STid’s CEO on the Impact of Access Control on Safe City

Safe City, an Opportunity to Make the City More Sustainable and Smarter

The safe city concept remains a concern at the heart of territorial security issues. It is considered a priority because the percentage of the world’s population that lives in cities will rise from 55 % today to 68 % by 2050 (https://population.un.org/wup/Download/). On the level of a city safety and security is very much about ensuring the protection of citizens and securing of residential, leisure and work areas and ascertaining continuity of essential services (drinking water networks, hospitals, policies, food).
A city is said to be safer for its citizens when all its facilities are secure to use. Just like the critical infrastructures, who secure the operational continuity of a country, it’s important to safeguard essential and vital services to the operation and development of the city. Healthcare facilities, for example, are committed to provide protection against threats as burglary and intruders, while safeguarding the security of their staff and patients. In brief, all different areas of the site should be accessible with ease, but only to authorized people.

Protecting People, Assets and Data

After perceiving a steep increase the security risks that our partners and their clients are faced with, we developed innovative products and services to ensure the security of essential facilities and critical infrastructures.
STid’s mission is to protect people, their property and data through secure access and identification. For more than 25 years, STid has created and marketed identification solutions for high security access control, both physical and logical, as well as Automatic Vehicle Identification. At STid, we develop technology to make the everyday lifes of people easier while ensuring effective data protection. STid readers and solutions are compatible with all access control systems currently available. The modular setup of STid’s unique readers futureproofs the infrastructure of end users and it allows partners to offer enhanced levels of security to their clients, even when their secured estates grow or their needs change (internal staff mobility, building reconfiguration, etc.) or when technological developments (biometrics, QR Code, etc.) are required.

Combining High ­Security and Intuitiveness for a Safer City

Securing workplaces is a priority for security departments of any organisation that has become aware of the importance of selecting and deploying trusted technologies that offer certified and interoperable security. As opposed to the “proprietary technologies” which were the trend of the 1990s — 2000s era, these new technologies are open, scalable and are based on standards. They allow organisations to remain independent of specific suppliers and they support organisations in their quest to remain in control of safety and security. This is the strength of the SSCP protocol, certified by French Cyber Security Authority (ANSSI). The protocol is synonymous with freedom, interoperability and responsiveness to threats.
Incidents related to unauthorized access are often a result of the “human factor”, usually the weakest link in any security system. Users are more likely to adopt simple and effective systems. If you secure a building, site or perimeter, you can procure and deploy the most sophisticated security measures and equipment, but in the end people will need to be able to use and manage the implemented systems intuitively and effectively. It should never interfere with their ability to perform their job or activity of choice. That is why we spend so many resources on development of features in our products that comply with the requirement of instinctive use. Carrying and applying STid technology should feel natural and safe. No hassle. And, of course, without any compromise on security levels. Spectre nano, our UHF & Bluetooth multi-technology reader, is a perfect example of our vision on security technology and the translation of that vision into the design guidelines and of course also the final solution that we are now bringing to market.