Open Options Hosts Consultants for First-Ever A&E Summit in Austin, Texas

• By Sydny Shepard
• October 17, 2018

Open Options, a leading provider of open platform access control software, hosted the company’s first A&E Summit for security consultants in Austin, Texas this past weekend. I had the pleasure of attending the summit and getting a more in-depth look into the company and their product offerings.

The Open Options team planned a full weekend of networking, session speakers and open discussion. Announced at the event were new and improved products including new HD Series Enclosures, DController, Open Options’ IP-based intelligent door controller, and the new NSC-200 sub-controller, which now opens from the front and allows users to connect direct to hardware with strain relief fittings at the opening.

The company also did a full demonstration of its DNA Fusion software, which has intuitive features and a user-friendly UI. Open Options’ Professional Services/Engineering Manager William Murphey took the group of consultants through some exciting features such as customizable reports, mass edits of personnel access, direct commands, environmental customization and, my favorite, graphic maps.

Murphey explained how an organization can take advantage of graphic maps, which allows users to see their solution on one screen at a glance. This view gives users up-to-date information on open access points, data on users, and alarm status. DNA Fusion also integrates in a “Lockdown” button that efficiently works to facilitate a lockdown, locking doors immediately.

At the A&E Summit were several guest speakers, including Ian Kilpatrick with Kemper Development Company, who spoke about the Open Options integrations that span five city blocks in Lincoln Square in Seattle, Wash. The area includes hotels, corporate buildings and retail space. Kilpatrick explained how the company used Open Options to integrate in ThyssenKrupp for elevator features, such as Destination Dispatch and utilized DNA Fusion for custom reports that enabled auto email to a distribution list for analysis and archiving.

Also speaking at the Summit was Guy Grace, Director of Security & Emergency Planning at Littleton Public Schools in Colorado. Grace addressed the growing need for campus security and explained to consultants how he has used Open Options to develop a unified solution on his campuses. Grace stressed the need for protocols to correspond with security technology and spoke about the ease of use when working with DNA Fusion.

“Access control is the back bone of the entire physical security system,” Grace said when speaking about the importance of the Open Options solution and its many integrations. Grace and Littleton Public Schools specifically integrate in their access control, VMS, wearable panic devices and more into their DNA Fusion Software.

Chris Verde from National Instruments stressed the need for a unified solution on their corporate campuses all around the world, including six international campuses and six branch offices in the U.S. that all host thousands of readers and hundreds of controllers. National Instruments was able to take advantage of Open Options and their partnership with Mercury Security to develop exactly what they needed to keep their locations safe and secure.

Consultants and Open Options team members also spoke with each other in-depth about how they view the security industry, the biggest trends they see, the biggest problems they face and the frustrations they need help overcoming. While it is hard to solve all the security industry’s problems in just one day, this group got really close.

As I have always believed, a weekend with Open Options is a weekend well spent. Learn more about their solutions and products at www.ooaccess.com.