IP offers tremendous potential

While our December ‘Opinion' piece provides the detail of our position, it is worth particularly emphasising that BT redcare, as part of BT, fully embraces IP, 21CN and other innovative technologies. More specifically, perhaps, we support the tremendous opportunity that it provides for the whole security industry. Indeed, the deployment of IP technology can play a part in the delivery of extremely flexible, cost-effective security signalling solutions.

However, just like any other technology, IP has its own particular strengths and weaknesses. Where our views begin to differ from some of the other IP security equipment vendors is that we feel the requirements of IP signalling for a security system are rather different compared to those demanded by routine business functions such as e-mail, device sharing and Voice-over-IP. Failure to deliver an alarm activation could, for example, have life-threatening consequences.

Any security solution must be ‘fit for purpose'. With IP there are a number of aspects of the technology that need to be considered if it is to be used to send security alarm data. What are the procedures for delivering IP security signalling data to the Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC), and what systems and procedures need to be in place at the ARC? Who's responsibility is it to deliver an alarm activation message? Just a few examples.

Then there's EN 50131/EN 50136/PD 6662 Grade compliance... Does the system comply with the performance characteristics of these standards (including environmental, anti-substitution and anti-tamper requirements, etc) all the way from panel to ARC, and how has this been established? Has the product and network been independently tested to the above standards, or simply been self-certified?

These are not just our concerns. ACPO and IPCRes (the Insurers' Property Crime Research Working Group that represents the interests of most of the major UK insurers) have both independently expressed similar concerns.

At present there is a considerable body of work under way - being carried out by Cenelec (the European standards body), the British Standards Institution and IPCRes, to name just a few - aimed at defining a stronger framework for the delivery of security system data over IP-based solutions than is currently the case. This work to develop standards, protocols and Codes of Practice for IP security data transmission is currently ongoing.

We are active in supporting that research. For some while now we have been working alongside our customers in developing an IP-based security solution. Indeed, we will shortly be expanding our portfolio with an innovative and flexible security system based on this technology. A key goal for us in this regard has been that our solution should deliver comparable performance to that of our existing portfolio of transmission technologies (for example, in terms of reliability, security and resilience) and that it should address the issues for security signalling that are specific to IP and that we ourselves have raised.

IP represents a terrific opportunity for businesses within the security industry, but it is vital that IP solutions should take heed of the knowledge and lessons that the industry has learned through years of developing, delivering and managing secure alarm systems based on more established technologies.

We will continue to be active in the debate, contribute to the development of standards for IP security data transmission and work towards the implementation of appropriate, highly secure, independently-tested solutions that will benefit our customers.

Steven Alton Chief Executive BT redcare Fire and Security