Volume 36 | October 31, 2025

This Week’s Featured Articles & Media

Kyle Gordon | Running Toward Connection: Building a Healthier Security Community.
When industry peers trade conference rooms for a race course, something different happens. Kyle’s recap of AMAG’s participation in the GameOn! Half Marathon explores how shared experiences — not just shared goals — are helping build a stronger, healthier security community through genuine connection, wellness, and collaboration beyond the workplace.

Andrew Campagnola | Welcome to Hotel Incompatibility: Where Nothing Connects
In this piece, Andrew asks what will finally be the catalyst that makes interoperability table stakes in access control—rather than just a marketing bullet. Journey with him to SNG, as he illustrates how the lack of standards creates unnecessary complexity and underscores the need for broader adoption of shared frameworks to move the industry forward.

Michael Stuer | A Bold Leap into the $70B Access Control Market | Why the Big Pond Isn’t Just Full of Sharks
Amid a $70B opportunity in the evolving access control market, this piece by Michael Stuer examines how Portier is expanding beyond its long-standing niche in key management. It explores the company’s decision to enter a broader space and how bridging legacy and modern systems reflects a wider industry shift toward connection and collaboration across the security ecosystem.

The Security Event Asia | The XForum Comes to The Security Event Asia
For the first time, the XForum joins The Security Event Asia — featuring 20 speakers and over a dozen sessions across three days. Hosted by The Access Control Executive Brief, it will bring together industry leaders and innovators to explore the future of access control. Register here to join us in two weeks.

The Access Control Collective | RAMP & ACS LATAM 2025
The Access Control Collective team is back from two incredible inaugural events: RAMP 2025 in New York City and ACS LATAM 2025 in São Paulo. Both gatherings brought together industry leaders to share ideas, spark innovation, and strengthen connections across the global access control community. We’ve shared our insights and highlights on LinkedIn and The Brief — follow us to see more from these standout events.

The Access Control Collective | PhySecJobs.com
Visit PhySecJobs.com to see the latest jobs in the physical security industry.

Find them all below!

AMAG was thrilled to sponsor SIA and FAST earlier this month in the GameOn! Hutchinson Island Half Marathon, this time alongside our friends from Zenitel and WaveLynx! Don Erickson and I first discussed this at ACS in San Sebastian earlier this year, great to see this evolve quickly from an informal discussion to reality in a few short months.

This sponsorship supports the Foundation for Advancing Security Talent (FAST) — an incredible organization focused on growing the next generation of security professionals. It’s a cause that matters deeply to all of us, and it was great to see familiar faces come together around health, connection, and purpose. 

On a personal note, this was the first time I’ve participated in a race that wasn’t tied to a major industry tradeshow — and honestly, it was a breath of fresh air. No booths, no sessions, no schedules… just people from across our industry running together, catching up, and later sharing a few post-race beers while talking about the business we all love.

Those conversations — unplanned, informal, genuine — were some of the best I’ve had in a long time. No slides, no agendas, just shared experiences, ideas, and laughter. It reminded me that some of the most meaningful connections happen when we step outside the structured environments we’re used to.

And that’s really the call to action here — to keep growing this movement. When we tie our personal health goals to professional networking, work starts to feel a little more like play. That’s where the walls come down, and where something truly lasting starts to form: a community.

The word community gets thrown around a lot in our industry, but for me, it feels most genuine when we blur the lines between personal passions, professional networks, and shared goals, irrespective of company or title. These events remind us that we’re part of something bigger — and that together, we can build not just a stronger industry, but a healthier and more connected one.

Huge thanks to SIA, FAST, and all of the sponsors and participants who made it happen. Let’s keep it going — more runs, more rides, more walks, more shared experiences that make this industry what it is.

As Securing New Ground wrapped up last week, I couldn't help but imagine an alternative world where it wasn't only the Access Control industry with very few standards…

It starts off with planning my trip to SNG and booking my hotel.

But in this world, there are no standards, so I have to work with my company’s Travel Integration and Partnership Office to make sure I can even get there without a meltdown.

The conference recommends the Marriott Hotel brand. My office says there’s a high compatibility score because “they’ve been around a long time and have lots of integrations and an "open" API.”

Cool.

They send my reservation and note that I’ll be parking.

It initially gets rejected because my last name is too long—apparently the system only accepts nine characters. No worries; they just put the first few letters of my last name in the middle name field. 

Problem solved.

Next, they check my car. The hotel only accepts blue cars from NY, so my office calls the rental company to confirm availability. Good news—they have one.

Day of travel: I grab my blue car and drive to the hotel… but they won’t let me in the parking garage.

Why?

Turns out New York license plates changed, and the hotel only supports the older orange ones. The front desk suggests I call a “license plate paint conversion” company that can mask my plate to “look compatible.” 

Uhhh, how much does that cost? Oh and I missed the arrival reception waiting for them to arrive.

At check-in: “Welcome, Mr. Ampagnola.”

Huh? Oh right, the middle name field workaround.

They hand me a key card, even though I requested a mobile key.

Apparently, the mobile key works on the elevator and my room, but the gym and lounge require physical cards. (Oh wait—this part isn’t an alternative world.)

Finally, I reach my room and collapse on the bed. I try to connect to Wi-Fi… no luck.

I apparently need to download a security certificate to authenticate iPhones (Android would have connected no problem, native integration and all), but the certificate team has gone home for the day. I can try again tomorrow.

I share this because our industry is full of great companies with nearly identical value chains—yet completely incompatible tech stacks.

There are working groups, there are standards bodies, but adoption is still optional and significantly insufficient.

While we all recognize standards would be best for the end users, the business incentives have not been universally recognized.  

So I keep wondering: what will finally be the catalyst that makes interoperability table stakes in access control—rather than a marketing bullet?

As the access control market expands toward a $70B opportunity, Portier is rethinking its place within it. Michael Stuer shares how the company is evolving from a trusted key management provider to a bridge between legacy systems and modern access technologies — reflecting a broader shift toward integration and collaboration across the security ecosystem.

Read the full article here.