West Midlands Police are the first organisation in the world to use a newly
developed and highly sophisticated integrated Physical and Logical solution comprising
the Lenel On Guard and Imprivata OneSign™ solutions integrated with Smart card
technology.
The two disciplines of physical and logical access security have been prominent
issues for Police Forces and other organisations for some time, as has the desire
to achieve convergence between the underlying technologies. West Midlands Police
have been able to do precisely this. In order to gain logical access (onto the
network/domain/to applications), staff must have first authenticated to the premises
by using their identity smart card. This forms the first line of security, protecting
data from those without the appropriate authority to view it as well as providing
full auditability of the process.
Paul Williamson the lead for the Gateway Programme said “When we looked around
the market place we quickly discovered that the full integration of both Physical
and Logical access utilising a single smart card was not standard for the industry
and the vision of a fully integrated system was deemed as difficult to achieve.
The proof of concept exercise that we have undertaken with 400 users is progressing
well and our ability to secure our buildings and information systems with an integrated
solution is certainly ground breaking and puts the force in a unique position
with the police service”.
The Managing Director of G4S Security Systems, was delighted with the efforts
of the partners, and especially the support of the West Midlands Police, in making
this concept work. “The client identified the need, and we were able to meet that
need, overcoming a number of problems along the way. It is a “first” for the Police
force and for the UK security industry in general.”
