WITH the release
of version 6 of Cardax FT access control and intruder alarms security
management platform, Cardax has delivered a solution that enables
multi-national or enterprise organisations with distributed sites to better
manage their security system costs by bringing their various sites onto one centralised
security management system. Using IT infrastructure, remote bases can be
managed from a central Cardax FT system, no matter how many buildings an
organisation has or where they are in the world.
While each
building might have a Cardax FT server, these servers can be linked to create
seamless security right across the entire enterprise. For example, a head
office in Sydney, Australia, could revoke access for an employee in its New
York office. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter if an employee is working in the
Tokyo plant or the Dublin office – they are able to use the same Cardax access
card or biometric fingerprint to gain access. Centralised access control and
alarm monitoring can significantly reduce telecommunication and monitoring
expenses.
Multi-Server
functionality supports peer-to-peer communications between multiple servers,
which enables Cardax FT to operate effectively in a distributed environment.
This ‘distributed environment’ may include multiple sites separated by large
geographical distances and connected via low bandwidth and/or intermittently
available networks. These connections can be managed in a hierarchical manner
(where a head office may want operational visibility/control capability over
subsidiary sites) and / or in a peer-to-peer matrix structure where any site
could temporarily monitor or manage another site’s security.
Cardax FT
Multi-Server delivers full site autonomy of local site operations in the event
of WAN failure and cross site operational cover. Shared sever functions include
peer-to-peer server communications, meaning any site can be configured to
control and monitor any other site.
FT Multi-Server
also allows cardholder management – managing cardholders and their access for
multiple sites, as well as aggregation evacuation reporting – useful for
reporting on cardholder whereabouts in emergency situations.
Multi-Server also
facilitates global monitoring of the status of remote alarms and hardware, processing
remote alarms and overriding remote hardware. The solution features new
efficient communications protocol to transfer data between sites and reduced
data transferred over WAN when operating locally.
Importantly, Multi-Server
functionality utilises highly efficient communications protocol to transfer
data between sites, by reducing data transferred over WAN when operating
locally. The Cardax FT Multi-Server framework implements strong, open
encryption algorithms, secure authentication techniques and long key lengths,
such as RSA 2048 bit keys and AES 256 bit encryption keys to deliver a robust
security solutions throughout the organisation.
Additional
capabilities
A key feature of
FT Multi-Server is Cross-site Operational Cover. This means that Cardax FT
remains fully operational in the event of network failure because the local
server remains fully operational. An authorised operator can view certain
information from the Remote Server, and override items as if they were
connected directly to the Remote Server. This allows organisations to provide
cross-site operational cover to their sites worldwide.
Global access for
cardholders means staff can use their same cards/fingerprints/PINs across all
sites within a Multi-Server network, for example, a manager with appropriate
access rights can travel between sites controlled by separate Cardax FT
Servers, seamlessly using the one card for entry.
Another strong
feature is evacuation reporting. In the event of a disaster at one Server’s
site, one or multiple Aggregation Servers can provide Evacuation Reports
detailing the last known locations of Cardholders at the disaster affected
site. Any server can keep an up-to-date status on the location of all
Cardholders over a Multi-Server network.
From a network
perspective disaster recovery is vital. The Cardax FT Multi-Server feature can
be used in conjunction with third party hot standby server options, to provide
a comprehensive disaster recovery solution.
Where a disaster
event causes a Cardax FT Server to swap to its hot standby server, other Cardax
FT Servers on the Multi-Server network are able to communicate directly with
the hot standby server. This allows Operators at the other Cardax FT Servers to
quickly gauge the severity of the disaster event on the affected site’s
physical security, and to temporarily provide operational cover (e.g. alarms
monitoring and management, monitoring and overrides of site items and equipment
etc.) for the disaster affected site.
“At a time, when
other security manufacturers are cutting back on R&D, we’re investing in
the future with more resources and people to ensure Cardax FT is the security
system of the future,” says Cardax product manager, Daniel McVeagh.
