Let's know a project to modernize an integration system for a space that requires maximum levels of security.
by Alan Josué Vázquez
Being systems that provide essential services for the development and well-being of society, critical infrastructures demand the integration of technological solutions that guarantee the safety and proper management of their processes.
Such is the case of social rehabilitation centres, facilities for the detention of persons prosecuted, the execution of sentences and the application of social rehabilitation treatments, whose nature demands maximum levels of security, administration and optimisation of their processes.
It is for this reason that the technological renovation carried out last year by SISSA Monitoring Integral in one of the different Social Readaptation Centers of the Mexican Republic, was a real challenge that tested their professionalism and capabilities for the design, implementation and integration of cutting-edge technological solutions.
A modernization project
In the search to provide a renewal and update service to the access control and enrollment system of one of these Centers, SISSA was assigned the responsibility of implementing a system capable of interacting with the different devices used on the site to execute such actions without the need to recapture the information collected by the old data management system.
To do this, SISSA Monitoring Integral turned to one of the most successful products developed in its software factory: IXMAKI, the Identity Management System that allows the registration of general information (name, age, sex, etc.) and the different human biometrics (fingerprints, 2D and 3D face, iris, palms, edges, rolled footprints, etc.) for identity management and the exchange of biometric data.
This software developed by SISSA Digital (one of the main business units of SISSA Monitoring Integral), in addition to enabling the rapid and secure identification of people to maintain control over their processes, met the characteristics required to meet the needs of the end user, including the migration of information generated and stored in any other data management system, avoiding the need to carry out a new process of enrolment by civilians and persons deprived of their liberty (PPL). In addition, IXMAKI is able to reuse the access control hardware and the peripherals previously implemented instead (fingerprint scanner, iris, palms and edges, etc.), which means a significant extension of its life time.
Challenge against obsolescence
However, as in any large-scale project, the challenges were not long in coming. Unfortunately, the biometric terminal used in the Social Readaptation Center for the 3D facial identification of people was incompatible with sissa's identity management system, because this device was approximately 12 years old and its manufacturer was no longer on the market, which made the information migration process impossible in this particular case.
However, IXMAKI allowed SISSA Monitoring Integral to replace the previously obsolete terminal used by a state-of-the-art biometric facial recognition device.
Also, unlike the system implemented before IXMAKI on the site, it prevents a person from registering more than once using general information different from their own, preventing duplication of the biometric information collected from each person and thus guaranteeing the integrity of the database generated.
Tailor-made quality solutions
Despite the inevitable setbacks raised in this project, mostly due to external agents, SISSA Monitoring Integral was able to fully solve each problem presented, delivering a tailor-made solution, a solution that satisfied the requirements of its business partner to such an extent that its results served as a letter of recommendation for future projects where SISSA implemented IXMAKI and integrated state-of-the-art biometric technology for develop enrollment and access control processes.
Among the many benefits that this Social Readaptation Center acquired through the implementation of IXMAKI, the unification of data processing actions in a single device stands out, which allows reducing the use of cables, personnel and unnecessary equipment.
In addition, IXMAKI allows the generation of NIST files, a mandatory standard in critical infrastructures of this nature (validated by the Federal Secretariat of Citizen Security) which is applied worldwide for the exchange of information between security institutions such as the FBI, CIA, Interpol, etc.
Maximum security challenges
Currently, SISSA is resuming the project of construction, rehabilitation and equipment of another Social Readaptation Center, a project that stands out for the implementation of the IXMAKI Identity Management System and the integration of a series of state-of-the-art biometric devices.
It is important to mention that such an infrastructure, in addition to the maximum, medium and minimum security module, has a super maximum security module, which represents a new challenge for SISSA Monitoring Integral.
IXMAKI is a software that was initially designed to be integrated into critical installations; however, its robust design makes it adaptable to all types of environments, including corporate, commercial, educational, institutional, industrial, residential, hotel, airport, hospital, etc.
* Alan Josué Vázquez Zárraga, Content Editor of SISSA Monitoring Integral
