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Year: 2019

Gartner End-User Spending on Public Cloud Services in India Will Grow 25% in 2020

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink India05 mins

End-user spending on public cloud services in India is forecast to total $3.4 billion in 2020, a 25% increase from 2019, according to Gartner, Inc. This double-digit growth will position India as the No. 3 country for end-user spending on public cloud services. China and Indonesia will be the countries with the highest growth rates in end-user spending on public cloud services in 2020. “Moving to the cloud and investing in public cloud services have become imperative to the success of digital business initiatives. It’s no longer a question of ‘why,’ but a matter of ‘when’ organizations can shift to the cloud,” said Sid Nag, Research Vice President at Gartner, “We have entered the cloud 2.0 era, where organizations are adopting a cloudfirst or a cloud-only strategy.” Cloud application services (SaaS) remains the segment where end-user organizations in India will spend the most and will represent 42% of overall public cloud services end-user spending in 2020. End-user spending on SaaS cloud application services in India will total $1.4 billion in 2020, an increase of more than 21% year over year. Organizations are moving their legacy applications to SaaS because it provides them with the flexibility of subscription-based consumption, in contrast to expensive license-based on-premises consumption models. “SaaS adoption is associated with a lower cost of entry, which is one of the reasons for the high investment in this segment in India, which is a price-sensitive market,” said Sid Nag. The next wave of changes that Indian CIOs foresee is consolidation in the cloud services market. “The disinvestment in data centres by small and niche cloud service providers has increased the opportunities for hyperscale vendors, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Alibaba, to disrupt the cloud infrastructure services market rapidly,” said Sid Nag. Market leaders such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Alibaba and IBM currently dominate global cloud infrastructure services market, and will retain the lead as the market grows. Gartner predicts that, by 2021, 90% of global enterprise customers using cloud IaaS will take a multicloud approach. “Multicloud and hybrid approaches are becoming inherent to cloud adoption. Organizations want to take full advantage of best-of-breed solutions, and are therefore working with one or more cloud service providers,” added Sid Nag. Gartner clients can read more in the report “Forecast: Public Cloud Services, Worldwide, 2017-2023, 3Q19 Update” Gartner, Inc. is the world’s leading research and advisory company and a member of the S&P 500. They equip business leaders with indispensable insights, advice and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities today and build the successful organizations of tomorrow. Their unmatched combination of expert-led, practitioner-sourced and data-driven research steers clients toward the right decisions on the issues that matter most. They are a trusted advisor and objective resource for more than 15,000 organizations in more than 100 countries – across all major functions, in every industry and enterprise size.  

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Axis Innovation Summit 2019 in Abu Dhabi Stimulating the Channel Partner Ecosystem

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink India03 mins

Axis Communications concluded their three-day annual India SAARC partner summit – Axis Innovation Summit 2019 in Abu Dhabi. The summit, a combined event for the entire region, provided a platform to interact with key Axis channel partners from 5 countries as well as the Axis leadership team both from the region and Sweden. The event also helped facilitate a platform for technical showcase, and understand the challenges of key partners and cross pollination of ideas among key partners. The conference hosted interactive discussions around the growing importance of security in different verticals – retail, manufacturing, critical infrastructure, and education etc., in-depth panel discussion on innovation in cyber security and how it is interwoven with the organisation’s physical security needs, growing importance of surveillance in the middle-east, demonstration of new product launches and company’s vision, and way-forward. Axis Communications also felicitated their loyal partners and distributors for outstanding works in their respective fields. Speaking on the success of the Summit, Sudhindra Holla, Sales Director, India and SAARC said, “With a rich lineage of over 35 years globally and a strong Indian presence from 2007 we understand the pulse of the Indian market. At Axis Communications, we consider channel partners as our extended family and our strongest support system Axis Innovation Summit 2019 in Abu Dhabi Stimulating the Channel Partner Ecosystem in building customer relationships. We owe a significant amount of our success to our partners and we believe in recognising their efforts and contributions. Axis is a strong channel focused organisation and our association fosters company’s growth and helps in achieving our vision.” This Summit created a platform to share insights on how Axis can support them in leveraging new market opportunities both for small and mid-sized businesses. Additionally, a view on the business strategy, product innovations and solutions were also discussed in depth. The summit provided the channel partners and distributors an opportunity to engage and interact with top management from Axis Communications.  

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Linear Heat Detection Capabilities On Show At Intersec

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink India04 mins

Linesense is exhibiting at Intersec 2020, focusing on its range of FM approved linear heat detection (LHD) cables, alongside the Linesense DLI-2K digital location interface and DIM digital interface modules. These interface units monitor the cable along its entire length and are certified to SIL-2 (Safety Integrity Level), making them a cost-effective method of providing reliable fire detection in high-risk hazardous situations. The cables provide early warning of overheating, with a range which extends from a temperature activation point of 68°C through to 240°C. This means the technology can be employed in a number of different applications including floating roof storage tanks, cable trays, tunnels and conveyors. A recent growth area for Linesense has been in mass transit applications. LHD is being employed to provide protection in metro projects as well as enabling early detection of bus and coach fires. Commenting on the company’s decision to attend Intersec, Ian Jacob, Linesense Marketing Manager said, “We are seeing significant growth in our export markets and Intersec provides the opportunity to further strengthen our position in the Middle East, Africa and Indian Linear Heat Detection Capabilities On Show At Intersec Strengthen our position in the Middle East, Africa and Indian subcontinent subcontinent. The petrochemical industry is one in which we have extensive experience, providing effective fire protection for storage tanks with a system that is third party assessed to IEC61508 and certified as SIL-2 capable. It is therefore ideally suited to the particular fire safety challenges posed by highly flammable substances. The need for such protection is clear from a headline statistic which shows that some 480 fire tank incidents were recorded worldwide over a 50 year period.” “In addition to the petrochemical industry, Linesense see real opportunities for its LHD in helping to protect the developing infrastructure of the region,” Jacob continued, “The construction of power stations to meet growing energy requirements requires miles and miles of electrical cables, with the need to protect them from the threat of fire. Part of the infrastructure growth is also in new roads and highways to improve accessibility and tunnels is another area in which LHD is widely used.” By operating at fixed alarm temperatures, the LHD cables are unaffected by changes in ambient temperature and can be supplied in bulk quantities or cut to specific requirements from 100 metre to 1,000 metre lengths.  

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BCD Expands it’s Presence in Middle East

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink India03 mins

BCD International, Inc. has recently received the commercial license from the Dubai Development Authority and thereby the company will open its Middle East branch in Dubai Internet City, Dubai in January 2020. The office will serve as the regional headquarters for Video Storage Solutions (VSS). VSS, one of BCD’s major divisions, will expand its global presence in the Middle East, Turkey, Africa & India (METAI) region to supply video recording and storage appliances to authorized security distributors of the region. These appliances are already engineered for video surveillance. “We are excited about the fantastic opportunity that our new Dubai Internet City office brings. As our client base and partner relations continue to grow in the Middle East, the decision to expand our physical presence is a logical step in order to be able to work more closely with them” -Rohit Khubchandani Regional Sales Director, BCD, METAI. “Along with the importance of proximity to our customers, this move also demonstrates a major commitment to the marketplace and ongoing growth of our company. Located in the heart of Dubai, the new location will serve as a regional hub enabling the company to service current clients more quickly and address the growing demand for our pre-engineered video recording appliances with guaranteed performance,” said Rohit Khubchandani, Regional Sales Director, BCD, METAI. VSS’ portfolio of video appliances come pre-engineered with Milestone XProtect®, Seagate SkyHawk surveillance grade drives, and its state-of-theart Storage Accelerator which significantly increases storage scalability, performance and reliability for Milestone Systems projects.  

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Matrix Wins the Dun & Bradstreet Business Excellence Award 2019

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink India04 mins

Matrix Comsec, a leading manufacturer and provider of telecom and security solutions, has been awarded with the Dun & Bradstreet Business Excellence Award 2019 in the mid-corporate segment for Excellence in the Electrical and Electronic Goods category. Matrix received this award for achieving superlative all-round performance in terms of quality and efficiency in all functions including R&D, manufacturing, marketing, sales and finance. SME Business Excellence Awards 2019 is a joint initiative by Dun & Bradstreet and RBL Bank for recognizing and felicitating the leading SMEs and mid-corporates in India. The awards were presented on 20 November 2019 at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi. On winning this prestigious award, Ganesh Jivani, Chief Executive of Matrix said, “Matrix is focused on designing and manufacturing world-class cutting-edge security and telecom solutions for modern organizations. Matrix offers these solutions in more than 50 countries including many first-world technologically advanced nations. With 250+ R&D engineers and world-class infrastructure and equipment, Matrix is committed to R&D and cutting-edge products. This award is a validation of Matrix’s world-class innovation and design capabilities. I thank all our customers Matrix Wins the Dun & Bradstreet Business Excellence Award 2019 and channel partners for their trust in Matrix and congratulate the entire Matrix team for this outstanding achievement. This recognition would encourage us to work harder towards building future technologies and products.” There were stringent yardsticks and tough competition in all sectors as the awards were decided by eminent jury on various parameters of performance and best practices across the industry. The parameters considered for the awardees were total income, net profit, net worth, net profit margins, and growth in total income, growth in net profit, return on net worth and return on assets, among others. Front-runners in various categories were chosen on the basis of a composite score of the weighted parameters. This is the tenth edition of the Dun & Bradstreet SME Business Excellence Awards to recognize the contribution of high-performing Indian SMEs and their contributions to increasing the adoption of technology by organizations across the country. The Awards showcased the achievements of the winners on a nationwide platform, and also lend them global credibility through the D&B worldwide network. The event was graced by senior management from SMEs, government institutions, banks, financial institutions and tech companies.  

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Netrika Consulting, India to Deliver Hotel Security Audit and Certification Globally

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink India05 mins

Netrika Consulting India Pvt. Ltd., India’s leading risk management and fraud investigation company, has recently entered into a partnership with Skytouch Global Hotel Security Consulting of Australia to exclusively undertake security audit as per the Sky Touch’s ‘Global Lighthouse Certification Program’ in hotels located in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. “Security is globally a prime concern for travelers, and more so for corporate C-suite personnel and high net-worth individuals. We are proud to partner with Sky Touch Global to deliver world class audit services of hotels in India and other parts of the world. Security audit of hotels is a niche service and we are confident that we can effect a positive transformation in security standard and frameworks of hotels in our territories” – Sanjay Kaushik, MD – Netrika Security audit and certification of hotels is a globally accepted risk mitigation tool. It is preferred for C-level executives and high profile guests. The certification also provides a security framework that meets expectations of global travellers. Globally, the hotel market was valued at $147.57 billion in 2018 and is expected to generate around $211.54 billion by 2026. For business travellers form a significant segment of the market, security is and will continue to be of prime concern from business perspective and otherwise. “We are proud to enter into a strategic partnership with Netrika, India. Netrika is now the authorized auditing partner for the Global Lighthouse Certification Program in Central Asia, North Africa and Middle East. With offices in Delhi, Dubai and Singapore, Netrika will conduct Sky Touch audits in over 15 countries. Together, we are confident of making hotels in this part of the world safer for travellers” – Stefan Vito Hiller, Founder – Sky Touch Global Netrika Consulting is a premier risk mitigation & forensic investigation firm offering a bouquet of services including corporate fraud investigation, cyber security, forensic audit, forensic due-diligence, and background checks including employee screening, third party screening and vendor due-diligence for its clientele of large domestic and global corporates operating in the country. Today, Netrika is one of the largest Indian consulting companies with unparalleled spread of team across India, including tier 2 & 3 cities. Netrika is well poised to become the biggest consulting company in the next 4-5 years and has plans to go global. Sky Touch Global is an Australia based independent hotel consulting firm specialized in hotel risk management. Founded in 2013, Sky Touch operates globally to conduct risk assessment, auditing and certifying hotels and providing specialised training programs in security. Global Lighthouse Certification Program – Sky Touch’s branded hotel security certification, is the first security certification for hotels that focuses purely on guest expectations. It provides security solutions and certification suitable to most hotel segments.  

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AI & ML: Steps Ahead of Video Analytics – Revolutionizing the Security & Surveillance Business

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink India010 mins

Surveillance and security in traditional sense is now moving forward – in leaps and bounds. Gone are the days when people were using analog cameras. Analogs are rapidly being replaced by digital cameras which enable video analytics to perform on an incoming digital stream. Also, between 2005 and 2010, there was a massive push to standardize the interface between the camera, and the software that talks to it over an ethernet cable. ONVIF – the Open Network Video Interface Forum – meant to provide and promote standardized interfaces for effective interoperability of IP-based physical security products, laid these standards. (Though many camera manufacturers claim that they are ONVIF compliant – one must check Most of the terabytes of stored video is useless as it does not carry any useful information. Manual searches need to be conducted to find the relevant information one is looking for. This turns out to be a time-consuming process, as well as by the time information is found it might be out of date. This is where video analytics comes in fray which helps to some degree by looking for only relevant information – thereby saving time and resources.Even though video analytics saves a considerable amount of time, it still does not avoid the manual process involved in looking at video instead of data. Now at this point – artificial intelligence and machine learning are meant to come in. Artificial intelligence builds a model based on a few initial parameters that are input by the user. Without getting into the details, it quickly builds a neural network and tells the confidence level of each object found in the video frame. This is a highly mathematical process involving convolution, calculus, probability and statistics. Based on the confidence level of each object found in the frame, one can fine tune the neural network by changing the input parameters. This fine tuning is called Machine Learning by which the neural network raises the confidence levels above 95% for each object found. We have done this in our ‘intrudX’ product whereby object confidence levels go from as low as 60% to as high as 98%. One can now put the neural network in training mode telling it the target end result a user wants. The machine can self-learn by varying hundreds of input parameters till the end target is met, and at this stage the user gets the model what he has been expecting. He now continues to use this highly accurate model to build his applications to solve problems specific to their market vertical. So, what have AI/ ML done? They eliminated the requirement of video examination – now, only the extracted data from the video stream is examined. This is a far more intelligent way of examining video streams in a far more efficient way – allowing the end user to build multiple intelligent applications on top of this. This is the ‘wave’ of the future as multiple petabytes of data cannot be examined after this fact. With the number of cameras exponentially increasing all across the globe, the best way to process video is on the fly – in real time – as it saves time, money and resources across the board. However, some time and money have to be invested for a particular use case to fine tune the neural network model. Once this process and methodology are mastered, one can use it for other use cases as well. In our case, some of ‘intrudX’ models took up just 30 minutes to bring up the confidence level above 95%, while in other cases it has taken even a week. Factors that affect the training period are: Lighting, Number of objects in the frame, and Complexity of the shape of the object. A couple of used cases are described hereunder to make this concept clear. USED CASE I Implementing standard operating procedure (SOP) While defining SOP for a drug testing methodology in a pharmaceutical laboratory – following are the requirements: Capturing and time stamping when an employee enters and exits the laboratory. Measuring the procedure when the drug testing starts. Identifying colored flasks and test tubes, and their movement from one step to the next. Identifying the microscopes and other medical instruments used in the measurement and how they are being used. Flagging the deviation, if any, from SOP and report it to the administrators. Obviously, one can use identifying objects in the video stream and determine whether the SOP is being followed or no. This can be used by the laboratory management team to improve overall efficiency of the laboratory and its’ employee performance without looking at the video streams. USED CASE II Measuring queue lengths While measuring queue lengths at bank counters, airport check-in lines, hospitals etc – requirements are as follows: Determine queue lengths to fix arrival and service rates. Queue lengths will increase if service time is greater than the person’s arrival time. Flag these so the service efficiency can be improved Summary The neural network model has over 25 million pre-defined objects in the database which have been developed using artificial intelligence techniques. In a typical end user case a very small subset of these 25 million predefined objects is required. New objects are continuously being added to the database. The model also allows itself to be put in training mode based on what the end user really wants. ‘intrudX’ Object Classification Engine takes advantage of this feature and provides interfaces so that end user case applications can be developed rapidly and be put to use. We provide extracted data, interface to the ML neural network model, as well as application development services for the customer. By- Paresh Borkar, Founder & MD, intrudX Security Solutions, LLC  

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AI & ML: Steps Ahead of Video Analytics – Revolutionizing the Security & Surveillance Business

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink India010 mins

Surveillance and security in traditional sense is now moving forward – in leaps and bounds. Gone are the days when people were using analog cameras. Analogs are rapidly being replaced by digital cameras which enable video analytics to perform on an incoming digital stream. Also, between 2005 and 2010, there was a massive push to standardize the interface between the camera, and the software that talks to it over an ethernet cable. ONVIF – the Open Network Video Interface Forum – meant to provide and promote standardized interfaces for effective interoperability of IP-based physical security products, laid these standards. (Though many camera manufacturers claim that they are ONVIF compliant – one must check onvif.org to confirm). That development disrupted the stranglehold of camera manufacturers with their partners and allowed many other players to enter into the market as proprietary protocols were no longer required. Most of the terabytes of stored video is useless as it does not carry any useful information. Manual searches need to be conducted to find the relevant information one is looking for. This turns out to be a time-consuming process, as well as by the time information is found it might be out of date. This is where video analytics comes in fray which helps to some degree by looking for only relevant information – thereby saving time and resources. (https://www.securitylinkindia.com/feature/2019/09/11/actionable-video-intelligence/). Even though video analytics saves a considerable amount of time, it still does not avoid the manual process involved in looking at video instead of data. Now at this point – artificial intelligence and machine learning are meant to come in. Artificial intelligence builds a model based on a few initial parameters that are input by the user. Without getting into the details, it quickly builds a neural network and tells the confidence level of each object found in the video frame. This is a highly mathematical process involving convolution, calculus, probability and statistics. Based on the confidence level of each object found in the frame, one can fine tune the neural network by changing the input parameters. This fine tuning is called Machine Learning by which the neural network raises the confidence levels above 95% for each object found. We have done this in our ‘intrudX’ product whereby object confidence levels go from as low as 60% to as high as 98%. One can now put the neural network in training mode telling it the target end result a user wants. The machine can self-learn by varying hundreds of input parameters till the end target is met, and at this stage the user gets the model what he has been expecting. He now continues to use this highly accurate model to build his applications to solve problems specific to their market vertical. So, what have AI/ ML done? They eliminated the requirement of video examination – now, only the extracted data from the video stream is examined. This is a far more intelligent way of examining video streams in a far more efficient way – allowing the end user to build multiple intelligent applications on top of this. This is the ‘wave’ of the future as multiple petabytes of data cannot be examined after this fact. With the number of cameras exponentially increasing all across the globe, the best way to process video is on the fly – in real time – as it saves time, money and resources across the board. However, some time and money have to be invested for a particular use case to fine tune the neural network model. Once this process and methodology are mastered, one can use it for other use cases as well. In our case, some of ‘intrudX’ models took up just 30 minutes to bring up the confidence level above 95%, while in other cases it has taken even a week. Factors that affect the training period are: Lighting, Number of objects in the frame, and Complexity of the shape of the object.     A couple of used cases are described hereunder to make this concept clear. USED CASE I Implementing standard operating procedure (SOP) While defining SOP for a drug testing methodology in a pharmaceutical laboratory – following are the requirements: Capturing and time stamping when an employee enters and exits the laboratory. Measuring the procedure when the drug testing starts. Identifying colored flasks and test tubes, and their movement from one step to the next. Identifying the microscopes and other medical instruments used in the measurement and how they are being used. Flagging the deviation, if any, from SOP and report it to the administrators. Obviously, one can use identifying objects in the video stream and determine whether the SOP is being followed or no. This can be used by the laboratory management team to improve overall efficiency of the laboratory and its’ employee performance without looking at the video streams. USED CASE II Measuring queue lengths While measuring queue lengths at bank counters, airport check-in lines, hospitals etc – requirements are as follows: Determine queue lengths to fix arrival and service rates. Queue lengths will increase if service time is greater than the person’s arrival time. Flag these so the service efficiency can be improved Summary The neural network model has over 25 million pre-defined objects in the database which have been developed using artificial intelligence techniques. In a typical end user case a very small subset of these 25 million predefined objects is required. New objects are continuously being added to the database. The model also allows itself to be put in training mode based on what the end user really wants.     ‘intrudX’ Object Classification Engine takes advantage of this feature and provides interfaces so that end user case applications can be developed rapidly and be put to use. We provide extracted data, interface to the ML neural network model, as well as application development services for the customer. By- Paresh Borkar, Founder & MD, intrudX Security Solutions, LLC  

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FM Global Opens New US$16 Million Electrical Hazards Laboratory to Prevent Businesses from Going BOOM

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink India04 mins

FM Global, one of the world’s largest commercial property insurers, has opened a US$16 million electrical hazards and gas detection laboratory at its world renowned 1,600 acre (648 hectare) research campus in West Glocester, R.I., USA, following nearly two years of construction. Fireballs, explosions, combustible and toxic gas leaks and short circuits – industrial property hazards that can derail a business – are now daily occurrences inside of the specialized laboratory. The new facility is designed specifically for testing industrial grade electrical and gas detection equipment with greater precision and certifying those products that are explosion proof, flameproof and suitable for use in hazardous locations under extreme conditions. To handle such extreme testing, the laboratory has such features as: Two fortified concrete explosion bunkers with up to 2-foot (0.6-m) thick walls complete with military-grade blast doors strong enough to withstand the equivalent of detonating 4 pounds of TNT. Labs that can replicate some of the most corrosive and damaging environments on the planet. A test site that can handle the most toxic and combustible gases found in industry. “As industries and operations evolve, so can their electrical hazards,” said Brion Callori, Senior Vice President, Engineering and Research, “For those companies who operate in hazardous environments, explosions caused by electrical equipment can put a company out of business. There is no margin for error. This laboratory will help FM Global and its clients be well positioned to address such hazards.” Callori noted, “No other organization has built a laboratory quite like this before,” adding that the capabilities will help expedite the certification of FM Approved electrical equipment that industries depend upon so manufacturers can get them to market faster and to where those products will do the most good to protect property. The electrical hazards and gas detection laboratory will be operated by FM Approvals, an internationally recognized testing organization. The facility greatly expands the capabilities of the FM Global research campus, where for more than 50 years, scientists and engineers have been replicating warehouse-size fires, the effects of hurricane force wind storms and dust explosions to help the world’s top companies remain resilient by preventing losses before they occur. Established nearly two centuries ago, FM Global is a mutual insurance company whose capital, scientific research capability and engineering expertise are solely dedicated to property risk management and the resilience of its client-owners.  

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Access Control Systems: Its Time to Move with the Times!

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink India114 mins

An access control system (ACS) is an ultra-critical component in the chain of electronic security – however in India, even many large organizations do not give access control the credit that is due. This article enumerates ten must-have features that any modern access control system should possess. While designing security systems, we are especially attracted to projects which consist of access control systems (ACS) – because only the discerning customer considers access control as a ‘security requirement’ rather than a ‘time & attendance’ requirement. In many premises, the convenience of recording attendance is given precedence to the necessity of preventing unauthorized entry at all times. This leads to the continued use of obsolete access control technology, making the entire campus vulnerable to intrusion, albeit unknowingly. Due to the lack of clear understanding of and expectation from an ACS, vendors often make the most of the situation, installing systems that have gaping loopholes. The entry and movement of persons and/ or vehicles in a campus is of the utmost criticality for any security manager and a sound ACS must be the first step towards managing the same. Surveillance cameras may be the most visible element within security systems; however, they are reactive (mostly used after an incident has happened) – whereas an ACS has the ability to prevent that very incident. Since all security systems are now IP or IP based, ACSs have also gravitated towards Internet Protocol. This is a great news for both the security and network administrators; however, it does open up possible vulnerabilities, especially if there is an intersection of the data and security networks. Security managers have to be tuned into the IT security demands of their organizations and have to ensure that their ACS over IP poses no risks of virtual intrusion. Access control is a complex domain using multiple technologies – cards, readers, controllers, software, and the IT elements. Hence, it is best left to experts – however, here I lay down ten techno-functional parameters that must be considered when one decides to implement or upgrade to, a state-of-the-art ACS. While broadly any ACS can be judged by its adherence to these parameters, there are site-specific conditions that one must look into, to increase the efficacy. 1. Integration Integrability with other systems is the first parameter to consider while designing an ACS. The first integration point for any ACS should be with the fire/ smoke detection system. This is mandated by law. Unfortunately, ‘mandated by law’ is not a very strong phrase in India! This has led to tragic accidents in many organizations, retail environments and homes, but the learning is still not evident. Further, organizations do not have a clear standard operative procedure (SOP) in terms of the modalities and eventualities of such integration. Another integration point that can unlock the true potential of security systems is between video surveillance and access control. Though, modern video surveillance systems do have standard integration protocols with ACS (and vice versa) – these protocols must be harnessed to deliver better situational awareness. Many other integration touch points with ACSs are already being practiced – such as the one with T&A and ERP systems (which we will not delve into). However, one element of tight integration to be considered is with visitor management systems. As I never fail to repeat, the visitor management system really manages all the unknowns in your campus – and hence seamless integration of the visitor management system with the ACS is strongly required. Without intruding into the privacy of the visitor, a visitor management system should be able to clearly define what is expected of the visitor in your campus and what is the protocol when those expectations are not fulfilled. Ultimately, it is the campus! 2. Card vs. biometric Frankly there is no comparison at all – biometric ACSs are more secure, reliable and authentic than mere card based ACSs. However, this is a decision that involves change management and process re-engineering, which at times is difficult to achieve in brown-field projects. If card based ACS is to be used, multi technology smart card readers should be considered. It’s surprising to know that many organizations are still using proximity cards and readers, which have been proven to be eminently hackable. The decision of the card itself is an important one as it literally is the key to your premises. Smart contactless card platforms such as MiFare, DesFIRE and iCLass SE offer significantly higher security and encryption standards. 3. Card formats Organisations must ensure that they get completely involved in the important job of defining specific access card-bit formats. We have noticed that for the sake of manageability, security managers leave the task of card bit format definition to vendors, without perceiving the risk of vendor lock-in. 4. Information security Since ACSs have now become completely IP based, they have to be essentially treated as IT systems – and all the information security standards that the organization adheres to, have to be satisfied. Access data has to be treated with highest confidentiality standards. ACSs must quickly adopt the IP v6 protocol and use high encryption standards (min 128bit AES). Similarly, the IT elements such as the operating system, databases, processing and storage should all conform to the latest available versions to guarantee better support and security. 5. Reporting, alarms & alerts An ACS cannot be treated as a static system – it must have the capability to evolve as per the organisation’s growth. The software becomes critical in this sense, and hence it should have the ability to scale up, to be customized, and to be tuned to the growth requirements. This includes demands for varying report requirements that security managers will have for administrative management. Similarly, workflow based alerts and alarms are now a necessary feature for large campuses with a vertical security hierarchy. 6. Anti-duplication Biometric ACSs are the best to negate any chances for false entry. Even biometric ACSs do require de-duplication to ensure complete identification. Card based…

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