With new products entering the market all the time, how can security equipment installers make sure they look after their customers’ best interests – and safeguard their own?
Bob Cotterill, Managing Director of electronic security equipment manufacturer, Bewator, gives an opinion.
It hardly needs stating that the new mood of increased security within the UK has opened up additional business opportunities for the security installation market. It is not just the raised threat of terrorism, but the recognition by public and private sector organisations alike that they are under threat: High tech businesses from industrial espionage; hospitals from people stealing drugs; airports from terrorists etc., and the list continues to grow. The ease with which undercover journalists have made their way into sensitive locations has come as a long overdue wake up call for many.
Organisations that would have "made do" with a single receptionist or solitary security guard in days gone by are now looking for a cost effective way to ensure that unwelcome intruders are kept out.
Access control is the perfect option. It is simple to operate, unobtrusive and (when operated properly) does not interfere with the day-to-day activities of the business. We know from our many hospital installations, for instance, that proximity readers keep the wrong people out while allowing pressured doctors and nurses to move rapidly from ward to ward unimpeded.
Invariably, staff recognise access control for what it is: a simple way to enhance security and their own safety. It is also highly affordable and can act as a platform for other aspects of business and building management, including monitoring staff hours, managing assets and providing real time information on who and what is in a building (vital in an emergency).
Using PC-based administration systems to control the supply of cards gives total command to an organisation’s security personnel, and affords them precise control of what level of staff can access which areas – and at what time. If a card is lost, (or when a card is lost) it is simply invalidated and a new one can be issued.
This has become a profitable area of work for installers, which has increased substantially in recent years, and holds out the prospect for long-term business relationships. Many installers who use our Bewator security equipment tell us that initial installations are far less significant to them in total financial terms than the ongoing orders for upgrades and extensions.
And this is my point: To emphasise that these contracts provide installers with access to profitable, long term business; but only if they are undertaken with an eye to the future requirements of the client as well as those that are current.
For example, at any one time, while some clients are installing access control equipment for the first time, even more of them are upgrading existing solutions with more precise control at the ‘sensitive’ areas, such as integration of Video images with the card transactions and alarm inputs. The more ‘technically aware’ are using their existing data communications infrastructure with the latest IP based access control and video equipment to add remote site monitoring.
In many ways these are two separate markets: the "clean sheet" and the "upgrade". But both need treating carefully if you seek to establish a long-term relationship with the client. And the most critical factor here is future proofing.
For example, access control systems are now being used to provide high level security across the UK (and beyond), drawn from the dozens of different contracts for a wide variety of applications created each week by installers using our equipment, including:
Hospitals, Health Care and Nursing accommodation
Finance & Banking
Multi Tenanted residential apartments
Food processing
Software & IT companies
Research laboratories
Universities & Halls of residence
Sports facilities
Tourist attractions
Airports and Port Authorities.
The opportunities are virtually limitless but the critical choice that every installer has to make is: which equipment should I specify? Several criteria will always take priority:
1Familiarity is always high on the list. If you have used one brand before and it has performed, the natural inclination is to use it again.
2Reputation for reliability. No installer wants to go back to undertake repairs within the warranty period and erode the profit made.
3Technology. How does one security solution perform against another? This is often quite a tricky issue as new technology is moving so quickly that product specifications are changing all the time. Today’s state of the art is tomorrow’s Betamax. My advice is always to specify a product that can handle the task with room to spare: Bewator products, for example, have been designed to be forwards compatible and scaleable – start small and add more as you need it – both quantity and functionality with little in the way of component redundancy.
4Integration. How well will a product stand up when you try to combine it with existing third party hardware or when the client wants to add new technology?
This is key – system ‘integration’ has become the key security technology buzzword in recent years but which of the manufacturers are providing real ‘plug and play’ solutions to meet the client and installer needs?
The Bewator product development programme, for example, has two steps. The first is an integrated common application platform, the software graphical user interface that will forms the basis for a fully integrated modular security system which can control and monitor access, video, and intruder detection and provide a fire ‘warning’ or early warning across single or multiple site applications. This is an area where Bewator already have a significant advantage over most other traditional ‘access only’ manufacturers.
The second step moves us away from the "proprietary" nature of control controller hardware. We are moving to a modular platform of control equipment and this approach will provide for a solution that is totally scaleable and future-proof whilst enabling installers to employ a "building block" approach to implementing a bespoke solution to the client’s needs from standardised components.
In practical terms, this means that any company that wants to start with a simple security system controlling a few doors and cameras can, later, add levels of security functionality, additional remote sites with monitoring and management control as they grow and as the need for security increases.
In reality, it would seem logical that some time later, when the client wishes to upgrade their system or add more functionality the process ought to be straightforward. However, in practice there are very few equipment manufacturers that allow for this level of flexibility without massive re-engineering of the infrastructure or redundancy of part or all of the existing hardware. This is an important point that needs careful consideration at the point of making a recommendation or writing the requirements specification.
This new ‘integrated common application platform’ from Bewator (INCA) will also anticipate the move to new technology as well as catering for existing equipment. Clients will be able to manage their security system through a combination of existing and new technology; analogue or digital; IP or not; networked or hard wired and LAN, WAN or Internet communication. Bewator clients will benefit from the flexibility this solution provides as well as our economies of scale via this ‘standard’ graphical user interface (GUI) that will give reduced life cycle costs while utilising state of the art technology without the expense of a bespoke and unique ‘traditional’ integrated system solution.
We all know that technology is moving quickly in our sector but there is now no reason to get left behind. One thing is for sure, the security industry is an exciting place to be – after all, it is an industry with a real future. To be part of that future, we will need to make sure that the equipment we supply for you to install is also forward looking.
Improving the view at the home of cricket
Lord’s Cricket Ground in St John’s Wood, London, is not only the spiritual home of cricket, with a 200 year history. It is also a vibrant sports arena, hosting major international matches, cup finals and county games throughout the summer. Its commitment to modernity has been shown in the state of the art media centre.
Security is a major concern – especially at key events. The ground has had a CCTV system in operation for some years, but last year the cricket ground decided to install a completely new and ultramodern system in time for the 2005 season.
Making the choice
Elstree-based Parker Security was selected to specify and install a system for them. Parker Security has many years experience installing quality security equipment for the commercial and private sectors across the UK and in Northern Europe.
"The brief was one of the larger ones we have dealt with recently," said Parker Security’s managing director Kevin Parker, "There was a total of 90 cameras around the ground, complete with monitoring and recording equipment, and some 17 access control points.
"We specified Bewator equipment because they could provide a totally integrated, high quality security system."
Parker Security installed Bewator’s Granta security management system providing access control and a Bewator Eventys RMC (Remote Monitoring Centre), together with 90 cameras to handle the CCTV end of the contract.
The installation
The main benefit of Bewator’s Granta system is that it enables users to connect multiple PC workstations to provide distributed monitoring and control of the system across any number of separate sites – including remote locations, via TCP/IP technology. This is particularly important for the installation at Lord’s as it allows security monitoring at a number of peripheral points in the ground as well as centrally.
Images from the 90 cameras are processed through the Bewator Visilynx 3i – a video matrix system – and then fed into the Eventys Digital Video Monitoring System (DVMS). This is a digital and audio recorder/server – effectively a hard disk recorder.
The Granta software integrates with the Eventys DVR platform to allow for event-triggered video recordings. Bewator Eventys has 900Gb storage capacity, and can view real time and recorded footage simultaneously, as well as search events to pinpoint an incident and synchronise all the cameras to the time of an incident and watch it unfold. Other features include counter monitor function – suitable for managing security for large public access areas, such as recording entrances to public stadiums.
The 17 access points, which have all been fitted with proximity readers to control entry, are linked to an administration PC and supported with cameras placed in key locations. The client produces its own entry cards – up to several hundred being current at any one time – which are individually programmed to only allow the bearer access to specified parts of the ground, at specified times.
Results
"The client was looking for a flexible system that provided discreet but highly effective security," says Kevin Parker, "and one which could be totally integrated to enable the whole system to be controlled from a single point. The Bewator platform allowed us to do that – including integrating another make of camera. What we also now have is a set up that can be expanded whenever we wish, and upgraded as new technology options arrive."
