REAL-LIFE INTEGRATION
INITIAL INVOLVEMENT
In the past, physical security for buildings would be a later addition to the master plan, yet security design nowadays is brought early into the building lifecycle depending on the degree of security focus and complexity of the building, said Dave Bartlett, VP of Smarter Buildings, IBM. When included in the beginning, system integrators (SIs) would be able to take advantage of this opportunity for easier work later on during actual installation, Boriskin said.
While construction sites need to be under video surveillance for property theft, highly sensitive buildings require extensive background checks with proper identity and access management for construction and maintenance workers, Bartlett said. “Developers and building management teams need t o consider electronic surveillance equipment and networks, camera vantage points, conduits, seals and tamper resistance for electronic cables and trays. This requires the building developer community to consider security design alongside architectural drawings. Successful security implementations rely on the philosophy of ‘defense-indepth,' so there ought to be multiple layers of security enforcement and management for both the physical and logical realms.”
COST AND COMMUNICATION
The intelligent and energy-efficient aspects of a green building each pose different integration challenges. “A smart building is designed from the ground up with interoperability in mind, but the intention of integration is not enough,” Hughson explained. “When integrators get to site and begin working with the hundreds of peripherals that make up this organism, it will come down to the small choices about how these components act on the network. Are components sensitive to the bandwidth and security requirements of the site? Are components flexible enough to allow for diverse integration with rigidly designed products? Are components simple enough to configure that time won't be wasted in needless configuration? These considerations create a fulcrum that must be balanced for the smooth implementation of a smart building.”
“The success of a green building lies in the engineering,” Hughson continued. “Tools must be designed to support the knowledge of the technician on-site. Feedback information from the system needs to be simple to understand but detailed enough to provide value. Living data is needed because no matter how well-advanced the planning of constructing a building, all the pieces will not interact until after the building is in place.”
The various building functions are made available in the construction stage to connect different technologies under a central management system. Traditionally there is a lack of coordination between security staff and other divisions, based on the nature of security work, Bier said. In order for the building to operate smoothly, effective communication between different systems is much needed.
“Intelligent buildings incorporate building automation together with security and fire safety systems to enhance the user experience while minimizing operational costs,” said Anand Mecheri, CMO of Siemens Building Technologies. “Integration of energy metering and power quality in a building greatly supports these goals.”