Technology-Enabled Protection

Feb 1, 2007 12:00 PM

As Canada's premier polytechnic institute, the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) is known for giving students job-ready skills they can use immediately after graduation.

An institute with campuses of varying sizes all over the province of British Columbia, BCIT also has five major campuses in the Metropolitan area of Vancouver. The largest of the campuses, in Burnaby, has more than 40 buildings ranging from the boiler house to high-tech research facilities.

There is a large, single-building campus in downtown Vancouver for business studies and computer information technology courses, as well as Canada's first Confucius Institute. The BCIT Marine Campus in North Vancouver specializes in maritime-related studies, from ships' engineers to ships' captains. In Richmond, located beside the Vancouver International Airport, is the Aerospace Technology Campus.

When Glen Magel, director of safety and security, began working at BCIT's Burnaby campus more than eight years ago, the various departments and schools were responsible for paying for their own security systems without any previous mandate from the security department. Theft of institute property was a serious problem in several departments. In addition, the managing of keys was becoming a nightmare, and trying to respond to alarms from the various systems was daunting and increasingly expensive. The challenge was to improve BCIT's overall security and bring the numerous systems under central control.

Prior to Magel's arrival at BCIT, the Computer Resources (CR) department had installed an AMAG Security Management System (SMS) that had proven effective in dealing with access control issues. The CR department houses the institute's mainframe computers, network infrastructure and the support services for all of the campus' PCs. Controlling access into the area kept thefts in the department at the lowest level on campus.

After reviewing the success of the AMAG system, Magel decided to use it to bring central control of card access and alarm monitoring into the security department where it belonged. He contacted RAMP Enterprises, which sold the system to the CR Department, to install another AMAG software system in the security department. From its humble beginning of one workstation and six readers in a single department, the AMAG SMS has grown to encompass many of the institute's security needs. The system has grown to include the following:

• AMAG Enterprise Edition software, capable of 512 readers;

• dedicated SQL database server, with more than 80,000 cardholders;

• dedicated communications server, with 30 LAN chains;

• dedicated Alarm Monitoring Client;

• three System Administration Clients;

• four badging stations;

• a 10-user Web client

• a mixture of multiNode and M2100 control panels;

• 203 mag-stripe card readers with PIN;

• six smart card readers with PIN;

• 390 monitor points;

• 22 controlled outputs;

• more than 1000 programmed conditional commands; and

• a second remote campus added to the system.

“Eventually I want to have all exterior doors to all buildings accessible by card access alone and have all monitoring devices report solely to the AMAG Security Management System,” Magel says. “We will tie system growth to projects, upgrades and smart classroom technologies. I would forecast a 100 percent increase within three years.”

“There were several key events that took place that aided in the growth and acceptance of the AMAG SMS at BCIT,” says Anthony Gojevic of RAMP Enterprises. “The acceptance and ease of use of a security system by its users is crucial to its success.”

The first of these key events was the integration of BCIT's electronic identification program into the AMAG SMS. In 2000, BCIT had implemented a new ID program to replace its previous “cut and paste” ID cards. This new card was dubbed the “BCIT OneCard,” and, as the name implied, it was to become the one card that would replace numerous other cards used by students for various services on campus. The ID production was integrated into the AMAG SMS in 2001 and the card is now used:

• in the library, to check out books;

• for access to halls, labs, and studios;

• for AudioVisual Services (student equipment bookings);

• for recreation and athletics in the Student Activity Centre;

• for printing and copying;

• for on- and off-campus discounts; and

• in BCIT Student Association retail operations.

Crucial to the card's success are the multiple technologies on the card — a three-track HiCo magnetic stripe, a magnetic debit “junk” stripe and bar codes. Most recently these features are now being applied to contactless smart cards. “AMAG allows us to run multiple technology card readers on the same system,” Gojevic says.

The next event that prompted growth in the security system was the creation of the new “Media Centre of Excellence” (MCE) that employs high-end computers to teach animation, graphical design and other studies of computer-generated art. BCIT needed to ensure the assets and students were effectively protected. Use of integrated CCTV, card access and alarm monitoring allows after-hours access to be granted to authorized students without needing extra security personnel.

The Sept. 11th attacks prompted BCIT to review its security policies and to ascertain the threat to its staff, students and physical assets. One of the first areas to be targeted to receive extra security was its LAN/WAN infrastructure. A plan was developed to install card access and alarm monitoring to all of the Burnaby campus's 80 communication closets. Budget restraints cut the deployment back to 27 key locations. More importantly, the project provided an infrastructure of LAN-enabled security control panels installed in 25 buildings. The latest event to prompt a concerted effort to improve security is what BCIT calls its “TEK Initiative” (Technology-Enabled Knowledge), a five-year undertaking to enhance teaching and learning at BCIT through the strategic use of technology.

Classrooms, studios, theatres and lecture halls are being upgraded with the latest in technological teaching aids. PC Tab, an asset tracking system, is used to deter theft of a device, such as an LCD projector or lecture hall computers. PC Tab connects to the AMAG alarm panel. If a projector or computer is stolen, the AMAG system sounds an alarm and alerts security.

Magel has begun planning for increased security in research areas of the school. He plans to use smart cards and smart card readers that connect to biometric readers.

“From a long-term point of view, I require expandability, a preventative maintenance contract, the ability to incorporate satellite locations, wireless ability and smart card technology,” Magel says.

With the ATC campus coming on line in the fall of 2007 with an additional 50 smart card readers, Magel sees all of the readers at BCIT eventually being converted over to smart card technology, with biometrics being implemented for access into secure research labs.

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