Insights
At last week’s ISC East, Accessia showcased the world’s first ultra-wideband access control solution, as demonstrated here by Paav Gandhi, Head of Product at Accessia. The Accessia booth generated a lot of buzz, and everyone who stopped by wanted to know more about UWB and how it works. Here, we answer the most asked questions – read on to find out all about ultra-wideband access control.
Ultra-wideband access control is the next-generation of physical security technology and mobile credentials. UWB uses capabilities already present in modern smartphones to unlock access-controlled doors at close range, with no need to tap, swipe, or wave. It’s the latest keyless car experience, as found in Teslas, brought to buildings and workplaces.
UWB can precisely measure distances – it's the same technology that powers, for example, an AirTag to help you find your keys.
When a UWB-enabled phone running Accessia is near to an Accessia Reader or Reader Pro, the door will instantly unlock, granting hands-free access to people with the appropriate access permissions.
The best part is that the user doesn’t even have to have their phone in their hand, and the phone doesn’t need to be unlocked – it can remain in their pocket as they walk straight through.
Mobile credentials that use UWB, Bluetooth, or NFC for access are inherently more secure than other access credentials such as cards and fobs.
Mobile access credentials are much more difficult to clone, and far less likely to get lost or misplaced and fall into the wrong hands – people are very rarely without their phones and are much more likely to report or deactivate a lost phone over a fob or badge.
UWB is more secure than other mobile access control technologies because it understands the distance someone is from the door and from which direction they are approaching. This ensures the door only unlocks as they approach.
Without UWB, Bluetooth-only mobile technologies risk triggering a door unlock before the right person is near enough to the door – providing an opportunity for an unauthorized person to sneak in before them.
Because of the more precise range at which UWB works, there is less risk of granting access to the wrong people and reduced risk of MITM attacks.
As we’ve seen, ultra-wideband mobile access control is more secure than other technologies, and it delivers a far better user-experience by enabling true hands-free instant access without needing to tap or swipe, or fumble around for a fob, card, or badge.
Ultra-wideband is cutting-edge mobile access control that future-proofs an organization’s physical security set up.
Over the next few years, we’ll see UWB being applied in many more use cases.
Use cases beyond Apple AirTags, such as for digital car keys that enable touchless car entry, have only very recently been realized, despite the technology having been available in phones for a while.
At Accessia, we’ve invested heavily in ultra-wideband as a technology that we believe is the future of access control and have built UWB into all our readers as standard.
This means that for users running Accessia app on their phones with UWB, they can simply sign in using SSO and get going with seamless and secure access.
Accessia’s ultra-wideband powered access control is ultra secure and ultra convenient. For more information, download this quick overview today or get in touch for a demo.
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