Alcatraz is a company transforming the way people enter buildings and access secure areas by providing facial authentication solutions that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to make access control systems more secure and frictionless. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Alcatraz’s VP of Solutions Engineering, Blaine Frederick, to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
Blaine Frederick’s Background
What is Blaine Frederick’s background? Frederick said:
“I have been in the security industry for almost 25 years, and I’ve worked with both integrators and manufacturers during that time. I spent nearly 17 years at Stanley Security Solutions, now known as Securitas, then moved to working in iris biometrics for a company called EyeLock. Following my time there, I started a consulting firm, whose largest customer turned out to be Alcatraz. I’ve now been at Alcatraz for almost five years.
I lead product strategy here at Alcatraz–meaning I work closely with the product engineering and sales teams to understand customer needs and to help define the product roadmap. This ensures that Alcatraz’s products meet what the customers are looking for today. We also work to strategically think about what the customers’ future wants and needs may be.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Frederick reflected:
“My favorite memory working with Alcatraz was the 2024 launch of Rock X, our second-generation face authentication device. Rock X is designed to work in any environment–including outdoors, extreme temperatures, different lighting conditions, and so forth. Having been involved in biometrics for over 10 years now, seeing a first-of-its-kind product like Rock X come to market has been very exciting. I believe Rock X will fundamentally change how biometrics are viewed in the marketplace. Biometrics have traditionally been viewed as a fit for very high security areas, but now Rock X enables customers to be able to use the technology in a variety of applications, including access to exterior doors on the perimeter of buildings.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since its launch? Frederick noted:
“As I mentioned previously, we launched Rock X last year. Prior to that, our technology was primarily suited for indoor deployments. Being able to capture all of the access points in a wide variety of deployments has really moved the needle. Our products have, first and foremost, been designed with a privacy-first approach. Since launching, we have been able to continue developing and deploying more tools and features that allow customers to more easily comply with the ever-changing landscape of privacy and data security.”
Customer Success Stories
When asking Frederick about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“We have several publicly available case studies that cover a number of different sectors, including data centers, enterprise headquarters, hospitals, and stadiums and arenas. For example, Scott Data Center had great results with our flagship product, The Rock, specifically with the integration process. Michael Romeo, Senior Systems Manager at Scott Data, shared, ‘what really blew us away was the ease of integration and frictionless experience. The product demonstration took only 20 minutes, and an employee and I enrolled in less than a minute. I’ve never seen a facial biometric or any biometric system work that quickly.’”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Frederick affirmed:
“The biggest thing that separates Alcatraz from its competitors, beyond our focus on privacy and data security, is the user experience. We break up our users into a few different groups–the administrators of the system and the actual consumers of the technology. In other words, the consumers are the people who actually use the technology to get through doors on a day-to-day basis. Those users’ experiences need to be simple and frictionless in order for the general population to adopt and embrace the technology. Our user experience is by far the best I’ve seen in my 10 years of working in the biometric space–it truly is a frictionless passive experience where users do not need to have any specific training or become habituated to easily use the technology.”
Privacy Becoming A Key Standard
Why will privacy be a key standard for security, and how will facial authentication shape the new criterion? Frederick noted:
“AI and biometrics are becoming more prevalent in everyday security protocols, such as in airports, hospitals, universities, and many workplaces, emphasizing the importance of privacy. If this area of security wants to continue to grow, there must be measures in place to transparently tell users how their data is being used and how the technology works. Without the trust of end-users, regarding the privacy of their personally identifiable information (PII), the security industry will struggle. Facial authentication will be a vital tool, prioritizing the verification of an individual’s identity, rather than utilizing facial recognition, which has faced scrutiny for violating privacy rights in the past. Our next step as security experts is to educate enterprises and users on facial authentication, ensuring high-end security and privacy on all accounts.”
Future Of The Security Industry
How is Alcatraz contributing to the future of the security industry? Frederick emphasized:
“Alcatraz is redefining the security industry by allowing users to use their face as their credential to access secure locations, as opposed to using traditional methods like passcodes and access cards, which can be easily replicated or lost. We are also committed to prioritizing the highest level of security that is user-friendly, secures personal data, and complies with the latest privacy standards and regulations.
As the security industry continues to grow and technology becomes more complex, Alcatraz wants to stay at the forefront, providing a valuable security solution for enterprises everywhere. At Alcatraz, we integrate innovation, adaptability, and sustainability into our approach. As a company pioneering AI applications–like Facial-Authentication-as-a-Service (FaaS)–we work to streamline people’s experiences in the real, physical world. Alcatraz addresses the critical balance between privacy, convenience, and safety by ensuring our facial authentication access control systems are compliant, and champion fairness and transparency for all end-users.”
