Area Control v1.0 specification is the fourth system-oriented specification from PSIA

The Physical Security Interoperability Alliance (PSIA) has announced the release of its Area Control v1.0 specification. This specification will standardise the communication into access control and intrusion products, making them truly interoperable with the overall security system. The Area Control spec gives an integrated solution that the industry needs to optimise security operations. This is the fourth system-oriented specification from the PSIA, providing the most comprehensive set of integrated specifications for the industry.

The PSIA accomplished this with broad industry collaboration from leading companies in this domain, including ASSA ABLOY, Honeywell, Inovonics, Lenel, Mercury Security, NICE, Stanley Security (Sonitrol), UTC, and VidSys. "Considering that the leaders in this industry, representing more than two-thirds of the access control and intrusion systems market, were involved, we would expect this to be the de facto industry standard," said David Bunzel, Executive Director of the PSIA.

Earlier this year, Honeywell, Tyco, and UTC announced products relying on the Area Control spec that would ship in 2012. Since then, both Inovonics and Lenel announced product plans to support the specification next year. "This spec addresses some of the heavy lifting that needed to be supported by all manufacturers when integrating access and control products," said Mike Regelski, CTO of UTC Fire & Security-Global Security Products. "We have incorporated it into platforms for our Lenel and Interlogix product groups and expect it to be a strategic component of a number of other product lines."

The Area Control spec takes advantage of other PSIA specs, especially the Common Metadata and Events Model (CMEM). CMEM provides a comprehensive way to process the data received from various physical security devices. Harmonising and sharing data between access control, intrusion, video, and analytics systems results in optimised and more easily integrated security management.

"We support the Area Control spec because standardising interaction between independent systems will benefit our entire industry," commented Frank Gasztonyi, CEO of Mercury Security, the industry's leading supplier of open access control panels. "PSIA's work to develop open standards is consistent with our corporate philosophy and complements our future product plans."

"We see many great benefits to standardised interoperability for integrated security solutions," said Mark Jarman, president of Inovonics, a leader in wireless sensor network technology. "We support the industry's efforts to improve interoperability and will be implementing the new standard as we rollout new products during the coming year."