Alcatraz AI Biometrics: Next-Level Workplace Security

Workplace safety is a growing concern in the modern environment. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are driving innovative hardware solutions to reduce the risk of unauthorized access.

Managing any facility or organizational team now involves greater responsibility for security, whether in the workplace, campus, hospital or other settings. These challenges are increasing the demand for secure, opt-in hardware solutions.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently expressed support for the technology, stating that “the integration of AI into workplace safety ushers in a transformative era for occupational health.” Alcatraz AI Leading the way in providing frictionless, AI-powered biometric access control solutions that are revolutionizing security through facial authentication.

These solutions establish a new standard for access control, replacing old methods by allowing employees to use their faces as credentials. Only those who opt-in for facial authentication gain access, strengthening building security.

The Facial-Authentication-as-aA-Service (FaaS) company recently unveiled its flagship product, Rock X (shown above), at the International Security and Conference Exhibition (ISC West 2024) in April. This advanced AI-powered system redefines outdoor security, providing high-performance facial authentication in all lighting and weather conditions.

“Getting people to use biometrics, use it consistently, and have a great experience has always been very challenging. That’s why there hasn’t been much adoption until recently,” Blaine Frederick, VP of Product at Alcatraz AI, told TechNewsWorld.

Flexible facial recognition integration simplifies deployment

The advantage of facial recognition devices is that companies can connect them to any access control or video management head-end that is already in use.

For example, a company with dozens of card readers across their facility could hang the units on the wall right above them or move them, tap into the existing wiring infrastructure and turn it on.

“You’re good to go. You don’t need to tear out any existing panels or access controls,” says Frederick.

Video feeds will flow directly into virtual machine systems or video management systems, providing an eye-level view of people coming and going. This approach reduces installation costs.

After installation, ongoing costs vary depending on the subscription plan selected. Options include on-premises and in-cloud.

For some customers, the company hosts recognition software in its cloud, either in a single-tenant or multi-tenant environment, all on AWS. Other customers prefer to put platform software on their servers behind their firewalls.

“Some companies are a bit ahead of cloud computing and don’t have to deal with maintenance and servers and infrastructure. So, we are completely flexible on how you want to deploy the systems,” comments Frederick.

AI overcomes old biometric methods

Biometrics technology — facial and fingerprint recognition — has been around for a while. However, the equipment used was often underpowered by older methods. Companies enrolled their employees with more traditional old-school face biometrics.

“You enroll a person, and it creates a bit string that is stored in memory. Each time the person appears, the system compares the stored bit string with the new one to determine if it matches,” Frederick explained.

People’s appearance changes with time. However, static templates do not change. Without regular updates from IT or HR, the systems gradually become less reliable and difficult to use,” he added.

“AI processors and GPUs are now small and exist at the edge. We can now use these modern techniques to solve these age-old problems. Our device has a GPU built-in and all the AI/ML processing happens at the edge, which provides redundancy, so you don’t have to worry about networks etc,” noted Frederick.

Use cases of biometric access control for workplace security

This new technology improves the security accuracy of the site. For example, the Alcatraz AI platform also detects tailgate entries, which is probably the number one security issue.

According to Frederick, security managers recognize that tailgate entries are not usually malicious but rather the result of people being polite.

“I swipe my badge; I go through the door and hold it open for the person behind me. Maybe that person is supposed to be there, maybe not,” he suggested.

The reality is that there is a strong need for tools and technologies that let you know if a person is supposed to be there and then alert people in real time to make a decision. It is important to ensure safety in a safe workplace.

“Being able to verify that the right people are in the right place is crucial for many companies, whether it’s a security issue or not. An ex-employee comes to a place and wants to harm someone or launch a cyber attack. Many data breaches don’t happen because someone hacked in from the outside, but rather because someone broke into the building and gained physical access to a company’s infrastructure,” he observed.

That requirement exists in a wide range of work environments. These include everyday offices, stadiums and arenas, college campuses, pharma and life sciences facilities, retail locations and airports.