Making Smart Choices in Smart Buildings

Today’s building owners face a multitude of complex decisions around how to protect their properties – and the contents therein – from both external and internal threats.

What they must guard against is failing to think about security issues from the outset. Smart buildings with inherent weaknesses could become exploitation grounds for criminal activity.

Considering security at the tail end of the build process is very much a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Put simply, it’s a scenario that must be avoided.

By the same token, security managers should ensure that the security elements of their buildings are absolutely aligned with – and mirror – the security requirements of all activities conducted within.

In the corporate world, there’s little doubt that potential security vulnerabilities inside smart buildings could lead to detrimental outcomes for business systems. Non-secured networks may result in theft episodes or unwelcome (and potentially widespread) disturbances.

That’s exactly why a carefully planned, detailed, appropriate and regularly practised security regime is so important.

Keeping up to date with today’s system solutions is essential for any practising security professional. Also, those same professionals must continually question their systems environment.

How are solutions networked? In what ways are authorised usages verified by in-house IT specialists?

Interlinked

For some industry professionals the main security issues around smart buildings are focused more towards physical security. For others, the prime thought process centres on critical networks.

In reality it’s difficult to separate these two areas. Inevitably, they’ll be interlinked in some way.

Episodes like the unlawful appropriation of intellectual property or non-authorised access to private company data could occur on such a scale that they seriously undermine an organisation’s viability, possibly even rendering that company inoperable. Again, this is why first-class security is paramount.

When it comes to their physical operation, it follows that security systems integrated within smart buildings need to be wholly reliable and accurate as well as easy to se.

Of course, once disparate systems – such as access control set-ups, surveillance solutions and intruder alarms, for example – can now be brought together in harmony. Smart building security, though, must also encompass general answers for what comprises the more mainstream building management ‘backbone’ (commonly referred to as the building management system or BMS).

Of late, there has been a sharp focus on ‘smart’ technologies providing the answers for addressing security/access issues in smart buildings. In what ways might such technologies remove the barriers associated with overall costs and ease the path towards true systems integration?

Today, the ultimate goal is that in-house security and facility managers are afforded what’s often termed comprehensive, 360-degree ‘situational awareness’.

The latest smart building technologies and solutions will be on display at IFSEC International 2014, which runs from 17-19 June at ExCeL London.

The Smart Buildings Exhibition Zone and IFSEC Academy play host to the very latest systems developments, with dedicated discussion forums focused on the major issues of the day running as part of the Conference Programme.

Registration is now open. Click here for more information and to register for your badge