FreeMarkets Keeps Cool and Safe With Integrated Access Control

Dec 1, 2003 12:00 PM

Companies rely on FreeMarkets Inc. to help them do everything from buying goods and services and managing suppliers, to monitoring contracts. As a provider of global supply management solutions, the company realizes the critical need to protect its clients' proprietary information.

“Our security has to be so tight,” says Terry Jackovic, facilities operations manager at FreeMarkets. “We have a lot of clients who compete in the same arenas, so the security of information is critical to them.”

When the company moved into two floors of downtown Pittsburgh's One Oliver Plaza in mid-1999 with 180 employees, its only security concern was to protect its office space. But when the company expanded over the next two years to more than 1,000 employees worldwide and occupied 10 floors of the building, the complexity of its security needs increased dramatically.

The company began to think globally on every operation, including security. It wanted a solution that could be managed efficiently over its existing high-tech networked systems that already tied into facilities in Europe and Asia with T-1 lines from Pittsburgh.

When FreeMarkets first moved to One Oliver Plaza, it selected The Integrator by Galaxy Control Systems for security on the two floors. “When an alarm was triggered after hours, I would get a call at home and the dispatcher would tell me what type of an alarm it was,” Jackovic says. “This was manageable at first, but then we expanded our facilities worldwide, so when an alarm went off, the calls could be coming from anywhere in the world. With multiple time zones involved, we realized a critical need for constant coverage of all satellite offices. We needed a central operations center.”

In February 2000, InterTECH Security, Carnegie, Pa., became FreeMarkets' strategic security dealer. They assessed the company's needs and recommended an upgrade from The Integrator to System Galaxy. Though The Integrator was a robust system, System Galaxy incorporated the functionality of communicating over TCP/IP. The migration would also support multiple users, multi-tasking and integration with the company's Microsoft Windows NT clusters and Windows 2000 network — all critical aspects to resolving the global security initiative.

InterTECH worked with Galaxy Control Systems' technical director Dan Gramlich and senior software developer Kevin Shank to provide FreeMarkets with the overall system design and architecture.

The installed system is comprised of a centralized Microsoft SQL 7 database, which works behind the scenes of the System Galaxy software. It also incorporates optional photo badging and elevator control capabilities. “One of the things we wanted to create was a centralized database and a single credential that they could use at any office,” says Chris Wetzel of InterTECH. “Now that they can add or delete cards from one location, it is easier to control the process. Someone in Pittsburgh actually has the capability to make program changes for all the offices worldwide. The satellite facilities can only make changes that apply to their own offices.”

To achieve the desired system architecture, InterTECH's technology manager Charlie Wetzel managed the upgrade process from The Integrator to System Galaxy. The change simply required a switch of the motherboard for each installed panel. The new boards were flashed before installation, and the upgrade of all 18 installed panels was achieved in one evening without interruption to ongoing service.

The access control components of the system are central to its functions. There are currently 158 card readers and 22 access control panels installed worldwide. Exterior doors to all the buildings are controlled by card access, using HID Prox Pro card readers and HID ISOPROX II proximity cards with photo and artwork.

The readers in the U.S. offices also had to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. “When interfacing with doors that have automatic doors operators, the card access reader must either activate the manual button or automatically open the manual handicap button,” Jackovic says. “There are different requirements for different countries, but in the U.S., we have them on every lobby door. To enter, the person swipes his or her card and then pushes a button to operate the automatic door opener.”

The physical security department is located in the ground floor lobby of the FreeMarkets Center building in Pittsburgh. In 2000, the building's elevators were modified and were integrated by InterTECH to the Galaxy system. This permits the physical guards in the lower lobby to control access to the floors occupied by FreeMarkets.

As an integrated system, System Galaxy is providing FreeMarkets with more functionality than basic electronic access control. Fire, CCTV, badging and intrusion detection are integrated with the access control at various locations. The staff in Pittsburgh designs, installs, configures and manages the integrated system at each location. They installed a Notifier fire system in the Pittsburgh office, which is integrated to report alarm events into System Galaxy. The company has also installed access control, CCTV and badging solution locations through the United States, Europe and Asia.

The integrated CCTV system includes Panasonic cameras and recorders. The original multiplexers that allowed 16 cameras to operate on AG6540 time-lapse VCR recorders are being replaced with HD500 digital recorders. A matrix system with 104 cameras allows digital recording of up to 1060 Gb of video. Jackovic says the advantages of digital recording include both time and cost savings. There are no tapes to change, and the integration with other security and facility systems permits the video footage to be “tagged” as alarm events occur. This drastically reduces the video review and monitoring time by enabling the security staff to skip directly to video of interest. There is no degradation of video or replacement of tapes required.

“We have tied in our entire facility, using integration to monitor all of our critical systems, such as power, temperature control, generator functionality, and HVAC,” Jackovic says. “The business is dependent on extensive computer systems — so that a power outage during an auction becomes an event just as critical as a break-in. Now if the AC system goes awry, relays built into the HVAC system will trigger an alarm that alerts System Galaxy to generate specific instructions to correct the problem.

The Panasonic HD502 Network Interface Card in Singapore, working off of a 100base-T format, enables FreeMarkets to manage its remote office CCTV systems from Pittsburgh. They can call up video in server rooms or other specific areas around the world in response to alarms or events that occur while those offices are closed.

“That's an insurance policy for us to have all those components integrated into System Galaxy,” Jackovic says. “There are a lot of companies that will monitor your HVAC for you at a high cost. We saved a lot of money by being able to use System Galaxy for both features.”

Another critical element of the system is the global integration. Each of the systems communicates over the FreeMarkets' network to a server in Pittsburgh. The server resides in a custom-designed server room, called the Security Operations Center (SOC). This room is accessible only to authorized security personnel.

Because the SOC monitors all offices around the clock, physical manpower in each satellite office is not required. The SOC staff has access to emergency numbers for integrated systems throughout the world.

With the old system, an alarm event in San Jose alerted a dispatcher, who called Jackovic at home. He had to call someone in Pittsburgh, who called someone in San Jose, who might take an hour to arrive. Now, according to Jackovic, when an alarm activates in the SOC, the San Jose security operator is called directly.

“We now have trained Security Operations Center staff to handle all the calls and events,” Jackovic says. “It isn't just about break-ins. If an employee loses or forgets a badge, the SOC in Pittsburgh can actually open a door for that person in Singapore.”

Other locations have servers in their office with the same local control capabilities as the Pittsburgh headquarters, and each location can make or modify its own cards. However, global control is only available through Pittsburgh. “The key with Galaxy Control Systems is being able to share the database files,” Chris Wetzel says. “Once a satellite office produces a new photo-ID badge, the jpeg image is automatically sent to the Pittsburgh office.” The main system then updates other facility databases as required.

The system uses distributed processing, which gives the controllers the intelligence to make the decision to accept or reject a card. All the system programming is communicated to all the panels. “I watched a door activation on-screen in Pittsburgh as I simultaneously heard the door beep over the telephone in India,” Jackovic says.

Integrating a system around the globe has inherent obstacles. Galaxy Control Systems supported InterTECH Security in finding qualified installers and dealers worldwide through its qualified global dealer program. InterTECH managed the entire international installation process from local contractor selection to equipment selection and configuration to end-user training.

“The adventures we had with Indian currency and food were nothing in comparison to the shipping, logistics and technical issues involved,” Chris Wetzel says. “Timing is everything when you are installing a system overseas. The shipments arrived on time, but getting the equipment out of customs was a bit of a nightmare. They would only release one box at a time.”

InterTECH installation manager Tom Hartill was responsible for overseeing the remote site installations. During his travel, he overcame several practical installation obstacles, including local sourcing of power supplies in New Delhi. Hartill had a guide to translate for him as they shopped in the Indian marketplace. At one point he was inadvertently separated from the guide, yet still managed to find the power supply he needed — not speaking the language — and eventually relocated his guide for the return trip to the site.

For the Record

ABOUT THE COMPANIES

For information, circle the Reader Service number (listed below) or visit securitysolutions.com

Galaxy Control Systems	10
HID Corp.	11
InterTECH Security	12
Notifier	13
Panasonic	14

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