Interview: Ulises Lorente, Export Manager, EVVA
Interview: Ulises Lorente, Export Manager, EVVA
a&s Adria: Glad to meet you here at Security Essen, Mr. Lorente. Could you tell us more about yourself, your professional and educational background, and your role at EVVA?
Lorente: I am export manager at EVVA company. I deal with sales in every market except Austria and the ones we have subsidiaries in. Our main role is to look for customers in countries we’re already present in or in new ones. We work on our sales and marketing strategies, attend exhibitions, etc. I’ve been working in EVVA for almost seven years. In the beginning I was coordinating sales activities with the subsidiaries in Eastern Europe, mostly Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Then I was promoted to Export manager. As for my background, I finished Business Administration at University of Madrid and worked as a consultant for export activities for Spanish Chamber of Commerce.
a&s Adria: A brief history of EVVA?
Lorente: EVVA is a company with a long experience. We were founded in 1919, which means we’re about to celebrate a hundred years in business. Over these years we’ve established ourselves very strongly, expecially in Central European markets. We’re recognized as a manufacturer of premium quality products, mostly based on the access control systems, both mechanical and electronic. We’re not focusing on a lower segment of the market, but on a specific segments, mostly on a business level. We’re working with companies, hospitals, universities, all kind of organizations that require not only one cylinder, but a whole master key system. We’re mostly selling in Europe, Asia and Australia. Now we’re focusing on Eastern and Southern Europe, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific region. In our recent history EVVA has developed very innovative integrated solutions (mechanical and electronic), hence our slogan for the Security Exhibition „Smart New Worlds“.
a&s Adria: Could you present us your product line?
Lorente: We have mechanical and electronical access control systems. Within the mechanical product group, we are specialized in the production of master key systems. Our mechanical product range is based in very innovative key systems which enable us to have a lot of combinations to realize the master key systems for any organization. Within the electronic group we have two product families. One of them is called Xesar, an access control system which is designed to be installed on a local computer. Through this software you can do all the management and tracking. Xesar is targeted at office buildings, hospitalsand industrial buildings, among others. Xesar offers 4 different locking components (escutcheon, handle, cylinder and wall reader). Therefore it can be used in virtually any door withing a project.The products are battery powered and easy to install and assemble. Even though they are offline, thanks to the Xesar Virtual Network, the information flows in the system via the ID media (cards, fobs or combi-keys). The other product family is AirKey, an access control system offering the customer optimal flexibility. The management software is online, and can be thus accessed from anywhere in the world, and enables the sending of authorisations over the Internet to a smartphone (even periodical or limited access authorisations).Thanks to the AirKey app the smartphone is the key.
a&s Adria: What application does the AirKey has?
Lorente: There’s a lot of different applications. For instance, it is a popular solution for apartment owners renting them over the Internet, for example an AirBnb. Today the owner of the apartment has to meet you somewhere to give you the key. With AirKey, hovewer, you can use the function „Send the key“, and the owner does not to meet the renter to give the key. Other applications are companies with distributed locations due to the AirKey´s flexibility, e.g. telecommunication companies, which have a lot of antennas spread all over the country. If you have a technical service that needs to service different components, they can call the headquarters and receive the authorization for them.
a&s Adria: On what technology are your products based on?
Lorente: AirKey is based JCOP technology (Java Chip Open Protocol), which is one of the most secure technologies at the market. For instance, In Austria, the banking cards are using NFC chips based on this technology, so it’s being used in applications where you need the latest standards.
a&s Adria: We can here more talks about cyber security. How is your company dealing with those kind of threats?
Lorente: I will focus on AirKey. How do we know this is a secure system?
Security is all around AirKey.First of all, we have a web-based software located in our EVVA servers. For them we have all kind of security: firewalls, redundant servers, and encripted communication. Also the servers are based in Austria, which is a neutral country, and the information is therefore secure. On the communication level we’re using the latest standards in encryption, like the AES 128 bit. It’s a really high encryption level, which means it’s extremely difficult to access the information. Also, as previously mentioned, our ID media (smartphones, cards) work with JCOP technology, one of the most secure ID technologies.
a&s Adria: What if someone steals a mobile phone with credentials on? What’s the response time and means?
Lorente: Here we have to consider several security layers. First of all, our application is working only with an unlocked screen on the smartphone, which means we recommend our customers to use a special PIN or pattern to unlock the screen. Additionally, The application has the possibility to add an additional PIN code, to be entered before using the AirKey system. On the software level, as soon as you realize someone has stolen your mobile phone, you have the possibility to access the AirKey web based management software from anywhere in the world and block the authorisation.
a&s Adria: What EVVA system would you recommend for SMB’s, and what for a larger company?
Lorente: For a smaller company, I would recommend the AirKey solution. AirKey is an easy to use access control system providing full flexibility and mobility for the end users. For smaller systems, the management kit is kept at the minimum, since your own smartphone can be at the same time the identification medium, the coding station and the programming device, sparing unnecessary costs. Also, the application to use with an AirKey is free of charge. The only payment that we charge for using the software are key credits, a very innovative solution to enable smaller objects to limit the costs on the software licence.
For a larger companies, like a post office, universities, customers tend to profit from the virtual network possibilities on Xesar. With Xesar you can easily manage the system locally and issue new cards via the coding station. Xesar uses the MIFARE DESFIRE technology, more extendedon the market. However, AirKey would also be suitable for bigger systems, depending on the requirements. For instance, if you have different locations, like post offices in different cities, it might be better to take advantage of the AirKey flexibility. It always depends on what kind of solution you are looking for. If you are looking for more flexibility and mobility, you should use AirKey. If you’re based somewhere and you want to run things locally, I would recommend Xesar.
a&s Adria: What can we expect from EVVA in the future?
Lorente: As our slogan „Smart New Worlds“ imply, EVVA will be developing innovative systems in the coming years, always with our customers in mind. The next developments will focus on enabling Bluetooth as a communication form with AirKey. At the moment AirKey can be used with Android smartphones thanks to their NFC chip, but in the near futureAirKey will be also available to be used with Bluetooth. In that way we will be able to address a bigger customer market. We are focusing more on mobility and flexibility, so further features will build up on these concepts. We will have a geotagging system, which means your can use your mobile phone with GPS when innitializing the component to save the GPS coordinates and then track the components on Google maps. For a distributed locations, you can always know where the component is. We’re also going to introduce a hands free solution, which means you can have a mobile phone in your pocket and just by approaching the door, if you have the Bluetooth connected, you will be able to open the door automaticaly. As for Xesar, we’re looking for some kind of integration to offer special solutions in usability.
a&s Adria: Adriatic region market?
Lorente: In the Balkans region we’re working with companies ID Shop, which is covering Slovenia and Croatia, and CP Security, which is focusing on the rest of the markets. On a Serbian market we have started working one year ago, and on a Slovenian three years ago. We are quite satisfied with the development. We have been able to benefit from the existing contacts those companies have. They are aiming at companies and organizations which are looking for high-security master key systems. As you know, we were present at the Adria Security Summit in Belgrade and were quite satisfied from kind of companies that attended the exhibition. They were mostly personnel responsible for security in big companies from the region. Thus, we have been able to present them our solutions depending on their needs.
a&s Adria: Could you name some important projects in Adriatic region?
Lorente: A very important multinational Slovenian company Krka has decided to use EVVA mechanical products on all their premises in different countries and they are going step by step to change the existing systems with the new one. We also worked with European agency in Ljubljana and National bank of Slovenia. EVVA is, however, present all over the world having done installation even in Australia (i.e. for the Curtin University in Perth where we installed 30.000 cylinders on the different faculties) and South East Asia, where EVVA has already delivered their systems to several office buildings.
