Onur Sırmatel
Co-Founder and General Manager of Ones Technology
This article outlines a compelling journey from the end of the closed ecosystem mindset to the rise of empowering open standards, with the LEAF Community standing out as one of the advocates of this movement. It shows how this shift is being validated by industry leaders like dormakaba and LEGIC, and the role of innovative contributors such as Ones Technology, any2any GmbH, and TANlock in building this new ecosystem.
The modern corporate security landscape paints a complex and interconnected picture. Threats are no longer just physical (a forced door) or digital (a phishing email) but are increasingly hybrid and sophisticated. This serves as proof of why traditional security models alone are no longer sufficient. At the heart of our discussion lies the fundamental conflict between the traditional, proprietary “Walled Garden” approach to access control and the emerging ecosystem of collaboration and interoperability. This is not just a technology debate; it signifies a fundamental paradigm shift in the industry.. It represents a genuine paradigm shift that is reshaping the very foundations of our industry.
Why the Industry Is Moving Toward Collaboration
The physical security industry is at a critical juncture. The future lies not in isolated systems, but in open, interconnected platforms that offer users freedom of choice, enhance security through collective intelligence, and foster innovation. The development that sparked this discussion was the recent announcement by dormakaba, a global leader in access solutions, and LEGIC, that they have joined the LEAF Community.
This compelling news validates the core premise of our viewpoint: the open standards movement has reached critical mass and is now being embraced by the industry’s most established players.
Beyond dormakaba and LEGIC, the LEAF Community includes a constellation of globally significant players whose participation further elevates the initiative. For example, ASSA ABLOY has begun producing LEAF-enabled hardware that supports scalable deployment with strong encryption and modular architecture, underlining its commitment to interoperability. Allegion is also listed among LEAF consortium partners, contributing its expertise in commercial access control solutions and leveraging alliances to integrate open standards. Their combined participation shows that LEAF is not just a niche standard but a rising industry alliance uniting heavyweights across hardware, biometrics, and identity domains.
Proprietary access control systems are closed ecosystems where a single manufacturer controls the hardware, software, credentials, and management interfaces. This dependency makes it difficult or prohibitively expensive for a customer to switch to an alternative vendor—a situation commonly referred to as “vendor lock-in.”
Among the direct and indirect costs of this dependency, infrastructure migration costs are the most prominent. Investments in training, customization, and integration must be completely duplicated with a new vendor. Once a customer is locked into a system, they become vulnerable to price hikes, exorbitant fees, and expensive maintenance contracts, as they have lost their bargaining power and the flexibility to evaluate alternatives.
The non-financial consequences are even more profound. Customers are limited by the vendor’s development roadmap, which may not align with their own needs or the pace of market innovation. This can cause them to fall behind competitors who have adopted more modern technologies. Integration with third-party systems, such as new HR platforms or visitor management tools, becomes a cumbersome, expensive, and sometimes impossible task, creating operational silos and inefficiencies. As business needs change, such as through mergers or expansion, proprietary systems struggle to adapt without a complete and costly overhaul, thereby hindering corporate agility.
The Power of Open Standards and Interoperability
The new paradigm is built on two core concepts: open standards and interoperability.
Open Standards: A specification that is publicly available, developed through collaboration or consensus, and allows anyone to create products that conform to it. This creates a competitive marketplace and prevents a single entity from controlling the technology.
Interoperability: The ability of systems and products from different manufacturers to communicate and work together seamlessly, without requiring special effort from the user. It eliminates the need for data silos and enhances collaboration.
The Role of the LEAF Community
The LEAF Community is one of the advocates of this new philosophy in the access control space. It is a global forum of organizations that have come together to provide customers with flexibility and freedom of choice. Its mission is to create a seamless interoperability environment where secure credentials and devices work together on a universal standard: LEAF Identity. Crucially, the community is not driven by the agenda of a single manufacturer.
The LEAF standard is built upon secure and proven technologies like NXP MIFARE DESFire EV2/EV3, which support advanced security features and a multi-application architecture. It uses strong AES-128 encryption to protect data exchanged between the credential and the reader. This is a critical upgrade from older, insecure proximity card technologies that can be easily cloned.
A cornerstone of the LEAF philosophy is that the end-user can own their own cryptographic keys (the LEAF Custom Cryptographic Keyset or LEAF Enterprise). This is the ultimate antidote to vendor lock-in. When the customer owns the keys, they can grant access to any manufacturer whose products are LEAF-compliant, giving them true control and independence. Key management is handled with extreme security, using FIPS 140 Level 3 certified hardware security modules (HSMs) and secure exchange protocols.
Leaders are Transforming the Industry with a Culture of Partnership
The news of dormakaba’s and LEGIC’s entry into the LEAF Community is one of the most powerful proofs of this industry shift. The strategic importance of this move is multi-layered. First, it is a market validation. dormakaba is a leading global provider in the access solutions market with a turnover of CHF 2.8 billion, and LEGIC is likewise a major player. Their decision is a powerful endorsement of the open standards model, sending a strong message to the entire market that interoperability is the future.
Furthermore, it aligns perfectly with dormakaba’s corporate strategy, “Shape4Growth,” which emphasizes customer centricity, operational efficiency, and sustainability through collaborations and transparent product declarations. Joining a collaborative, community-driven initiative like LEAF is in perfect harmony with these stated goals. When a major player like dormakaba adopts an open standard, it creates a powerful network effect: it encourages more manufacturers to develop LEAF-compliant products, gives system integrators more confidence to propose solutions based on the LEAF standard, and forces competing proprietary systems to reconsider their “Walled Garden” strategies.
This signals a broader cultural transformation within the security industry, which has been a key underlying theme at many European events this year. It reflects a shift towards a culture of “co-opetition” and “knowledge sharing,” where competitors collaborate on foundational standards to elevate the security and functionality of the entire ecosystem for everyone’s benefit.
Open systems are inherently more sustainable. Proprietary systems often lead to “rip-and-replace” cycles when a customer needs to upgrade or switch vendors, generating significant electronic waste. Open, interoperable systems, however, allow for gradual upgrades and “plug-and-play” simplicity. A customer can replace just the readers or a single software component without overhauling the entire infrastructure.
The move to open standards also fundamentally changes the basis of competition. In the old model, companies competed by locking customers into their proprietary platforms. In the new model, standards like LEAF become the common platform. Companies now compete within this shared ecosystem. Competition evolves from locking in customers to offering the best features, the highest quality, superior service, or the most innovative application on top of the standard. This fosters a healthier and more dynamic competitive environment that encourages genuine innovation for the end-user rather than the reinforcement of monopolies.
Ones Leading with Open Ecosystem
Adapting to the idea of an open ecosystem yields rapid results for companies whose corporate culture embraces the ability to form swift and effective partnerships.
Ones Technology, a high-tech R&D and manufacturing center specializing in biometric and smart card-based access control and security systems, already possesses an ecosystem of integrated hardware and software solutions under its BioAffix brand. Despite this, with its “plug-and-play” capable products, it can seamlessly integrate its own offerings into the open ecosystem.
The corporate DNA of Ones Technology is aligned with the principles of the open standards movement. The company’s principle of adhering to national and international standards in all its products—evidenced by certifications like ISO 9001, ISO 27001, and CMMI—demonstrates that a commitment to open and verifiable quality is part of its culture. Furthermore, it’s fair to say BioAffix products are designed for integration. Their support for open industry protocols like the proprietary OSDP (Open Supervised Device Protocol), alongside initiatives like LEAF, is proof of this. Existing technology partners, such as the co-development with RealSense® for BioAffix Gate Vision Mobile and integration and solution partnerships with any2any GmbH and TANlock, further prove their collaborative approach to innovation.
Ones Technology’s expertise and product portfolio perfectly complement the open standards ecosystem. BioAffix offers a wide range of biometric solutions, including palm vein, facial recognition, and fingerprint readers. Integrating these advanced authentication methods with LEAF credentials creates a multi-factor security solution, significantly enhancing security. With its full product suite, Ones Technology can deliver complete, end-to-end solutions built upon these open standards.
Together with its partners, Ones Technology is positioning itself not merely as a follower of this innovation, but as a key architect of the new, open, and collaborative future of security. Its corporate culture, experience, know-how, and R&D investments—placing it among the top three hundred nationally—position Ones Technology as a significant global player bringing unique innovations to this international movement.
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