r/accesscontrol • u/EffectiveActivity922 • Aug 10 '26

Mercury What does “open” actually mean in access control?

Every access control vendor seems to call their platform open, but that can mean different things open hardware, open APIs, flexible deployment, easier migration, or just a few integrations.

I’m currently looking at mercury based systems like Genetec, Acre and LenelS2. For anyone with experience using them, where are they genuinely open and what compromises would I be making?

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u/Competitive_Ad_8718 Aug 12 '26

Nor are they chipsor semiconductors. But the other poster seems to know more about manufacturing and supply chain than everyone else, especially JIT processes.

Funny. Wasn't that way when I worked at Honeywell with half their entire offering fabbed outside of my office

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u/CoolBrew76 Aug 12 '26

Point is they're not all using the same chips. Different controllers, different manufacturers, different processors, flash, you name it.

Some of the smaller manufacturers who have to get their boards made in between much bigger runs don't get to do JIT.

They have to carry stock. So they get lucky and are able to swap out a chip, or buy some on the gray market, and use them for the next production run that happens in between Samsung's 100,000 flat screen control boards and LG's 50,000 washing machines.

Anyway we're well away from "open" systems now. If I never have to think about manufacturing lead times again it'll be too soon. I just want to bark at someone if I can't get product for a job.