Is Your Security System Truly Integrated?

What constitutes a truly integrated, embedded security system? HI SEC International believes the proliferation of IP-enabled systems in the market is creating some confusion and a false sense of security – which may have serious repercussions for security managers in the long term.

There is no denying that a truly integrated IP (Internet Protocol) security system that aligns with the network infrastructure is the best physical security solution available to businesses today – in contrast to the traditional controller systems which contain many components and require reams of 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 systems. Security systems, more so than any other, are required to be absolutely bullet proof, and 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.

Distributed Intelligence

Deploying physical security onto the IP network is rapidly becoming the de facto approach for creating an economic 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. The management system in turn can produce a series of event-driven responses, such as initiating video surveillance or locking down access in the designated area.

As the management system sits within the corporate network, the security manager is able to monitor and react to such 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. This 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 he is responsible for one or a thousand premises.

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

Business networks today, however, are becoming increasingly more extensive in terms of geographic reach and the internal and external communities with which they interconnect. An increasing complexity is demanded to support an ever widening variety of applications and services that converge data, voice, and video traffic across wired and wireless connections.

The network is, for many companies, the key business tool, providing the necessary interaction with customers and suppliers often across untrustworthy public networks. This increasingly open nature of the 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 (CTOs) and security managers tasked with securing the network.

Integrated and Embedded Security

Within the network security market, ‘integrated’ and ‘embedded’ are familiar terms which delineate the capabilities of a system. They are, however, less familiar to the chief security officer, and within the installer community where the concept of integration is usually misapplied.

Integration in relation to physical security describes functionality provided on a networked device, such as a reader or camera, which will have as a result of distributed intelligence the additional capability to act as an access point. Any traffic passing through a networked device must be capable of being analysed centrally and, when necessary, operate independently. This requires the integrated security device to possess intelligence, performance, and a degree of scalability.

Embedded security refers to functionality which is distributed across locations in the network infrastructure. For 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 premises against external and internal threat. This means 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 system which can identify attempted breaches as they occur, alert as appropriate, and then automatically react. Only security that is embedded and fully integrated can provide this level of pervasive defence.

Identifying the Problem

Many installers still deliver off-the-shelf solutions that are repackaged for the security sector. The great danger of such products is that they play directly into the fears of the IT manager; incorporating access control with IP by using an inappropriate off-the-shelf product compromises the very structure of the network itself. This is because the IP nodes may be left completely unprotected, creating an open back door into the network’s security through which a hacker can stroll and cause immeasurable harm.

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 unites are perfectly adequate for their intended purpose; however, it is in the installation and implementation that problems arise. For the most part, integration of security systems onto the IP network has not focused upon the replacement of aging hardware. Instead, 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 easier and more economic 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 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 scalable integration in the long term. At face value, they are a tempting option for both installer and customer, as fast coding ensures there is a reduced time to market, and existing legacy hardware can remain comfortably in place.

But 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 which 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 must interoperate and function as a cohesive whole. Without encompassing devices to offer independent distributed intelligence, your IP enabled security system becomes utterly reliant on the management software - and if that should fail, the entire security system will collapse.

Choose the Right Tools for the Job

While device independence is the first critical step to achieving an embedded, integrated solution, equally critical is the approach to the management programme itself. Rather than the palimpsest of code that installers may offer to supplement existing systems, it is clear that when selecting a management protocol CTOs and security managers need to choose a product which is designed to provide true embedded integrated security management (EISM).

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 within one layer. This single layer of code will provide the necessary open data base connectivity (ODBC) between the object oriented database and the drivers to the Network Server, of which the most popular is Microsoft’s SQL but could encompass Oracle or other future options.

The value of deploying a single layer of code, purpose written from the ground up for managing integrated security issues, is that should modification need to be made in the future, programmers do not need to dig down deep into the code or make excessive changes – or spend hours navigating around code in a system which has grown organically, and been patched on numerous occasions. Upgrading the system becomes a simple, economic option.

It is also worth remembering that management software designed to support devices operating with distributed intelligence will certainly be backwards compatible with earlier models – this has a clear cost saving with regards offsetting the need for immediate refitting of hardware, and can also bring additional capabilities to the existing installed hardware.

Creating a bespoke physical security network in-house is extremely challenging, and the development of integrated solutions can be time consuming, labour intensive, and costly. But choose your security provider wisely. If you wish to avoid horrendously complicated documentation, and uneconomic maintenance processes down the line, you will need to select a security provider which 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 which relies on outdated code at its core, and simply cannot be upgraded one step further to keep pace with technology advances.