Facilities Management
The next phase of convergence
IT departments now must coordinate physical security and building automation needs.
by Dave Cunningham and Michaela Iery
One LAN with integrated
applications for IT, security and facilities management enables all departments to take advantage of technologies that have multiple uses.
With voice over IP
telephony (VoIP) deployments displacing
traditional PBX installations, many
enterprises are already realizing the
efficiencies that can be gained from a
consolidated voice and data infrastructure.
LANs were first built to give desktop
computer users access to corporate systems
and e-mail. As the number of IT applications
expanded, the LAN grew into a critical asset
in the enterprise by enabling faster
communication and greater efficiency.
The advent of IP-based
physical security and building automation
systems will cause the LAN to experience its
next transformation. The facilities
organization, with responsibility for an
organization's physical plant and related
services, must manage and maintain assets
with long life cycles. Operating and
maintenance expenditures for a facility
during its life cycle can be up to 40 times
greater than the original design and
construction of the facility. Accordingly,
cost containment has become a high priority
for facilities organizations, with
sustainability, energy management and
building automation viewed as key enablers
of this goal.
In addition, marketplace
globalization has widened the scope of
responsibility for many facilities
organizations, not just in terms of
geography but also with regard to management
complexity, as regional customs and laws may
drive different design and operation
logistics for facilities within the same
organization.
Security professionals,
responsible for the protection of the
organization's human and physical resources,
are facing challenges similar as their
facility counterparts. While security to
gained higher priority for organizations in
the last decade, security management has
still been challenged to deliver more and
improved services, while containing or
reducing costs, with an eye toward
demonstrating a return on investment for
these often-costly technologies. Similarly,
a global economy has created new challenges
for security professionals, with more mobile
employees and far-flung locations to
protect.
Advances in security and
building management technologies-including
the move to IP-based applications-have made
these challenges addressable, provided that
the focus is on coordination and integration
of the various departments' requirements
into one robust LAN infrastructure.
A few years ago, an
office building would have at least five
separate cabling systems installed during
construction to support data, voice,
physical security (closed-circuit television
and access control) and building management
systems. Each network was engineered,
designed, installed and operated
independently.
In the same way that VoIP
eliminated the need for separate voice
cabling, security and building management
vendors are rolling out IP-based products
that eliminate the need for multiple,
dedicated facilities networks. The
implementation of a single, robust LAN
infrastructure designed as a multiservice
building communications infrastructure can
lower procurement, installation, maintenance
and operating costs.
Developing one LAN with
integrated applications for IT, security and
facilities management is not only cost
effective with regard to the infrastructure,
it also enables all departments to take
advantage of technologies that have multiple
uses. Infrared camera technology may be
useful for security, but it also is a
valuable tool for facilities professionals,
allowing them to identify weak points or
damage to buildings and infrastructure.
While video analytics is
often viewed primarily as a security
application, allowing security departments
to identify and act on suspicious activity,
the technology also has significant benefits
for the facilities management department.
Video analytics can be used to track and
analyze activity on the manufacturing floor,
the number of vehicles entering or leaving a
parking lot or occupancy levels in areas of
a building. Even sales and marketing can use
video analytics to measure traffic in or out
of a retail area, directional traffic flow
on the sales floor or time spent in front of
point-of-sales displays.
Once these services are
on the same IP backbone as IT systems, these
systems can communicate with each other,
further increasing their efficiency. For
example, physical security and information
security can be integrated in new ways to
improve the protection of both environments.
Linking the access control system to the IT
security systems allows for enhanced
security that could ensure that a person is
in the building before letting them log in
to a computer from that location.
By linking the
access-control system to the
lighting-control system, employees' office
lighting can be turned off when they are not
in the building, reducing energy costs. All
of these integrated applications also result
in services that can be provided remotely,
regardless of location.
This total integration
not only increases efficiencies and reduces
cost, it also helps each department justify
spending and demonstrate the necessary
return on investment. The convergence of
voice and data in the past decade, however,
brought a set of new organizational
challenges. The challenge for IT departments
is that, for the first time, they will also
have non-IT services and customers depending
on their networks.
So, what should IT
managers do in order to prepare for this
next phase of convergence?
First, be proactive.
Engage facilities and security leadership in
discussions now about their plans and ideas
for IP-based systems. Lack of IT involvement
in security and facility system discussions
will cause design and implementation issues
down the road.
Look for small
integration opportunities, such as hosting
the security management or digital video
recorder systems out of the data center as a
way to establish relationships between
departments. Also, discuss the long-term
funding of projects, so everyone understands
who will be responsible for funding,
maintenance and service.
Second, prepare
leadership-both IT and non-IT management-for
these changes by adding security and
facilities support to long-range strategy.
Help them understand the availability and
staffing requirements that convergence will
bring to the LAN, as well as the benefits
that this convergence will offer the
organization and how it fits with the total
business strategy.
Third, prepare the
network to support these new services. In a
fully converged implementation, the number
of LAN ports will increase, and 30 percent
to 50 percent of those ports will connect
non-IT devices, with many of them providing
mission-critical environmental and security
services.
Examine the cabling infrastructure in
light of these new requirements. Will the
backbone support the increased traffic?
Should there be redundant cables from the
closet to the core over diverse paths? How
will the horizontal cabling be impacted? Can
the closets scale to provide enough ports
for these new devices?
Dave Cunningham is market development manager, local area networks, for
Corning Cable Systems, Hickory, N.C., and Michaela Iery is market manager,
LAN growth markets.
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