November 2003

Digital Doorman

By Technology Review

Electronic door locks secure everything from offices to dormitories, but wiring them up to send and receive data can be expensive. So Cambridge, MA-based CoreStreet has developed a wireless identity verification system, due out by year's end. Current systems use wires to gain secure access to a central database. But with CoreStreet's system, authorization information is stored at each lock. To periodically update that information, the system uses proprietary algorithms to generate a tiny, encrypted wireless message that informs each lock who has permission to enter. By eliminating wiring, says Phil Libin, CoreStreet's cofounder and president, the system "allows you to control access to things you can't right now," including airplane cockpits and trucks transporting hazardous cargo.