NFC will open up mobile access control battlefield?

The current advantage of China's access control system manufacturers lies in flexibility in pricing and function customization. To break through the rise in market barriers and export value, it is necessary to increase R&D investment in hard and soft power, and quickly put into production according to the individual needs of different users, and promote the industry’s Efficient progress. With the continuous deepening of the access control technology, the mobilization and integration trend of China's access control market has begun to take shape. What is the current status and future development trend of the mobile access control market?

Development Status of Mobile Access Control Market According to the research report of Research and Markets, a market research company in 2012, NFC chips in North America and Europe accounted for more than 60% of the total market, and the fastest growing in the Asia Pacific region, especially Japan, China, and South Korea. With the growth of the market, NFC applications will attract more and more people's participation. The report also stated that the market revenue generated by NFC applications is expected to grow from US$7.686 billion in 2011 to US$345.1 billion in 2016 with a compound annual growth rate of 35%, of which the major revenue comes from electronic payments, followed by ticketing. And access control business.

Despite the promising future of the NFC application market, there are several conditions that must be met to develop mobile access control and other applications that support Near Field Communication (NFC):

First, you need an NFC-enabled mobile device. To achieve higher market usage, these mobile devices must support four major operating systems: iOS, Android, Windows, and RIM (BlackBerry). In addition, we must also be able to communicate wirelessly with mobile devices. We need to provide three configurations for mobile devices: (1) a secure applet to hold a virtual credential card, (2) a data interaction application, and (3) a virtual credential card. Configuring a runnable virtual credential card mode on a mobile device is also one of the key elements of success.

Second, you also need to configure hardware that can read a virtual credential card from an NFC-enabled mobile device. Such hardware may include NFC-enabled card readers, electromechanical locks, and third-party hardware ecosystems that each provide support for different applications, such as attendance, secure print management, PC security logins, stored biometric templates, or corporate restaurants. Or electronic payment for vending machines.

Finally, it is also necessary to develop an ecosystem that includes mobile network operators, trusted service managers, and other operators that provide and manage mobile credential cards.

At present, the market has begun to develop in the above areas and promote the application of NFC. On the hardware, major mobile operating systems, including iOS, Android, Windows, and RIM (BlackBerry) are advancing the widespread use of NFC technology, and have begun to launch NFC-enabled mobile phones. At the same time, the industry through extensive cooperation, the virtual credential card technology into the NFC chip, speed up the application of NFC technology. HIDGlobal and NXP Semiconductors jointly launched a universal mobile access control solution for NFC mobile phones. HID stores the virtual credential card in the NXP Embedded Secure Element (eSE) component in the handset, which is compatible with the currently widely used access control readers and systems. NXP's technology supports multiple application management, such as payment, e-government, access control and ticketing, and all application management is done through a microcontroller.

At the application level, major telecommunications operators in China have implemented projects that use NFC or NFC-like technologies in some large cities, such as RF-SIM or MicroSD technology, enabling users to pay via mobile phones, purchase food and beverages, and use public transportation. Major telecom operators, UnionPay, and terminal vendors also began to compete for the NFC market this year. China Unicom released the first NFC handset in November 2012, and China Mobile plans to launch NFC services in 12 provinces in February 2013. The participation of operators will accelerate the formation of an ecosystem of NFC technology applications, extending NFC handsets to mobile access control, electronic payment, ticketing, and network login applications.

2013 Access Control Market Development Trends Prediction 1. The adoption of mobile access control will accelerate and will significantly change the face of the access control industry In 2012, the access control industry laid the foundation for the deployment of mobile access control solutions based on NFC mobile devices. In order to promote the wide application of mobile access control, the entire system must support widely used NFC mobile phones with security components and all major operating systems. Secure the security of all keys and cryptographic operations within the smartphone security component to ensure that there is a secure communication channel within the reliable identity authentication framework between the NFC handset, the security components of the handset, and other secure media and devices. To send information. The security component is usually an embedded tamper-resistant integrated circuit or a plug-in called a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). The entire system must also include readers, door locks, and other hardware that can read the virtual keys in the phone, an ecosystem of mobile network operators, trusted service managers, and other providers that can provide and manage virtual credential cards. system.

The most simplified mobile access mode is card virtualization, but with the development of technology, the face of the access control industry will be greatly changed, and most of the tasks currently performed by access control systems can be accomplished using smart phones. For example, about 5% of all doors in a building use some form of electronic access control, and the remaining doors either have mechanical locks or no security protection. If an NFC-enabled smartphone is used as both a key and a regulatory device for access control decisions, we can use an electronic access control system to protect the security of more gates.

2. Mobile access control solution will still coexist with card access control One of the greatest benefits of mobile access control is that all identity information required for a user to open an office door or log on to a corporate computer is securely embedded in the phone instead of being stored. Or stolen plastic card, and users do not need to remember the password. Nevertheless, in the next few years, smart phones that support NFC cannot completely replace smart cards. In contrast, mobile credential virtual credential cards in NFC smartphones will coexist with smart cards and identity cards so that businesses can choose whether to use smart cards, mobile devices, or both in their access control systems. It should be noted that the user must plan ahead to support two types of credential cards in the access control system.

3. On the level of cards and NFC-enabled mobile devices, access control systems will continue to be integrated. With the use of a single credential card, strong authentication can be performed on key systems and applications throughout the IT infrastructure, which can greatly improve security. At the same time, companies can use existing voucher investments to increase computer desktop network logins, and establish a fully interoperable, multi-layered security solution in corporate networks, systems, and facilities to reduce deployment and operating expenses, and it helps The company meets regulatory requirements, implements consistent policies, achieves consistent audit records within the company, and reduces costs by consolidating tasks. Therefore, more and more users hope that without a one-time dynamic password or key card, only a single voucher card can open the door, log on to the network, access applications and other systems, and securely access the network remotely.

Mobile access control solutions are the ideal convergence platform. With the adoption of NFC, people will be more interested in extending the application of contactless card technology beyond building access control and further applying it to the authentication of IT. The access control security team and the information security team will begin to work more closely together. The mobile application will generate a one-time dynamic password or cloud-based configuration mode received via SMS and send it from the air to the mobile phone. This configuration mode eliminates the risk of the credential being copied and may issue a temporary credential card, cancel the loss or be Pirate's credential card, as well as monitoring and modifying security parameters when needed. This trend helps to improve the economics of the biometric model. It turns a smartphone into a portable database that stores templates, simplifies system startup, supports an unlimited number of users across multiple locations, and eliminates the need for stencil management. I cabling requirements. However, there is also a need for sufficient cloud security data to allow smartphones to sign in to networks and applications.

4. Mobile access control will accelerate the migration of identity information management to the cloud, and support for new management services. Enterprises have begun to outsource traditional identity card projects to cloud service providers of a certain scale and resources that can handle a large number of tight deadlines. And with the emergence of mobile access control, the scope of their services will also be expanded to include the deployment and management of virtual credential cards carried by users' NFC smartphones.

The enterprise will configure the mobile access control virtual credential card in two ways. The first one is through Internet workstations (mobile devices connected to the network via USB or Wi-Fi) that are similar to the traditional plastic credential cards. The second way is to perform over-the-air configuration by mobile network operators, similar to how smart phone users download applications and songs. The universal access control trusted service manager will connect to the mobile network operator, operator's TSM and NFC smart phones. The NFC smart phone receives the encryption key and the virtual credential card and stores it on the mobile phone's SIM card or micro SD card. Component. New applications will also be pushed into mobile phones so that multi-factor authentication technology can be applied realistically and become a real-time management service.