On your Own

The security products of tomorrow will be significantly different from the systems in use today. Manufacturers are already beginning to tap into new technologies including remote diagnostics, while engineers increasingly demand systems that are more flexible in use and application as well as being more reliable in terms of their performance.

These developments will not just benefit the installer. They will also significantly advantage the end user as ‘flexibility’ translates into lower service and maintenance charges, a more tangible life-cycle cost, greater integration with associated technologies (including those germane to building management systems), status monitoring of components within the wider building environment and better systems performance resulting in dramatic impacts in terms of false alarm reductions, for example.

Ease of systems installation

How, though, are such improvements going to be realised in the real world? One of the key areas that solutions providers like Bosch Security Systems have been working on and that impact significantly upon the total cost of ownership model is ease of installation.

“The desire has long been for systems that are genuinely ‘plug-and-play’. Although some solutions providers have already claimed they’ve reached that stage, no-one is really quite there yet,” suggests Jeremy Hockham, Bosch Security Systems’ managing director. “What is most important to the installer is what’s referred to as ‘out-of-the-box performance’. In other words, when they remove a camera, for example, from its packaging, how easy is it to install and set up?”

Hockham continues: “Clearly, the installer doesn’t want to keep returning to site to rectify settings as this eats into their margins.

“Ultimately, it also impacts on the total cost of the installation to the customer as business is disrupted while unscheduled visits take place. When looking at products in a catalogue and comparing prices, installers need to be clear of the real cost of installation, and the price they will be quoting the client. They must consider to what extent products are supported, a factor that can also impact considerably on the total cost of ownership in its broadest sense when it comes to servicing and maintaining the system in the future not to mention the potential impact on warranties.”

The cost of commissioning

Commissioning is also another potentially costly area for installer and customer alike. Clever simulation software and a PC, however, can afford a new product its Factory Acceptance Test such that it’s totally ready to install fully-commissioned before it even leaves the building.

If that sounds a little far-fetched, well it isn’t. Chubb Electronic Security one of the UK’s largest installers suggests that such technology will save its engineers a considerable amount of time that they would otherwise spend on site commissioning a system, with the commensurate savings in terms of money and resource.

The ‘remote’ possibilities don’t end there, either. Manufacturers particularly of intruder alarm products are steadily learning many of their lessons from those involved in the development of new-style building management systems, and in relation to two areas in particular... condition-based monitoring and remote diagnostics.

Both are particularly innovative. Condition-based monitoring enables an engineer to look at the health of a security system before attending a site. They can then pre-examine the system and, through the alarm panel (for example), identify faults and those parts of the system that may need changing or replacing.

The ability to dial up remotely and diagnose a fault within a panel might not be new to engineers working in the building management system or fire arenas, but for the security industry it most definitely signals a major step forward.

The benefits of such remote diagnostics and fault-finding are considerable, as Ian Finn head of intruder and integrated systems at Chubb Electronic Security explains.

“From a service engineer’s perspective, it means attending a site armed with the appropriate tools for the job, and ensuring that the van is equipped accordingly”... No doubt many end users will have shared the frustration of an engineer arriving only to have them turn around and leave to return later on because they don't have the necessary detector or component with them at the time.

“Security is not just about the here and now. It’s also very much concerned with the technology of tomorrow, and that must be factored-in by customers when they are considering the total cost membership

Jeremy Hockham, Managing director, Bosch security systems

“From an end user’s perspective,” adds Finn, “it means that the time a service engineer spends on site can be reduced, and the labour savings passed on as regards the service and maintenance costs. It also means that our engineer’s skills can be better deployed and not wasted identifying a simple fault. In short, it’s a ‘win win’ scenario for all parties.”

Finn is adamant there is also a strong ‘green’ argument. “Engineers can plan the replacement cycle for system components to maximise the life of the system and minimise consumption with no unnecessary journeys back and forth.”

In the future, product development will not just be about making the life of the engineer easier, or reducing service and maintenance costs. More specifically, it will also be about the technology inherent within each product.

Benefits of IP functionality

The security products of the future will also be fully IP functional. Again, installers will have watched the development of IP in security for the past two or three years, and should understand the benefits it can deliver.

“Primarily, this will afford end users the opportunity of using existing infrastructure – in other words networks – to ‘see’ the state of their alarm systems from their PC or laptop,” states Robert Wint (director of Verint Systems). “This is particularly advantageous for those national and international businesses with multiple sites, or those facilities management companies, for example, who are responsible for multiple buildings. By simply dialling-in to their Intranet, they can have visibility of individual systems over a network, or view data on all of their sites from anywhere in the world. They simply have to log on.”

Wint believes that IP-based systems will impact significantly on the total cost of ownership. “By definition,” he asserts, “employing an existing infrastructure means using an existing investment. Adding to that infrastructure therefore becomes a case of simply expanding on and evolving what is already there. That’s the case with any IT implementation programme, to be honest. Typically, this will yield a lower entry cost and, over the longer term, a greatly reduced total cost of ownership.”

Jeremy Hockham agrees. “Security is not just about the here and now,” explains Hockham. “It’s also very much concerned with the technology of tomorrow, and that must be factored-in by customers when they are considering the total cost of ownership. There’s no point in installing a technology now that has to be ripped out in three years’ time because it cannot be upgraded or adapted to accommodate, say, IP. I also believe that there will be considerably more software-based functionality built into products and systems across the next two or three years. Again, this is a factor that has to be considered when the maths are being worked out.”

A further technological advancement that should influence the total cost of ownership will be the ability of new products to integrate with associated technologies (notably building management systems). Again, there are arguments for and against the integration of systems, but the opportunity to integrate a surveillance camera network with a refrigeration unit on a site, for example, and then again to an alarm panel via an IP address such that a customer can literally ‘see’ an incident as it’s triggered is a benefit that few would ignore.

False alarm management

Of course, the whole raison d’être behind the development of better, more sophisticated security systems is not simply about meeting increasingly stringent calls for an improved return on investment. Ultimately, it has to be about providing better levels of protection. In terms of intruder alarms, it is also about providing better levels of false alarm management and reduction. Panels can link with all manner of detectors, but the new intelligent panels will analyse a combination of factors to determine whether or not an alarm can be confirmed as genuine.

“For certain premises this is going to be essential,” continues Ian Finn. “The mayhem caused by evacuating a hospital or an airport, for instance, only for an alarm activation that turns out to be ‘false’ cannot be overstated. The ability to identify ‘your sector’ of a building as well as individual zones could assist in the rapid identification of the situation and then assist with evacuation procedures.”

Finn concludes with a chilling statement. “Financial institutions can lose quite literally millions of pounds in downtime if their members of staff are forced to evacuate a building and then the company subsequently discovers that there was no need to do so.

“No technology can ever be totally foolproof or 100% reliable. However, the technology of tomorrow will be considerably more reliable and have more fail-safe mechanisms built-in than its predecessors.”