Trans Financial banks on versatile technology

Feb 1, 1997 12:00 PM, By MICHAEL FICKES

Integrating a hodgepodge of security systems to protect 54 bank branches requires diverse networking and management capabilities Greg Bolden likens his job to jumping onto a speeding technology train and rebuilding part of its engine without slowing down the train.

Bolden is director of corporate security for Trans Financial Inc., a bank headquartered in Bowling Green, Ky. Over the past few years, acquisitions have enabled Trans Financial to grow into a medium-size institution, serving customers at 54 locations in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Growth by acquisition, though good for a balance sheet, can create management and cost headaches for a security manager. When Bolden came on board two years ago, he found 54 bank branches with perhaps a dozen security systems, all monitored by different vendors.

The hodgepodge of systems worked, but the lack of integration slowed alarm response and made tight management control impossible. Bolden integrated the security network into the bank's data network in a way that enhanced security, sped up response times and solved management and cost problems - all without slowing down the technology train important to Trans Financial's banking business. Bolden's goals included: * proprietary desktop management of an integrated system; * continued outsourced alarm monitoring; * a number of CCTV and other equipment changes at the branch level to enhance the system's centralized management capabilities; and a smooth transition from the old system to the new.

Achieving these goals meant finding and implementing versatile security technologies.

Combining proprietary management with off-site alarm monitoring In the banking industry, third parties typically monitor branch alarm systems. To change how those systems operate - to manage the systems - security managers must make formal requests to the third parties.

For example, when a new branch manager comes on board, he or she receives a personal identification number (PIN) that must be entered into the system, and the old manager's PIN must be deleted. It might take a day for the security manager at the main office to implement these changes through an alarm monitoring vendor. Multiply this simple but crucial task by dozens of other tasks, multiply again by 54 branches, and again by several outsourcing vendors, and you can see how awkward remote system management can become.

Bolden wanted to replace the system he inherited with one that would enable him to manage the entire system from the keyboard of his desktop computer. He also investigated the cost of monitoring alarms inside Trans Financial.

When we put the dollars to this in terms of what it would cost for labor, we found that it would be less expensive to continue to outsource alarm monitoring.

He decided to continue outsourcing, but to consolidate vendors by selecting Mosler Inc. to provide service for Trans Financial branches. Another technical problem resulted: To manage an alarm system, you need access to all its alarms, which, in this case, span 54 remote locations. Under the system Bolden inherited, groups of branch banks were connected to alarm monitoring vendors through dial-up and leased-line networks. The bank sent financial data between the branches and the home office via two networks using leased lines and a satellite.

To bring the security systems on-line, Bolden would need new lines or a way to plug the security system in each branch into the bank's current dual-network, which is scheduled to be upgraded and consolidated over the next couple of years.

I needed a versatile system to handle this, Bolden says. He chose a security communications system from Mosler. It comprises two components - the COMSEC GMS (Graphical Management System) and the RTU (Remote Terminal Unit) 2050 Alarm and Network interface panel.

The RTU 2050 is installed at each branch location and accepts inputs from each of the alarms in the branch, channeling the signals into the bank's main data networks via the leased lines or the satellite. It adapts to most networking requirements, including LAN and WAN technologies and accepts downloadable software updates and operating parameters. Input/output modules for data communication to and from remote locations are multifold. It also routes data through the network to Bolden's desktop PC in the bank's corporate headquarters, where the COMSEC GMS software, operating in a Windows environment, provides a friendly interface complete with graphical screens, point-and-click operation, real-time alarm monitoring, downloadable control and customized reports. Using the GMS interface, Bolden can change PIN numbers and handle other management details easily without going through Mosler's monitoring station. Routing security data through the leased-line/satellite network also eliminates the individual dial-up links used by several of the acquired branch bank groups and speeds the alarm function.

According to Marc Bergeron, Mosler's business manager for integrated and networked systems, an alarm monitoring station typically receives an alarm from a dial-up system within 50 seconds. A data network can send alarm information within 1/2 to two seconds by eliminating the dial-up delay. Just as important, the versatility of the communications protocols used by the COMSEC GMS and RTU 2050 ensures the system connection will remain intact if the bank consolidates its dual data networks with a new system.

Enhancing security at the branch level At the branch level, Bolden wanted a system capable of being integrated swiftly into the security network that was simple to monitor and manage. Suppose Trans Financial acquired a new bank with a number of branches, explains Bergeron. The new branch locations may have various brands of dial-up panels. Protecting the branches by integrating them into the system is Trans Financial's immediate priority. It would take too long to install a new alarm panel at each branch and then train everyone to use a new system. The data communication portion of the RTU 2050 can be slapped onto the output of the existing alarm panel to enable immediate network integration of whatever is there.

As the bank's schedule dictates, the obsolete alarm panel can be replaced and existing cables for devices such as the hold-up alarms at the teller stations, the door contacts and the motion detectors can be moved into the RTU 2050. Essentially, the black box converts into a full-blown alarm panel with all the features of the RTU 2050.

With the COMSEC GMS and RTU 2050 system, Bolden can monitor and manage branch security from his desk. He can add and delete PINs and supervise the shift from day to night monitoring within the branch. If a manager closes and forgets to change from day to night, Bolden can do it himself. He can also reprogram the devices activated and deactivated on the day and night schedules. The system also works with new banking security devices such as dual controls. Dual means that two people have to be present to bypass a security function, Bolden says. For example, I have begun to install Combo Guard digital combination locks in our branches. These electronic locks can be set for dual control.

Combo Guard plugs right into the COMSEC system, so if, for example, the ATM maintenance crew needs access to cash in the safe after hours, they must call Trans Financial's computer room, where a computer operator verifies the individual's identity and downloads a second dual control combination, allowing access to the vault. Bolden can also monitor the CCTV systems using COMSEC GMS.

I've asked the managers to connect an output from the VCR to the RTU 2050, he says. When a VCR runs out of tape, it sends a signal that tells me a VCR is not operating, and I can call the manager.

By insisting on versatility at every stage of system design, Bolden has created a security system that provides desktop management control of a virtually unlimited number of remote locations.

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© 2008 Penton Media Inc.

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