15.01.2010

Renault Technocenter - Key Management System - proxSafe maxx

The security of sensitive data and other product innovations has the highest priority. Fachpresse - GIT SECURITY 1/2010

Renault has concentrated all its research and development work at its ‚Techno Center'. The security of sensitive data, new vehicle prototypes and other product innovations has the highest priority here. A proxSafe maxx key management system from deister electronic manages access by employees of external companies.

Near Paris lies a town that has only existed in this form for eleven years. It was planned and built with military precision just like the baroque royal palace not far from Versailles, around 20 km before the gates of the French capital. The Renault Technocenter in Guyancourt is a high-tech mini-town covering 150 hectares with its own 20 km long road network. Construction began after a two-year planning period in 1991, and it was opened in the summer of 1998. Some 11,500 engineers, technicians and designers work here, all with the aim of researching new developments in automobile construction, the shortening of development cycles as well as cost reduction. The calculation is evidently working because, on the occasion of its tenth anniversary there, the car manufacturer announced that the concentration of research and development resources in Guyancourt has enabled the reduction of devlopment time of a new model by two-thirds and savings amounting millions.

The Vital Subject of Knopw-how Protection

The development center has effectively become the brain of Renault. Protection against industrial espionage, against the unwanted flow of information to interested third parties, is a vital subject where so much top-secret know-how and engineering skill is gathered. One of the most important security tasks in the Renault Technocenter is the management of the employees of external companies that regularly go in and out. On the one hand this is dealt with by a comprehensive access control system, but this also requires a system for te managment of keys and ID cards: in view of the numerous rooms that contain sensitive data and know-how it must be possible for Renault to establish exactly where each employee is, or was, at any time. The responsible staff at Renault implement securtiy in the same meticulous way as their colleagues in development: good solutions are always being sought that are at the same high technical level as their own. The result was a decision to adopt a solution from Deister Electronic who had already equipped the development center with access readers. From this contact came the order to install a key and ID management system that is capable of administering up to 32 key cabinets and up to 1,024 keys.

Contact-free Identification

It was decided to use the larger version of the system to secure and manage the keys and other valuables in secure areas - the 'proxSafe maxx'. Keys and/or ID cards are fastened to a key tag using a one-time seal, an electronic key ring. This is uniquely identified without contact each time it is removed or inserted. All movements and usage of the key are documented and archived. In this way, it is possible to establish exactly who used which key at what time. Thanks to this system, measures can be taken immediately someone exceeds their security level. The front gete can be informed immediately if a key is not replaced on time and the person concerned can be chekced there. The advantage of this system becomes obvious when one compares with the situation before installation: working with unmanageable multiplicity of keys and potential keyholders was nothing less than a nightmare, as Paul Gilardi of Deister puts it. This led to confusion and also to fals alarms. In total around 1,000 keys are uniformly and individually administered in Guyancourt for technology room, offices, conference rooms, but also for cars that are currently being worked on. The ID card holder goes to the terminal of the access control reader. There, he or she is shown which keys may be taken. These keys are released by the key cabinet and must be replaced there after use. The cabinets are physically protected by their own space-saving roller doors.

Renault's Own Network

A particular challenge during installation of the key management system lay in the necessity to connect this with the highly secure, hacker-protected Renault network, reports Paul Gilardi. It was of decisive importance for the security personnel to be able to manage the key administration from their own system. Deister was able to implement this - helped by the great flexibility of the installed key cabinets. They can be put into virtually any room, expanded or reorganized. The large memory of the operating terminal makes the system particularly resistant against network failure, and power failures can be bridged.
The system has proven itself well in practice, according to Paul Gilardi. In the near future the Renault locations in Boulogne as well as Renault Sport - both also near to Paris - will be equipped with the system.