ISONAS IP Access Is a ‘Pure’ Pleasure

Testing
At the end of the day, testing an access control system is pretty dull. The cards programmed to open the doors did, while the ones that were not programmed to did not. Outside of the fun we had soaking, baking, dropping and freezing someone else’s stuff, everything worked exactly as it should. Kind of boring, but I sometimes think boring products are what is needed. ISONAS does not have a video management system (VMS) component, preferring to partner with companies that already do that.

The company’s list of integration partners is small but growing, and includes Milestone, OnSSI and Video Insight (Panasonic). An API has been published and the manufacturer seems enthusiastic about working with as many VMS developers as possible. This makes sense; if you’re not going to compete with them, it’s in your best interest to cooperate.

Software
There are really three software categories available to ISONAS users. We tested the cloud-based software and had a hard time coming up with any “real-world” features it did not include. The interface was clean and intuitive, very customizable, and it was easy to set up restricted profiles to add users with limited capabilities. It is, however, software as a service (SaaS) and many firms do not like that model. If it works for you, it works well, and the programs are certainly dealer friendly and make it easy for an integrator to build a client base by reselling the service.

There’s also a premises-based software package that we did not test; we did call two clients that use their software and both were extremely happy. These were not sophisticated users, and both remarked that the software did exactly what they wanted, was easy to use and was “bulletproof” in their applications. ISONAS also integrates with a number of access control software vendors, allowing the ISONAS hardware to be used with more sophisticated applications. In particular, ISONAS and Open Options announced a partnership at ISC West 2016 and it is hard to imagine an access control feature or specification that this pairing could not meet.

Conclusions
This is a product I wanted to like. It dramatically simplifies the installation and management of access control systems, removes a lot of the failure points and should reduce costs for end users while improving reliability. Looking at the product at ISC West last spring, and talking to integrators that had used it, it seemed too good to be true, and I expected to be disappointed. Happily I was not. There were only two downsides I could see to this product line, and our overall score reflects that.

First, the limited design options; if you want a more pleasing aesthetic or a lower profile reader you would need to use the IP Bridge and a conventional reader. A more varied product line is on the way (I’ve seen pictures), but it’s not here yet. Second, this is a proprietary technology protected by a number of patents, and despite the ISONAS clarion call to integration, you are limited to a single vendor for the key components of your system.

While ISONAS has been around since 1999, our industry is littered with the ghosts of proprietary technologies that went away. Personally, I’m dipping my toe slowly into this pond, starting with a small implementation and monitoring it closely. But I expect that this is the way of the future, and much as we’ve given up BNC connectors and code distribution units for CCTV cameras, we expect to make a similar paradigm shift with access control. It may be proprietary now, but it’s just too good of an implementation not to catch on.

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