Safetrust Inc. - Experts & Thought Leaders

Safetrust Inc. announces a partnership with Universal Smart Cards Inc. to manufacture and supply Aliro-certified credentials. The collaboration provides enterprises with a reliable, vendor-independent source of Aliro physical credentials that integrate natively with Safetrust Credential Manager and any Aliro-certified reader. The partnership expands Safetrust’s growing Aliro partner ecosystem of certified manufacturing, reader, and integration partners, delivering true interoperability and certificate-based identity at enterprise scale. This addresses a core enterprise question in Aliro adoption: how to source certified physical cards while maintaining flexibility for hybrid mobile and legacy deployments. Access control readers Aliro is the approved technical standard from the Connectivity Standards Alliance for a common credential and protocol. It streamlines secured communication so access control readers and mobile devices work easily together. Developed through global collaboration among major mobile and access control OEMs, Aliro delivers best-of-class security, privacy, and interoperability among certified devices and readers. Hybrid credential support: Aliro cards alongside legacy formats (e.g., MIFARE® DESFire®) for phased migration without full infrastructure rip-and-replace Full certificate lifecycle management: Via Safetrust Credential Manager (issuance, renewal, revocation) Multi-vendor compatibility: Works with any Aliro-certified reader, regardless of manufacturer Supply chain resilience: Freedom from single-vendor or single-silicon dependence Certificate lifecycle management “One of the first questions we hear from enterprise customers ready to move to Aliro is: ‘Where do we get the cards and how do we transition from legacy credentials?’ This partnership answers that directly. Universal Smart Cards brings 25 years of credential manufacturing, including crossover support for most legacy proprietary technologies, so customers can migrate at their own pace, moving from vendor lock-in to an open standard where they control the keys,” said Catherine Carducci, Product Manager, Aliro, Safetrust Inc. “Safetrust has been at the center of the Aliro ecosystem, from demonstrating the first enterprise Aliro card and mobile platform at ISC West to driving real interoperability across vendors. Partnering with them gives our customers a clear path to certified Aliro credentials backed by a platform that handles certificate lifecycle management, reader provisioning, and federated trust. We’ve spent decades helping customers migrate and upgrade with our multi-credential card solutions. Now we can help them to move forward — on an open standard where they, not their vendors, hold the keys,” said Graham Gillot, Vice President of Sales, Universal Smart Cards Inc. Multi-credential card solutions The partnership follows Safetrust’s ISC West demonstration of the first Aliro Enterprise card and mobile platform, as enterprise demand for Aliro-based physical credentials continues to accelerate. Aliro Decoded Webinar — June 10, 2026, 11:00 AM PT (2:00 PM ET): Safetrust CTO Jason Hart and VP Advanced Systems Will Holderness will cover Aliro adoption, migration strategies, and credential architecture. CSA Unify — June 17, 2026, 3:45–4:30 PM, Austin, TX: Jason Hart joins dormakaba, SIA SPARC, Allegion, and the Aliro working group chair for “Commercial Aliro: Why Now, What It Unlocks, and What Has to Be Done”.

Safetrust Inc. will participate in a featured breakout session at Unify, the Connectivity Standards Alliance‘s annual conference, taking place June 16–18, 2026, in Austin, Texas. Founder Jason Hart will join a cross-industry panel on Tuesday, June 17, from 3:45–4:30 PM for “Commercial Aliro: Why Now, What It Unlocks, and What Has to Be Done”. The session will examine why commercial is the right sector for Aliro deployment today, explore real-world use cases across multi-badge, multi-vendor, and multi-tenant environments, and address what the industry must do to move Aliro from a recognized standard to an actively deployed one. Panelists include: Jason Hart — Founder, Safetrust Inc. Nelson Henry — VP, Security Technology & Engineering, Last Lock Bret Holbrook — SVP, Access Control and Identity Management, dormakaba Americas Olivia Renaud — Group Product Manager, Credentials Software, Allegion Phil Jang — Member, Security Industry Association (SIA) Security Practitioners Advancing Real Conversations (SPARC) Lee Odess — Moderator, CEO, The Access Control Collective Real-world deployment In addition to the breakout session, Safetrust will demo Aliro Enterprise credentials on the expo floor at Unify. Attendees can see live demonstrations of the Aliro Enterprise physical card and mobile platform working together (the same demonstration Safetrust debuted at ISC West in March 2026), where it showcased the first Aliro Enterprise physical credential operating in tandem with mobile wallets. The demo illustrates how organizations can provision and manage credentials across multiple access vendors using their own digital certificates, without proprietary lock-in. As a Connectivity Standards Alliance member and active contributor to the Aliro technical community, Safetrust participates in Unify not only as an Aliro implementer but as a strong advocate for how the standard can best serve commercial enterprise. Its presence at Unify, spanning both the speaker stage and the expo floor, reflects its commitment to moving Aliro from standard to real-world deployment.

Join Safetrust technology and deployment experts for a virtual introduction to Aliro, the open industry standard for physical access credentials. What attendees will learn How Aliro’s certificate-based protocol delivers true multi-vendor interoperability and unified mobile + physical identity Practical migration strategies to layer Aliro onto existing infrastructure with zero disruption Cross-organizational identity federation without sharing secrets Alignment with enterprise PKI, Zero Trust, and post-quantum readiness Real adoption challenges and why the next 12–24 months are the critical decision window Interoperable identity orchestration Proprietary PACS systems create vendor lock-in and limit scalability. Aliro shifts the model to customer-owned, interoperable identity orchestration, giving enterprises control across people, places, and systems. Aliro Decoded: What Enterprise Security and Identity Leaders Need to Know Before 2027 Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2026 Time: 11:00 AM PT (2:00 PM ET) Format: 45-minute virtual briefing + Q&A Led By: CTO Jason Hart and VP Advanced Systems Will Holderness “What makes Aliro different isn’t just interoperability. It’s that organizations can now extend trusted identity across facilities, vendors, and use cases without ever sharing a secret. One credential implementation covers mobile and physical access, works across mixed hardware environments, and authenticates in milliseconds. That’s not an upgrade to the old model. That’s a different security model,” said Catherine Carducci, Product Manager, Aliro, Safetrust.

Supply chain issues have plagued the economic recovery during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the problems show every indication of persisting for months or even years to come. Supply chain challenges have impacted the security marketplace in many ways, reflecting the breadth and variety of products needed to secure people, facilities, and assets. Wondering about the specifics of that impact, we asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How does disruption of the global supply chain of components impact players across the security industry?

The intersection of consumer electronics and the physical security marketplace is a fertile sector for growth and innovation. Consumers increasingly have the same high expectations for the operation of their workplace technologies as they are accustomed to in the digital world at large. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How do developments in personal electronics impact customer expectations in the physical security market?

Topics that dominated our website’s Expert Panel Roundtable articles in 2021 included the effects of COVID-19, the benefits of mobile access, the upcoming potential of deep learning, and the future of access control cards. Our website’s Expert Panel Roundtable discussions in 2021 reflected some of the most timely and important topics in the industry. The very most clicked-on Expert Panel Roundtable discussion in 2021 considered the positive and negative effects of COVID-19. The second most popular was trends in perimeter security technology. Smart video solutions Here is a roundup of the Top 10 Expert Panel Roundtable discussions posted in 2021, along with a ‘sound bite’ from each discussion and links back to the full articles. Thanks to everyone who contributed to Expert Panel Roundtable in 2021 (including the quotable panelists named and linked below). The pandemic has impacted security in many ways, some we are just now realizing" What are the positive and negative effects of COVID-19 to security? “The pandemic has impacted security in many ways, some we are just now realizing. On the negative side, integrators were limited in their ability to access customer locations, posing significant challenges to supporting customers. Innovation was also halted in many sectors – such as AI and edge computing in healthcare. However, the pandemic increased awareness regarding the need for smart solutions that can aid in these types of crises. Smart video solutions have been identified repeatedly in the media as a potential pathway to better customer experience and increased safety.” – Alexander Harlass. Reducing false alarms What are the latest trends in perimeter security technology? “What’s really important in perimeter security is the minimization of false alarms, not simply the potential detection of what might be an unauthorized person or object. In light of that, many systems now include alarm validation that can confirm an alarm event using a camera. The utilization of AI-based technologies can further validate the accuracy of the alarm, making it as accurate and precise as possible. I anticipate seeing more cross-technological integrations to reduce false alarms, so that personnel in an alarm center spend as little time as possible in validating an alarm.” – Leo Levit. What will be the biggest security trends in 2021? “2021 will see artificial intelligence (AI) become more mainstream. There will be increased deployment in edge devices, including cameras, thermographic cameras, radar and LIDAR sensors, entry point readers, etc. Additional algorithms will be developed, greatly expanding the use and function as video surveillance transitions from a forensic tool to real-time analytics. This increases the value of these systems and helps create ROI cases for their deployment.” – Tim Brooks. Access control solutions Investments in tools and platforms to drive digital interactions have accelerated" What will be the security industry’s biggest challenge in 2021? “The security industry is traditional in the sense that it relies heavily on face-to-face interaction to do business with customers and partners alike. COVID-19 has put a hold on in-person meetings, trade shows, etc., and this trend is likely to extend throughout 2021. Virtually recreating these personal touchpoints, while cultivating and strengthening internal and external relationships, will continue to be both a challenge and opportunity for the security industry. Investments in tools and platforms to drive digital interactions have accelerated.” – Robert Moore. What are the challenges and benefits of mobile access control? “Mobile access control solutions are an exciting innovation in a market where the day-to-day user experience hasn’t changed much in the last 20 years. One area that has clear benefits and challenges is in improving the user experience. On one hand, physical credentials are expensive and a hassle to administer; however, they work reliably, quickly, and predictably. Mobile credentials are convenient in that everyone already has a smartphone, and you don’t have to admin or carry cards; however, when you’re actually standing at the door they need to work as well or better than physical credentials, or the benefits are lost.” – Brian Lohse. Attacking critical infrastructure What are the security challenges of protecting critical infrastructure? “It seems so often we hear about a new threat or cyber-attack in the news. Because of the rapid growth in technology over the last few years, cybercriminals are getting bolder and discovering new ways to attack critical infrastructure. One of the biggest challenges boils down to the capabilities of the operating security system and whether the organization is aware of the current risks they face. Because there are so many points of entry for cybercriminals to target within critical infrastructure, it is vital that the security solution be prepared for attacks at every level.” – Charles (Chuck) O’Leary. They are more aware when they make physical contact with doors and interfaces" Which security technologies will be useful in a post-pandemic world? “People have become more sensitized to crowds and personal space. They are more aware when they make physical contact with doors and interfaces. As the pandemic subsides, these habits will likely remain for a majority of people." "Utilising AI-based cameras to accurately monitor the number of people in a room or in a queue will enable staff to take action to improve the customer experience. For example, AI-based analytics can quickly notify security or operations when people are waiting at a door and initiate 2-way audio for touchless access.” – Aaron Saks. Central monitoring station What is the potential of deep learning in physical security and surveillance? “Deep learning, a subset of artificial intelligence, enables networks to train themselves to perform speech, voice, and image recognition tasks." In video surveillance, these networks learn to make predictions through highly repetitive exposure" "In video surveillance, these networks learn to make predictions through highly repetitive exposure to images of humans and vehicles from a camera feed. That ability is ideal for use with drones patrolling perimeters seeking anomalies or in software that significantly reduces the number of false alarms reported to central monitoring station operators. Through use, the software continues improving its accuracy.” – Brian Baker. Valuable audit trail How soon will access control cards become extinct and why? “Access control cards will go the way of the dinosaur, but they still have some life left in them. For the short term, they have plenty of utility in minimum security use cases and leave a valuable audit trail. But for companies that are more technology-centric, particularly those with high value assets, we’re seeing demand for next-generation access control, which includes increased integration with video surveillance systems and professional monitoring services.” – Sean Foley. Which security markets are embracing touchless and contactless systems? “Touchless technology is not a new trend, but contactless systems and transactions have surged since the COVID-19 pandemic. Even after the pandemic is over, it is likely public perception of what is hygienic and acceptable in public spaces will have changed. [We are] seeing an uptick in touchless access control systems in the education and flexible office space markets.” – Brooke Grigsby.