Security Products

By Karina Sanchez · January 2007

As the new year begins, the industry must not forget the lessons learned from 2006. Security analysts speak of the most favored buzzwords -- integration, convergence, scalability, open architecture -- warning that there's still much knowledge to be gained from this direction in which the industry is going. Each day brings greater options and expanded capabilities, proving that security will always be a work in progress. Even so, manufacturers are making great strides in offering convergence options to its end users, and in the process, generating federal response for associated regulations.

=Even so, manufacturers are making great strides in offering convergence options to its end users, and in the process, generating federal response for associated regulations.

Understanding Integration
Though there's not a clear, common definition for integration as far as security systems are concerned, there is an understanding that it means doing more with what you have.

"You cannot have an enterprise system without being integrated," said David Heinen, product marketing manager of enterprise systems for Bosch Security Systems. "Enterprise systems bring return on investments by combining different activities to create a complete and overall system."

Security sales forces, systems integrators, installers and manufacturers all now have more of an interest in knowing how the network functions, hoping to cash in on the capabilities that a network-centric system can provide.

More and more of security sales people are meeting with IT directors, and IT directors are now, more than ever, involved in security discussions, Heinen said.

The move to integrate has been facilitated by a number of factors such as cost and availability. Heinen suggests security manufacturers to take advantage of the lower cost of bandwidth, for example. Nonetheless, be mindful of the amount of bandwidth space that is used for each component and plan systems accordingly.

"Look at the needs of your physical security systems when designing or expanding networks," Heinen said. "Video on a network is a bandwidth hog."

Doing More With Less
Heinen said that the best integration is done by a single manufacturer among its different technologies. It's hard enough, he said, trying to communicate a single manufacturer's technologies with one another, so you can imagine the difficulty in adding the technology of a different manufacturer into the mix.

An enterprise system consists of different silos combined into one. It brings together the security system, plus HVAC, energy management, elevator control, parking, human resources and more. With an access control system tied to the building management system and human resources, employers will know who accessed their offices, when they did it and where they were tracked as being. It also can help save energy and management costs. With the high price of energy consumption today, there's more of an interest in decreasing usage and wattage for companies across the nation.

The cost savings experienced with an enterprise system will generate the ROI professionals seek most. Larger companies, such as Honeywell, are already employing enterprise systems, initiating the trend that has been consuming the security industry recently.

Still deemed a costly process, adoption of enterprise systems has been slow. With the increase in products, system scalability and an expanded knowledge base, there are more opportunities for companies to employ enterprise systems now, and that will only increase in the near future. Companies are taking steps to prepare themselves for a more robust system, investing in new technologies and software designed to facilitate an easy transition to a state-of-the-art enterprise system. But in updating any integrated system, a corporation must ensure that it abides by the new regulations that have been enacted in response to the increase in data sharing and network accessibility.

Regulation Determination
The federal government is determined to manage the type of information that's allowed to pass from one company to another via the network. And although protective regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA, already exist, it is still quite a challenge to regulate something as broad and intricate as the Internet.

"Everything we do is run by a computer for the most part," said Howard Schmidt, recognized cyber security expert and president and CEO of R & H Security Consulting LLC.

Nonetheless, he said that the government is looking for answers to the questions of vulnerability within a network; staff training; the impact on small to medium-sized businesses; and the international aspect of network attacks. With all that the government is doing to help streamline cyber security, Schmidt said that the private sector owns about 85 percent of the assessments being done.

Private involvement in a public affair should be no surprise to anyone. The government, as all know, has a limited amount of resources. And public/private partnerships have accomplished a lot in recent years, especially at the state level. As the private sector helps improve the standard regulations set forth by the government, there's still one other major problem: actually enforcing the regulations. It?s not uncommon for a patient's medical records to be misplaced or for sensitive data to travel through e-mail in financial institutions, both, to some extent, violations of federal regulation. But what are the consequences for such infractions if ever reported?

"A slap on the wrist," Schmidt said, a sentiment agreed upon by most.

That's not to say that corporations have not come under the chopping block. They have been, and there will be more. What should be understood is that the government is trying, one step at a time, to not only manage the data that passes hands through a network through regulations, but also to make sure that those regulations are actually followed.

As the security industry expands its reach into more verticals, there will be a wealth of information that must be learned and applied. This integration thing isn't new, but what comes with it -- technology, networks, cyber functions -- is always changing. This gives "staying one step ahead of the bad guys" a whole new meaning, for it isn't just bank robbers that you're after anymore, its hackers, spammers and spoofers, as well.

This article originally appeared in the January 2007 issue of Security Products, pg. 10.

About the author

Karina Sanchez
Karina Sanchez is the former managing editor for Security Products magazine. She now freelances for Web publishers, trade magazines and corporations.