DESTINATION: INTEGRATION

Mar 1, 2002 12:00 PM, By Paul Talley

Integration may be one of the most important and talked about phenomena in the electronic security industry. But even with all the talk about integration, the industry is somewhat in the dark — having no agreed-upon definitions, standards, best practices or methodologies for integrated systems.

Ask any security director or loss prevention manager about a solution to significantly enhance security posture, and integrated systems are likely to get a mention. A common response is that integrated systems are costly to deploy and maintain, but offer much-needed functionality. In addition, an integrated system is no longer a fixture in the security organization; it now blurs the lines of responsibility between security and information technology teams.

To put today's situation into perspective, let's review basic definitions and the reasoning behind the industry's approach to integration.

Integration defined

What is integration anyway? Ask any 10 industry experts to define “integrate” and answers will vary widely.

Some forms of integration are:

• Stand-alone systems, which operate independently.

• Interconnected systems — two or more systems mechanically connected via a hardwired system of relay inputs and outputs.

• Integrated systems, which manage multiple sub-systems to provide single user interface, a single database and network accessibility.

• Horizontal integration, or the assimilation of dissimilar systems (i.e., CCTV and access control)

• Vertical integration, or the combining of similar systems from different manufacturers.

Recognizing the need for cohesive integrated systems, the Security Industry Association (SIA) recently created a Systems Integration Industry Group (SIIG). It is tasked with developing a set of definitions, methods and standards that will create structure and a common understanding of the term.

Good reasons for hype

Individuals responsible for defining, building, managing, or using integrated systems commonly recognize three of their important benefits:

• Saving money. By integrating systems, endusers save money on rip-and-replace costs by using existing hardware. Also, they can lower officer costs by remotely administering these systems, thus reducing the need for staff to support and administer disparate systems at each facility.

• Improving operational efficiency. Through horizontal integration, security departments have immediate access to many types of information associated with an event.

• Sharing information across the enterprise. By creating enterprise system access, security operations are strengthened by disseminating critical alarm data to the roving security officer or on-site manager. Today, this data is confined to the security department, but innovative organizations are sharing it (and the costs) with HR, IT and marketing departments.

A customized solution

As a result of consolidation and acquisitions, equipment manufacturers have focused on integrating dissimilar security systems. There are multiple manufacturers that integrate their proprietary product lines. One trend is the vertical and horizontal integration of access control and CCTV systems. CCTV video standards, coupled with relatively open access to matrix and pan/tilt/zoom protocols, have created new opportunities and markets for the sale of CCTV equipment.

Conversely, access control systems are lagging with respect to vertical integration, and horizontal integration is virtually nonexistent.

True integration is either extremely complicated, prohibitively expensive, or both. For instance, systems integrators need to write custom code and database applications to deliver integration with other systems such as HR, intrusion, evacuation or HVAC. And, these systems are neither controlled by one interface, nor operate using one database, thus not meeting the definition of integration.

Fewer installing companies have the resources necessary to develop custom integrated solutions that require the skills of highly paid professionals such as systems engineers, database architects and administrators, C-language programmers, application developers and network engineers.

Once installed, maintaining the application code is expensive and problematic in the face of operating system changes, database updates and new software releases from proprietary subsystems. One minor code change can result in lengthy downtime to fix unforeseen system bugs and never-before-seen error messages.

Finally, the cost of developing the software is not spread among many customers, as would be the case with an off-the-shelf product. Unlike purchasing an off-the-shelf software tool, all custom-develop costs are charged to the individual customer.

These worrisome factors have prevented the widespread growth of integrated systems into new markets and new applications.

“Productizing” integration

Security professionals are, however, seeing some light at the end of the integration tunnel. One approach is security integration software — a standard product that runs on industry-accepted PC equipment.

Security integration software eases the task of integration and eliminates the custom integration effort. In this environment, development resources are focused on a single body of code where features and enhancements are driven by customer requirements. This dynamic process creates an ever-evolving product, with new features and functionality shared by all of its consumers.

To understand how security integration software works, consider a PC's operating system. It has one user interface (or environment) through which word processing, spreadsheet, and database applications are accessed. It leverages the power of vertical and horizontal integration of peripherals — a PC can simultaneously manage numerous printers from different manufacturers, and other accessories. When printing a document created in a word processor, the operating system automatically eliminates this layer of complexity between the various printers.

Security integration software employs principles like a PC's operating system by using one system interface to leverage drivers that communicate with, and control various security hardware peripherals. Like the desktop operating system, it can use both native and third-party applications such as biometrics, event tracking and threat assessment.

The personal computing market exploded following the vertical and horizontal integration of peripherals. After the software and hardware became interoperable, consumers were free to purchase the best hardware and software to suit their needs. Security industry members can learn a valuable lesson about component interoperability and explosive market growth.

The bottom line

Significant progress has been made to “productize” the task of integration. Today, off-the-shelf products can vertically and horizontally integrate disparate subsystems with open architecture that run on affordable PC hardware.

When evaluating security integration software, ask the vendor the following questions:

• What is the company's strategy and vision; what are the qualifications of the software development team?
• Does the company sell just software, or hardware as well (which limits access to other protocols)?
• Is the software client-server based, or centrally hosted?
• How deep are the vertical integration capabilities? What is the relationship with their partners?
• How robust is the horizontal integration?
• Is a central database used?
• Is the logic intuitive and rules based?
• What data security precautions are employed?
• Is the system easy to learn, use and maintain?
• Does a single interface control and manage the entire system?
• Can the software scale enterprise wide?
• Does the software run on industry-standard (low cost) computers?

For the record

About the author

Paul Talley is an executive vice president at Vigilos Inc., a securityintegration software company.

About the company

Visit infoLink at www.securitysolutions.com for more information on the company featured in this article.

Vigilos Inc. — 121

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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