Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) has the distinction of being both the most talked about and the least understood of the wealth of security technologies. If users understood, industry pundits say, everyone would buy in.
Analysis from Frost & Sullivan, titled “Global Physical Security Information Management Market,” puts PSIM market revenues at $142.9 million for 2011, growing substantially to 2.7 billion by 2021. The biggest inhibitor of growth is lack of end-user awareness, the report found.
“There is confusion in the market because PSIM encompasses more than just systems,” said Jamie Wilson, security marketing manager (EMEA) at NICE Systems in a talk at IFSEC Global in Birmingham, UK.
At the same time, it will be increasingly important for organizations going forward. Simply defined, PSIM tells organizations what’s happening, where it is happening, and how to respond, said Wilson. That’s a much bigger job than ever before.
The current reality is increasingly complicated. Said Wilson:
Previously, security threats were largely low-volume, contained, and simple. Now, we are seeing in present and future that security needs to be of critical importance as complex, sophisticated attacks emerge. The PSIM market is focusing on the insights, relevancy, and real-time analysis. These kind of changes have started to make PSIM much more important to everyone in the industry.
Further, PSIM is being used to support collaboration between public and private entities in situations, for example, where a private camera might be included in a public system. “Increasingly, PSIM is adding additional intelligence and being able to scale,” Keith Bloodworth, CEO of CNL Software added during the presentation.
Finally, PSIM is gaining recognition for being able to support a compelling story about return on investment (ROI). Although traditionally accused of being expensive, PSIM is now demonstrating value through real-world use cases, said Bloodworth. For example, the London underground system was able to get transit riders back on schedule within two hours of a suicide incident because the PSIM provided investigators, in minutes rather than hours, the information they needed to understand the situation.
PSIMs provide end-users the ability to do more for less and to get better use out of data. “We are seeing PSIM being a catalyst for managing multiple video management systems, as well as access control systems,” Bloodworth said, predicting that the market will soon offer modular solutions that allow organizations to choose the appropriate level of functionality for the organization.
By integrating a variety of subsystems, PSIM platforms are able to save organizations money and offer advanced situational management, said Wilson. “PSIMs save time, money and resources. It offers adaptive workflows for policy compliance and requires minimal training.”
Does your organization use PSIM? If so, let us know your results. If not, let us know what’s holding you back.
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My view is that PSIM is a new acronym for the intelligent integration of security systems and, most importantly, the intelligent display (usually by exception after analysis) of information to those monitoring followed by an intelligent pre-planned response activity. There’s no point in being advised of an incident if nobody can see it due to unwanted “noise” and nobody knows what to do about it! Some companies have been progessing intelligent integration, monitoring & response of/to security systems for many years! PSIM keeps being related to CCTV which, although an obviously important area, has to be linked with access control,… Read more »
PSIM platforms are able to save organizations money and offer advanced situational management
@Hailey, thanks for the post. Its good to know that PSIM platforms are able to save organizations money and offer advanced situational management. I am curious to know which companies are providing comprehensive PSIM platforms ?
PSIM keeps being related to CCTV which, although an obviously important area, has to be linked with access control, intruder alarms, building management systems etc
@william gillett, I totally agree with you. As Hailey suggested PSIM is least understood of the wealth of security technologies. I am slowly but surely people will realise PSIM is not just about CCTV but its more than that.
Genetec and Nedap are really good systems in my experience along with the ADACs platform that my own company, Chubb Systems, provide.
I think you’re right Tony, which always leads me to ask myself if I’m missing something. How is a properly integrated security solution different to a PSIM system? Is it just the situational response element that differentiates it?
Well the two speakers in that session were from CNL Systems and NICE Systems, who are probably the industry leaders in that space. Vidsys are also up there and a bunch of others, but those are the first the come to mind.
I get confused as well Rob! My thoughts are that; An intelligent integrated system includes CCTV, electronic access control and intruder alarms plus perhaps ancillary spin-offs like intercoms, etc, but all systems within the security arena. I think a PSIM system also includes other non-security elements like fire alarms, smoke alarms, flood alarms, building management systems, network alarms, aircon alarms, environmental alarms, etc. Both should analyse and produce a summarised view of the incident and an indicated probable response but PSIM should give a more rounded view of any incident, i.e. we have an intruder but he’s also torching the… Read more »
Absolutely, and I’m sure someone else will slap our hands for forgetting some other obvious ones. I put it down to post-IFSEC brain freeze.
@Sunita, I saw a handful of PSIM vendors at the IFSEC show, including: Entelec Corntrol, Fortem, Geoquip Worldwide, NICE Systems, Observit LDA, Optilece, Proximex, Senstar, and Verint Systems.
@william gillett, I think you are right on the money. No hand slapping here.
I talked about physical security threat in other articles months ago. Employees allow will badge in for others to enter the offices. So far as you show up at the same time you will be let in whether you work or do not work for the company. I saw this as a big risk. Now there is a camera by the door, which can track who bages in and who does not. I am not sure the particular system of cameras the company is using but I know measures are being taken to prevent physical breach.
@Jonahtan, absolutely true! As we focus on IT security, we can’t forget the very real threats as employees go about their day. Keep the server room locked. Make sure visitors are escorted. Empower employees to ask questions of people they don’t know. Never, ever put adropped USB key in a PC of yours. These are just teh basics but should never be forgotten.
Sounds like there were quite a number of them. Thanks for providing the list!
I agree with Hailey. Aside from virtual security, you should also keep ‘physical’ security of systems in mind. Especially that part about never inserting USB drives that you found dropped or abandoned in public places. That’s one of the ways some hackers gain access to your computer.
When I think of security, everyone is a suspect until proven otherwise. Discovering a usb drive that does not belong to you is a big threat. But how is the thought processed with you find such a device? You want to know what’s on it and who it belongs to so you can return it if possible. In the computer world faith is a limited element that should not drive us to our own grave. Best way to test such usb is to use any computer that is not current being used, unplug it from the internet first then check… Read more »