Executive summary
One platform from credential to door decision
NG-Key is a multi-tenant access-control platform for organizations that need modern credentials, dependable door decisions, and clear operational evidence. It brings identity, physical media, readers, edge gateways, building functions, and partner delivery into one coherent operating model.
Physical door decisions are designed to succeed locally: readers and edge gateways evaluate published policy at the door, while the cloud remains the system of record for grants, credentials, fleet trust, and audit. Product Passkeys stay cloud-evaluated for web and phone flows; Wallet QR and card media participate in the local allow lists where configured.
The result for operators and partners is a single workspace to onboard people, issue media, commission devices, govern shared entrances, and keep supportable records — without mixing customer tenant operations into the reseller portal.
Platform
What NG-Key operates day to day
Access workspace
Door grants define who may open what and when. Schedules, groups, and resource assignments stay tenant-scoped and policy-driven.
Credential stewardship
Physical credentials hold Access-IDs and lifecycle state. Assignment, suspension, and exchange stay separate from door grants, so media never invents permission on its own.
Fleet and trust
Managed readers, edge gateways, and IO controllers are claimed, provisioned, monitored, and updated through the same administrative surface.
Evidence
Access decisions, provisioning changes, and privileged actions leave durable audit and ledger-backed traces for operators and due diligence.
Physical access
Local decisions with cloud policy authority
NG-Key publishes physical policy bundles to readers and edge gateways so card, OSDP, OCPP RFID, and Wallet QR presentment can be decided at the door. The cloud synchronizes who is allowed, then records local decisions asynchronously for audit.
This keeps door latency low and availability high when links are constrained, while identity administration, credential issuance, and grant changes remain centralized in the tenant workspace.
- Policy sync for offline-capable allow lists and presentment rules
- Local access decision events ingested for audit without re-evaluating the tap in the cloud
- Shared-door consumers can receive grants on owner devices without merging tenant boundaries
Credentials & media
Cards, Wallet QR, phone, and passkeys in one media world
Ausweis-Studio, Designer, and Producer
Structure authoring, visual design, and encoding jobs stay in Facility. DESFire, LEGIC, and Aliro structures are validated before activation; key material never appears in the UI.
Encoding stations
Accena readers with the encoder role and the NG-Encoder workstation agent write jobs sourced from NG-Key. Successful encodes bridge into stewardship PhysicalCredentials.
Wallet QR Pass
Apple and Google wallet passes carry a signed barcode and serial used for local door presentment. Delivery uses the mobile hub with product Passkey protection.
Phone and Passkey
Employee mobile hub flows support OSS HCE and Encrypted NFC Present where configured. Product Passkeys remain cloud-decided for web and Access QR experiences.
Hardware & edge
Readers, gateways, IO, and signed updates
Accena readers, NG-Key-Edge gateways, and NG-IO controllers share claim, provisioning, telemetry, and trust surfaces. Edge owns local sockets to building systems such as elevator adapters; NG-Key owns topology and policy.
Firmware and edge-agent updates follow signed package paths. Hardware trust status and MQTT/mTLS posture are visible in fleet trust views so operators can see whether a device is ready to enforce policy.
Accena readers
Door readers for card and phone presentment, including encoder-capable stations, under Accena OTA product governance.
NG-Key-Edge
Gateway for local MQTT, reader principals, elevator control bundles, OCPP policies, and site connectivity.
NG-IO
Dry-contact and input telemetry for doors, interlocks, and elevator relay matrices with verified wiring sign-off before dispatch.
Buildings
Facility functions beyond a single door
Elevators
NG-Key models systems, floors, and profiles; Edge executes vendor or IO-relay control. Safety conditions fail closed without a manual override shortcut.
Time & attendance
Presence after granted entrance feeds attendance, shift planning, and related workforce views in the same tenant context.
Visitors & contractors
Temporary identities and assignments can receive Wallet QR or other media without inventing permanent employee records.
Shared entrances
Owner tenants invite consumer tenants to grant on shared readers while ownership and MQTT sync stay with the owner device.
Indoor navigation
Building geometry and durable QR anchors support indoor wayfinding published from the facility workspace.
Integrations
Identity, locks, charging, and APIs
NG-Key connects to surrounding systems without becoming a second identity plane. Directory federation, offline lock ecosystems, EV charging, and tenant APIs attach to the same access and credential model.
Identity cloud
Portal login can use Keycloak OIDC with passkey-first options. Tenant identity integrations remain scoped and permission-gated.
OSS-SO offline locks
Offline lock commissioning and authorization encoding integrate through dedicated cockpit and settings surfaces.
OCPP charging
Edge applies local authorize policies for charging sessions so RFID and policy stay consistent with door credentials.
Tenant API
Machine clients use scoped abilities for users, credentials, devices, facility, and audit exports under tenant isolation.
Workspace AI
Assistance that cannot exceed the signed-in role
Admin and employee copilots help compose grants, explain access outcomes, and prioritize operational next steps. Proposals use the same authorization paths as the UI — confirming an action never elevates privilege.
Production defaults keep residency private so prompts stay on controlled infrastructure rather than public LLM hosts.
Partners
Reseller delivery without mixing tenant operations
The NG-Key Reseller portal gives channel partners a workspace for customer onboarding, delivery steering, support follow-up, and team governance. It does not replace the customer tenant admin surface.
Card Creator template push, commercial grants for design and encoding seats, and partner enablement materials stay aligned with NG-Key as the encoding-job and access system of truth.
Operating model
Tenant boundaries and European operations
For security architecture, key custody, device trust, and evidence details, see the NG-Key Security Whitepaper.
- Every tenant-owned read and write is scoped; cross-tenant access fails closed
- RBAC modules cover access, devices, facility, credentials, visitors, audit, and more
- Production application hosting and related services operate in the European Union
- CRA-oriented engineering posture is documented publicly without presenting a certificate claim