is a simple example) and the more intelligent these systems become, the more intelligence can be put into the predictive analytics.”
The future of AI and security entrances
Artificial intelligence has been a part of the global technology lexicon since Arthur C. Clarke’s 1968 science-fiction film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. In that film, HAL (the heuristically programmed algorithmic computer) was introduced as the sentient AI that controlled the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft. HAL was capable of speech, facial and speech recognition, natural language processing, lip reading, interpreting emotional behaviors, automated reasoning, spacecraft piloting; and was a great chess player.
Clarke’s genius, and his vision of what artificial intelligence and machine learning might look like more than five decades into the future, has manifested itself in everything from automated factories and automobiles to our constant companions, Siri and Alexa. With the evolving dynamics of cloud storage and the ability to harness and proactively employ an ever-increasing pool of big data, AI in the form of machine learning and deep learning has become a disruptive technological force in the physical security industry.
The current stresses to security technology and policy to meet new COVID-19 safety mandates will expedite how AI is integrated into future security entrance solutions. The push for touchless and frictionless access options and the increase in contact tracing protocols at many organizations will expand the integration of secure entrances with building control systems to help provide additional insight into potential threats and mitigate them.
Kurt Measom serves as vice-president of technology and product support, and is part of Boon Edam’s Enterprise Account Security Team. A 25-year Boon Edam veteran, Measom, over the past four years, has worked as a security solutions advisor to many Fortune 1000 companies and is currently a Lenel-certified associate. Measom graduated from the University of Utah with BS and MBA degrees and currently lives with his wife and children in the Salt Lake City area, Utah.
