Is your network system truly integrated?

There’s no denying that a truly integrated IP (Internet Protocol)-based security system aligning with the network infrastructure is the best physical security solution available to businesses today. These solutions are in direct contrast to the traditional controller systems that contain many components and require so much expensive cabling.

Intelligent readers and devices which communicate and interact with each other, without the need for umbrella-style security management software, have created the framework for the current generation of sophisticated surveillance and access control solutions. More so than any other, security systems are required to be absolutely bullet-proof, but this is only realistically possible with the deployment of purpose-built management software and a network of devices that are hard programmed in the field – a process referred to as ‘distributed intelligence’.

Deploying physical security on the IP network is rapidly becoming the de facto approach for creating an economical and efficient security system, with the additional flexibility of employing a management software package. ‘Smart’ terminals within an IP integrated system will transfer all alarm details to the management system designating an event, such as a door held or a door forced. In turn, the management system can produce a series of event-driven responses (including the initiation of video surveillance, or locking down access in the designated area).

Initiating diagnostic checks

As the management system sits within the corporate network, the security manager is able to monitor and react to security events from a standard Windows environment on the PC across the local area network (LAN) or the wide area network (WAN), or even over the Internet. That ability to remotely access the system enables instant, often long distance reaction to event-driven alarms. It also allows the security manager to set up or change the parameters of the entire system, and initiate diagnostic checks from a single user interface (whether that security professional is responsible for one or 1,000 premises).

Although deploying IP/Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) requires a very different approach for many installers, the technology can be relatively straightforward to implement. An IP-enabled door, for example, may have just half the wiring of a traditional system with all of the associated cost savings and cumulative benefits of distributed intelligence embedded within the device.

However, today’s business networks are becoming increasingly more extensive in terms of their geographic reach, and the internal and external communities with which they interconnect. An increasing complexity is thus demanded to support an ever-widening variety of applications and services that bring together data, voice and video traffic across wired and wireless connections.

For many blue chip companies, the network is their key business tool, providing the necessary medium for interaction with customers and suppliers (often across untrustworthy public networks). The increasingly open nature of the corporate network has blurred the division between private and public networks, subsequently increasing the need for robust and comprehensive security (because any point the network touches must be protected, as well as protected against).

The physical security nodes, the IP-enabled doors, cameras and software all need to demonstrate a level of robust security that matches or, better still, exceeds that which has become familiar to chief technical officers and security managers tasked with securing the company network.

Integrated, embedded security

Within the network security market, ‘integrated’ and ‘embedded’ are familiar terms which delineate the capabilities of a system. However, they are somewhat less familiar to the chief security officer. The same can also be said of practitioners within the installer community, where the concept of integration is all-too-frequently misapplied. Integration in relation to physical security describes the functionality provided on a networked device, such as an access control system reader or a CCTV camera which will have – as the result of distributed intelligence – the additional capability to serve as an access point.

A truly embedded, integrated security system must defend company premises against internal and external threats. This necessarily means that security functionality must be embedded and integrated everywhere – from the network core and across the business campus right through to remote site perimeters

Any traffic passing through a networked device must be capable of being analysed centrally and – when necessary – of operating independently. This requires the integrated security device to possess intelligence, performance and a degree of scaleability.

Embedded security refers to the functionality which is distributed across locations in the network infrastructure. In terms of the physical security network, this encompasses both devices capable of independent operation and the controlling management software itself.

A truly embedded, integrated security system must defend company premises against internal and external threats. This necessarily means that security functionality must be embedded and integrated everywhere – from the network core and across the business campus to remote site perimeters. The ultimate goal is to deploy a set of security capabilities that, together, create an intelligent, self-defending security regime designed to identify attempted breaches as and when they occur, alert as appropriate and then automatically react.

Identifying the problem

Many installers are still intent on delivering off-the-shelf security solutions repackaged for the security sector. The great danger of such products is that they play directly into the hands of the IT manager by raising fear levels.

For instance, incorporating access control with IP by using an inappropriate off-the-shelf product compromises the very structure of the corporate network. Why? The IP nodes may be left totally unprotected, creating an open ‘back door’ into the network’s security through which a determined hacker can ‘stroll’ and cause immeasurable damage to the company.

This scenario is often driven by a lack of investment in the hardware necessary to implement an embedded, integrated security system. By and large, most off-the-shelf systems and individual hardware units are perfectly adequate for their intended purpose. However, it is in the installation and implementation processes that problems typically arise.

For the most part, the integration of security systems on to the IP network has not focused upon the replacement of ageing hardware. Rather, the IP-enabled solution has been achieved through the development of management software that, at best, mimics the desired levels of true integrated capability. The reason? It is a far easier (and more economical) process to patch the security system with new code, new software and bespoke interfaces than to redevelop hardware with the necessary localised intelligence.

Upgrading existing systems

Upgrading existing systems for fuller IP integration inherently requires numerous layers of interface, but such solutions are by no means truly integrated – nor do they offer the full benefits of scaleable integration in the longer term. Taken at face value, they are a tempting option for installer and customer since fast coding ensures that there is a reduced time to market, and that existing legacy hardware may remain in place.

A purpose-built protocol will avoid the ‘onion skin’ layering of patchwork systems, providing a database-to-business interface with one layer. This single layer of code will offer the in-house security professional the necessary open database connectivity between the object-oriented database and the drivers to the network server

That said, where does the process end? The heart of the system becomes little more than an aggregated solution, with patched modifications hanging on to a core code that may already be defunct in the face of today’s advanced systems. Increasing the levels of interface – and the bolting-on of additional databases – does not deliver true value.

An embedded, integrated security solution must be able to demonstrate that all components of the network interoperate and function as a cohesive whole. Without encompassing devices to offer independent distributed intelligence, your IP-enabled security system is utterly reliant on the management software. If that should fail, then the entire security system will collapse.

Right tools for the job

While device independence is the first critical step towards achieving an embedded, integrated solution, equally critical is the approach taken to the management programme in its own right. When selecting a management protocol, the chief technology officer and security manager need to choose a product that is designed to provide true, embedded and integrated management.

Management software must be capable of meeting the increased level of software integration that a modern network demands. A purpose-built protocol will avoid the ‘onion skin’ layering of patchwork systems, providing a database-to-business interface with one layer. This single layer of code will offer the in-house security professional the necessary open database connectivity between the object-oriented database and the drivers to the network server (of which the most popular is Microsoft’s SQL).

The value of deploying a single layer of code – purpose-written from the ground up for managing integrated security issues – is that, should any modification be needed in the future, programmers do not need to dig deep into that code. Neither do they have to make any excessive changes (or spend endless hours navigating around code in a system which has grown organically, and been patched on numerous occasions). Upgrading the security system becomes a simple, economic option for the security manager.

Creating a bespoke network

Creating a bespoke physical security network in-house is an extremely challenging task. The development of genuinely integrated solutions can be time-consuming, labour intensive and pretty costly. That being the case, choose your security solutions provider wisely. If you wish to avoid horrendously complicated documentation, as well as uneconomical maintenance processes further down the line, you will need to select a provider who fully understands the demands of both intelligent hardware and management software in the embedded, integrated IP environment.

The alternative is that, one day, you may be faced with a multi-interfaced security system that relies on outdated code at its core. A system that cannot be upgraded in order to keep pace with technological advance.

Is that what you really want to happen in relation to your company?