Convergence: Yea or Nay?

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Convergence: Yea or Nay?

7/1/2008

By Matt Villano

At Bryant University, fixed video-surveillance cameras are connected to the campus's converged IP network. The IT team can view images from any camera on just about any web-connected computer anywhere across campus, at any time, and incidents are archived to be ever-accessible. Fire alarms are now connected to the network as well: When an alarm is triggered, IT staffers can pinpoint the source, use the cameras to identify the cause, and isolate the event.

HAIL, THE CONVERGED NETWORK!

Bryant University is an excellent example of how logical and physical security are coming together: On this Rhode Island campus, just about every technology-oriented process-- and that includes physical security surveillance-- now runs over the campus's converged IP network. The network started to take shape last year, when CIO Art Gloster and his team partnered with Cisco Systems to make it a reality. Though the network is nearly 75 percent complete, it is constantly evolving and takes on new components just about every month.

Until recently, the highlight of the school's converged security portfolio was a squadron of more than 20 Cisco fixed video-surveillance cameras. All of the cameras (of various models) are connected to the data backbone. Gloster explains that because the cameras link up to the same network, he and his team can see images from any camera on just about any web-connected computer anywhere across campus, at any time. He adds that Bryant stores all of the surveillance data on 16-terabyte data storage units from IBM.

"This system gives us a great way of using our data network to enhance physical security on campus," says Gloster, who anticipates as many as 40 cameras on campus by the end of 2009. "IT has been good at safeguarding and controlling data assets, so it makes sense for us to get into physical assets, as well."

But cameras were just the start of the converged security effort at Bryant; last year, the school also added fire alarms from SimplexGrinnell to the IP network. The connections are complicated, but essentially, Gloster's team interfaced the network directly to fire alarm panels. Today, in the event of an incident (in other words, when an alarm is triggered), the IT team is able to use the network to pinpoint the source of the problem, utilize the cameras to identify what set off the alarm, and isolate the event or initiator.

The converged network also has prompted Bryant officials to rethink emergency radio contact-- an issue that has plagued not only campuses nationwide, but municipalities attempting to coordinate emergency response activities. In the past, because the Bryant campus and various firstresponder agencies used different radio frequencies for communication, the school and town could not interoperate and coordinate a timely response. Now, by deploying Cisco's IP Interoperability and Collaboration System, Bryant has linked disparate radio systems with campus phones and PCs so that school officials can directly and efficiently communicate with town agencies during an emergency.