Security Journal UK hears exclusive insights from Vincent Dupart, CEO, STid, who discusses STid’s journey throughout the industry and why access control becoming a strategic issue.
STid is a story that began in 1996, in a garage in Paris. At the time, RFID was considered an emerging technology. But STid already believed it would radically transform security and identification.
The company was created with one simple ambition: to go beyond existing standards and present the French market with a true response to existing and future threats. Very quickly, STid chose a different path from the rest of the industry.
When I became CEO, I carried a clear conviction, still true to STid’s vision: in a world where threats evolve, security can no longer remain static. It must become intelligent, scalable and sovereign.
Thus, while many companies focused on closed, proprietary systems, we chose the opposite path: embracing openness, interoperability and modularity.
A vision considered disruptive at the time – but now essential for organisations seeking stronger cybersecurity and technological sovereignty.
Throughout the years, STid has established itself as one of Europe’s leading secure access control companies, driven by a strong ambition: not to follow market standards, but to redefine them.
This decision was never just technological. It was already a different way of thinking about security.
This thinking led to our ground-breaking modular access control reader range.
It became a global benchmark and earned more than 20 international awards.
We are celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2026, and for several years we have been a leader in the French identification market.
We believed in our products, in our expertise and, above all, we managed to find the right people to bring our end-to-end access control vision to life.
What I am most proud of is that we still see this same ambition today in the evolution and design of new products.
The core of STid has not changed – we are now a larger team, but we all share the same goal: to grow STid and expand our product ranges: Architect, Spectre and STid Mobile ID.
My second greatest source of pride is our international growth, the diversification of our markets and our trusted partners, who continue to become even more committed to our projects.
Last year, we launched the CORE Start Package, a high-security solution that is easy to install, thus meeting the expectations of certain regions seeking a simple solution without compromising on security.
STid was born to break standards. From its humble beginnings to becoming an international company, STid has consistently anticipated market transformations ahead of the curve.
For more than 30 years, the company has continuously evolved by challenging its products, its market understanding and its vision to strengthen its offerings and identity.
This commitment to innovation has enabled STid to establish offices across Europe, the UK, the US, Mexico and Dubai. Today, more than 50% of the company’s revenue is generated internationally.
And fifteen years after the success of our Architect product range, our DNA hasn’t changed.
We will break standards again… with the launch of Architect II later this year!
We are preparing to open a new chapter in secure access control solutions.
Humans are at the centre of everything we develop, without a doubt.
Our goal is to make products a tool for users, not a challenge.
Access control takes time – it can require individuals to carry a badge at all times.
This can slow people down while the badge is scanned and the authorisation is validated, particularly in industries where every minute matters.
But it is essential. If a hacker manages to gain access to your data centre, they can deprive you of critical data and put your organisation at risk.
What we were looking for was the best of both worlds.
And, yes, it was not easy, but we achieved it. We succeeded because we never lost sight of the core value that drives us: putting the user at the centre of our products and making access control a tool, not a challenge.
To give you a few examples, we developed a secure and certified application that allows users to identify themselves using their smartphone, so they no longer have the mental burden of constantly carrying their badge.
Likewise, we created a remote access option that enables identification from a suitable distance to help prevent tailgating while still ensuring smooth access – for example, for a medical team responding to an emergency.
Our readers LEDs can also be configured to create a path to follow during a fire incident. How we can help people with access control never escapes our minds.
Because companies are no longer simply securing doors.
They now need to protect critical infrastructure, sensitive data and digital identities in hybrid environments where cyber-threats evolve constantly.
For STid, access control can no longer be viewed as a simple piece of hardware. It must become a truly scalable security platform.
Our proposition: enabling organisations to adapt to their security level over time through intelligent readers capable of evolving via software updates, hardware and software modularity and personalised user experiences.
In this model, the reader becomes an intelligent connected platform at the core of a company’s security strategy, and a new service generator. That is where our real strength lies.
When we launched Architect, the idea was simple: a reader should never be a fixed device.
It should evolve alongside new uses, new security requirements and new business needs.
That same vision continues to guide STid today through technologies such as SSCP and the European SPAC alliance, bringing together nearly 100 industry players around a shared vision of open and sovereign security.
In an industry still largely shaped by non-European standards, STid is defending another path: more open, more sustainable, more sovereign.
Threats are evolving faster than ever, and we must react.
We are not done shaking the market. For the past three years, STid’s R&D, product, design and cybersecurity teams have been developing a new generation of readers, first unveiled this year in Las Vegas.
A platform designed to meet the challenges of the next fifteen years.
Architect II will not be a simple upgrade. It will be a new generation.
A generation designed to push the boundaries of access control not only in security, but also in user experience, modularity, inclusivity, sustainability and intelligent services. Security remains at the heart of the project:
But Architect II goes much further.
The new generation preserves and strengthens the DNA that made Architect successful: unique modularity allowing the reader to evolve with changing needs, use cases and security levels – without replacing the existing infrastructure.
Biometrics, QR Code, PIN keypad, new software capabilities, new services: the reader becomes a true scalable security platform.
But Architect II is about more than improving Architect, and the goal was to redefine what an access control reader should be over the next fifteen years.
This new generation is shaping up to become a new market benchmark, not only for security, but for the entire access control experience.
Behind this project are dedicated men and women united around a common ambition: building the next European reference in secure access control.
Because truly effective security must first be fluid, intuitive and accessible to everyone.
For the past three years, STid teams have been working to design the simplest and smoothest identification methods possible, making access easier for every user regardless of their profile or environment.
Working alongside associations supporting visually impaired and blind users, STid has developed a new generation of readers designed to make identification more intuitive and to make access flows more seamless: tactile markers; high-visibility LEDs; dedicated modes for visually impaired users; instantly understandable interfaces; more natural and intuitive interactions.
The objective is clear: allow everyone to identify themselves simply, quickly and securely.
Sustainability was also integrated from the very beginning. Thanks to intelligent standby modes, readers only consume the energy they truly need.
Their modularity helps avoid unnecessary hardware replacement and significantly reduces the carbon footprint of installations.
Because tomorrow’s security must be high-performing, responsible and designed for everyone.
To build the next European benchmark for secure access control.
With Architect II, STid is not simply launching a new product range.
The company is expressing a vision: open, intelligent and sovereign security capable of evolving alongside threats rather than reacting to them.
15 years after Architect, STid is not coming back to follow the market. STid is coming back to redefine its standards.
