Late in 2013 Salto Systems launched Clay by Salto a new IP door controller working wireless via 3G. The product was introduced first in the Netherlands and the UK, where Salto is the market leader for offline access control systems. Only some weeks later Salto's Clay product made first place in GIT SECURITY AWARD 2014.

At Intersec in Dubai Sebastian Reinhart and Heiko Baumgartner had the chance to talk to Marc Handels, Salto Systems Vice President about Clay and the newest developments in the market for access control.

GIT-SECURITY.com: Not all of our readers already know the Clay system. Can you give us a brief introduction?

Marc Handels: Clay by Salto is an easy to use, secure locking solution for Small Medium Enterprises (SME). The product is designed to bring electronic solutions to SMEs, providing vastly better functionality and performance than is possible in a traditional mechanical solution, and with a flexible management system that requires no cumbersome software installation or cost of a fully wired electronic product. The solution combines a cloud-based intuitive software platform that is easy and fast to understand and manage, with high quality and design hardware that is easy and quick to install. Its increased security comes from users being able to easily and intuitively establish, consult, change and cancel specific access rights by person and place and time and all in real-time. The system is eliminating the problems and limitations of existing mechanical solutions, such as the costs associated with changing locks, keys, and cylinders when keys get lost.

Could you give us some background on the product development for Clay?

Marc Handels: Clay by Salto was co-developed with a Dutch Internet company that has an outstanding entrepreneurial spirit and a vast experience in developing online and cloud-based systems and mobile Apps. They understand the Internet of the things, we understand hardware. We have mixed their spirit with Salto's knowledge in the security and access control market. We own 49% of the company to make sure that on one hand our influence is big enough and on the other hand we do not lose the drive for further developments.

The access control market is quite conser­vative and sometimes reluctant to new ­initiatives. How was the feedback from the Dutch and the UK market when you launched the product?

Marc Handels: Within the last 12 years since Salto is on the market, I think we have developed a reputation not only for introducing innovative but also for highly reliable products with high security standards. With a turn-over of about € 78 millions we are an established company now. The feedback we did get from the market was incredible and we were very proud to win GIT SECURITY AWARD 2014 with Clay only some weeks after the launch. We started in the UK as we have a very strong market position there and a great network of integrators and partners. That was very helpful at the launch. Clay will significantly broaden our offering and will kill the pain of many end-users and distribution partners.

You talk like you are you producing ­pharmaceuticals...

Marc Handels: Seriously we will not provide painkillers on a pharmaceutical basis. Since the beginning our method was not to start with developing new products and then see how the market reacts, but to analyze what pains users do have and then to develop solutions for them. Some years ago the biggest pain point people had was to react fast, reliable and with a reasonable ROI on changes in access control systems. Their challenge was to integrate new doors in existing buildings and to change access control rights quickly. I think we did kill some of their pain by introducing our offline door systems. These days there is another group of end-users that feel pain. Building managers and security managers of smaller entreprises, offices, retailers and even house owners have a lot of tasks to handle but one person cannot be an expert in everything and they don't have the resources to hand-over these tasks to others. They are looking for a flexible and modern system that can solve their problems. They ask for a flexible system that allows a keyless building, that is secure enough, affordable and which they can handle without a master degree in IT or system engineering.

Is Clay changing the opportunities for ­end-users only?

Marc Handels: I think it will also be a game-changer for smaller integrators, installers and locksmiths. They have an alternative now to staying with mechanical locks or to go for large complex systems. Large systems ask for the same installation and integration efforts no matter if it is en enterprise solution or a small project with up to 50 doors. For the smaller installation Clay can kill their pain.