Next-Gen Access Control for Smart Cities with City-Wide VMS and Integrated Biometrics

Elevating Smart City Security and Public Safety with Integrated VMS and Biometric Technologies

Access control systems based on biometrics deliver a host of security benefits for smart cities. These systems are based on physical human characteristics like faces, fingerprints, and voiceprints that are almost impossible to compromise, and therefore provide more robust and reliable security than passwords, swipe cards, and security guards.

But to properly capture all these benefits, a robust video management system (VMS) is essential. A centralized open VMS functions as the command-and-control center of a smart city’s surveillance ecosystem. It also seamlessly connects all the systems in the ecosystem, including cameras, alarms, sensors, recording devices, and edge software, facilitating centralized management, governance, and control. A VMS with AI capabilities also provides actionable, timely intelligence that helps decision-makers to better understand the city’s security landscape and take steps to strengthen its security infrastructure.

All in all, a strong, scalable, and effective security infrastructure that’s centrally managed by a VMS enables a city’s residents to enjoy a safe and peaceful life. But to implement such an infrastructure, decisionmakers, policymakers, system vendors, and system integrators must collaborate closely and ensure that they’re all on the same page during planning and implementation. It’s also crucial for the system integrator to understand the city, its external environment, and its security requirements, and accordingly implement a customized infrastructure. MVP Tech – Convergint EMEA is a system integrator that brings all these capabilities that have benefited many smart cities in MENA .

Stronger Law Enforcement

A smart city’s law enforcement personnel can use biometrics and video output from surveillance systems to accuratelyidentify suspects and rapidly solve criminal cases. The VMS, powered by well-trained and “self-learning” machine learning algorithms, will further support them by detecting suspicious behaviors and raising real-time alerts in response. These alerts will enable security teams to quickly determine what, if any, action should be taken in response to the suspicious behavior.

A security ecosystem that incorporates biometric-based access control and an open-platform VMS also enables security operators to build an up-to-date “criminal map” of the city. They can use this map to identify crime-prone areas and accordingly implement proactive security measures to curtail criminal activity and protect citizens.

Controlled Access to Restricted Areas

The security of restricted or high-risk areas like government buildings, utilities premises, or certain no-go zones is an ongoing concern for every smart city. Biometric access control integrated with a VMS by an experienced integrator can help to effectively ease these concerns. The best integrators like MVP Tech – Convergint EMEA know that there’s no “one-size-fits-all” system that will suite every city. Rather, they understand each city’s unique security requirements, challenges, and infrastructure, and harness this understanding to design, integrate, and deploy a customized system that provides both controlled access and strong security.

One reason is that an open VMS platform makes it easy to integrate all kinds of surveillance systems so they “talk” to each other, thus providing more detailed information about potential intruders. Another is that it enables security personnel to view the footage and other output from every device via a centralized interface so they can quickly identify threats, differentiate between false positives and real threats, and initiate fast threat mitigation response.

An iris recognition or voice recognition system can verify the identity of users and ensure that only authorized users can enter the area. Similarly, behavioral biometrics based on machine learning algorithms can identify behavioral patterns about a specific user to keep out anyone who may try to access and potentially compromise government spaces or resources.

Overcrowding Hazard Prevention

Overcrowding in public spaces can be a serious security hazard in any smart city. Biometric sensors can monitor the flow of people in such spaces and also identify areas of congestion and crowding. The sensors can be centrally connected to and managed by a VMS that will raise an alarm if it detects suspicious behaviors or risky activities in these areas.

For example, some sensors and access control systems can detect individuals with a body temperature that’s above a pre-set threshold and then deny them access. In doing so, the system prevents overcrowding and also prevents possibly sick people from making other healthy people sick. This technology is particularly useful in enclosed public spaces where crowds tend to congregate and viruses often spread very quickly.

Further, its actionable, real-time insights and visually-rich preconfigured dashboards will enable security teams to understand the risk and take required action to mitigate it in order to prevent hazards and maintain citizens’ safety.

The Future of Smart City Security: City-wide, Open Platform VMS

As we have seen, smart cities can benefit from integrated security infrastructure that incorporates a centralized, city-wide VMS. A VMS interconnects all the city’s surveillance devices and makes it easy to customize and optimize them per the city’s security needs. It also helps to create a more scalable and open infrastructure that can easily keep up with the evolving threat landscape. The most effective way to implement such a cutting-edge security solution is to partner with a system integrator.

As an experienced system integrator, MVP Tech – Convergint EMEA understands the security concerns of MENA’s smart cities. We also have the technical knowhow to design and implement centralized, robust, and scalable security ecosystems to ease these concerns. Most importantly, we’re committed to creating safe and secure smart cities that are resilient to current threats and also well-prepared to face future threats.

willing to know more? watch our recent webinar "Resilience and Readiness: Shaping MENA’s Government and Critical Infrastructure Security landscape"