PDQ Locks announced OSDP over IP, enabling secure communication between access control panels and wireless locks over local or wide area networks—and removing the need for proprietary wireless gateways.
Wireless locks have long been hampered by proprietary technologies and credential fragmentation. Deploying an online lock traditionally required a proprietary gateway to talk to the wireless hardware, and vendors often rate those links for up to 250 feet—coverage that, in practice, can be unreliable. On top of that, many locks use variants of MIFARE DESFire, HID credentials, or proprietary formats, meaning wireless locks in the same building as wired locks may not accept the same credential or integrate with the same access control system. That mismatch has been a persistent headache for integrators seeking unified solutions.
How OSDP over IP works
Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP) is a bidirectional, end-to-end encrypted protocol that supervises communication between a panel and devices such as readers. OSDP Secure Channel supports AES-128 encryption to block external attacks. PDQ’s implementation allows that secure channel to run over IP, so a panel can supervise a wireless lock across LAN/WAN connections. As long as a wireless access point can reach the door—often better covered by IT infrastructure than by dedicated wireless-lock gateways—the lock can maintain supervised, encrypted communication without a proprietary gateway.
That architecture addresses a practical security concern: while teams have long segmented networks with VLANs and routed subnets, those setups can still be vulnerable to man-in-the-middle threats. OSDP Secure Channel transported over the network, when combined with other best practices, lets a wireless lock be supervised in the same way as a wired connection while using the strongest available wireless network.
The attached reader is engineered to accept nearly any credential on the market, with the exception of HID SEOS. There are limitations with early-stage technology: OSDP Output Control is part of the specification but not yet universally implemented, and not every access control system is coded to work with it. PDQ recommends contacting PDQ Locks directly to verify compatibility with the specific access control systems in use before committing to a deployment.
As Zachary Klares, Vice President of Electronics at PDQ Locks, puts it: “Customers have been asking for wireless locks to fill the gap left by expensive proprietary solutions – this is the simplest way to democratize access to these solutions.”
PDQ appears to be first to market with this concept. While the idea itself may not be earth-shattering, it could be exactly what allows industrial-grade wireless locksets to be deployed with confidence in enterprise applications. For integrators in security and IT, the potential benefits are clear: wireless lock deployments without additional proprietary infrastructure, shorter installs, and improved margins. The development may mark the start of a new tech trend worth watching.
