By Dan Dunkel

The Pareto Principal originated in 1906 from Italian economist Vilfredo Prateto's observation that essentially said 20 percent of the wealthy owned 80 percent of the land. It has been modified through the decades and today we understand it as basically 20 percent of the people/tasks are vital while the remaining 80 percent are trivial. I think this principal accurately reflects the current and future state of the security convergence market.

Personally, I am convinced that five years from now, 80 percent of the traditional physical security vendors, large and small, and their channel partners will be marginalized or out of business totally. They will be displaced by the accelerated focus on open systems, standards and R.O.I models being promoted by IT vendors and increasingly being purchased by their decades long contacts within IT and senior management. Major IT vendors control the enterprise purchase cycle.

Agree or disagree, the funny thing about the 80/20 rule is that basically everybody thinks they are in the top 20 percent. This, of course, is impossible. So I have devised a test for the physical security industry to examine your understanding of the competitive threat from IT vendors. Are you aware of recent news that has a huge impact on your businesses moving forward?

These headlines occured between April 17-21 and are copied exactly as they appeared in the press. They are in no particular order of importance but all have an impact on the security industry:

1. Cisco to invest US $16 million in Video-Encryption Company WideVine Technologies

2. GE Security selects Sun Identity Management Suite to deliver combined IT/Physical access solution; OEM relationship to deliver seamless security solution for Fortune 100 companies and Department of Defense

3. Tech Data U.S. Helps IT Resellers Break into Physical Security; Physical Security SBU Established and Leading Manufacturers Signed

4. Big Brother Goes Digital
Physical Security Gets Plugged Into The IT Network.
DON'T LET THIS OPPORTUNITY SNEAK PAST YOU.
(Cover Story, VARBusiness, linked here)

Let's review:

1. A major IT gorilla, Cisco, continues to buy leading edge technology in the sweet spot of the physical security market.

2. A former, yet still formidable, IT gorilla, Sun Microsystems, is partnering with a major physical security provider, GE, to establish OEM ties and sell solutions through mutual channels.

3. One of the largest IT companies worldwide with a 20+ billion-distribution business and over 90,000 customers just established a security convergence SBU to assist IT integrators selling physical security products.

4. The cover story in VARBusiness warns their large IT integrator subscriber base not to miss the opportunity in your customer base.

If 20 percent of the physical security industry reads the VARbusiness website, I would be surprised. However, this is the bible for the IT integration community, along with CRN (Computer Reseller News). These websites provide valuable insight into the nature of your new competition. I suggest you bookmark and read them.

While we are on the subject of reading material. I just picked up a fantastic book: CLASSIC DRUCKER by the editor of the Harvard Business Review. It is a compilation of the work of Peter Drucker, arguably the greatest management thinker of all time. I want to quote a passage from Drucker because I think it sums up the problem that a lot of physical security executives have today, and conversely IT executives don't. It is from the chapter titled: "What Makes an Effective Executive":

FOCUS ON OPPORTUNITIES
" Problem solving, however necessary, does not produce results. It prevents damage. Exploiting opportunities produces results. Above all, effective executives treat change as an opportunity rather than a threat. They systematically look at changes, inside and outside the corporation, and ask, "How can we exploit this change as an opportunity for our enterprise?"

This is exactly the question the IT vendor community has asked and their answer lies in exploiting the security convergence opportunity. Unfortunately 80 percent of the physical security market today continues to ignore this trend or views it as 5 to 10 years away. In hindsight this will prove to be a terrible business decision.

Are you one of the TOP 20 percent?

About the Author:
Dan Dunkel, president of New Era Associates, is a frequent presenter on the topic of systems integration and convergence before security, enterprise and executive groups. He is especially interested in helping the new breed of integrator succeed in the evolving network environment. Contact him at dan@neweraassociates.com or visit www.neweraassociates.com

Making a Case for Office Security Integration

Turns out the majority of office workers (58 percent) have taken office supplies for their personal use, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive. Among those who admit to taking office supplies for personal use, the most commonly stolen office supplies include pens/pencils (77 percent), followed by self- adhesive "sticky" notes (44 percent) and paper clips (40 percent). Some employees (2 percent) are even taking decorations like plants, paintings and office furniture (2 percent)..

"People often forget that workplace resources are not their own and are actually considered company property," said attorney Alan Kopit. "We are not just talking about pens and paper here, employees are also stealing expensive things, too, like computers, software and books.

Employee theft costs businesses billions of dollars a year, because in addition to pens and paper, employees are also stealing resources directly related to the productivity of the business, like classified information, patents, corporate contacts, case studies, and periodicals. "Business owners need to evaluate the current policies and employee practices and if necessary institute new systems to eliminate the risk to the business," said Kopit.

Click here for more information.



Integrator Strategy - Diversify
Security cameras inside probe track tornados

A National Geographic research team did the near impossible - they chased down a tornado and placed a probe with seven video cameras from Korea's KT&C directly in its path. The team caught images that have - in a breakthrough - made it possible to calculate wind speeds close to the ground, where tornadoes rip through buildings, cars and human lives. The probe was uniquely displayed at the Las Vegas International Security Conference earlier this year.

The probe represented a technological first. A well-placed probe fitted with seven video cameras - six with a 60-degree field-of-view designed to achieve a full 360-degree field-of-view (one failed during deployment, resulting in a 300-degree field-of-view) and one pointing upward - captured footage inside a tornado, providing visual data on ground wind speeds where the storm does the greatest damage. And Tim Samaras with his team of storm chasers were there to make it happen. The event was part of coverage on Discovery/National Geographic television.

Even after his team found the tornado and drove along a dirt road in Iowa to a place they were fairly certain lay in its path, Samaras remained unsure of where exactly he should leave the probe. He stood watching the tornado boil toward him, then, at the last second, he jogged over, hefted the 80-pound probe and shifted it 40 feet to the north.

Samara guessed right: The eye passed just 10 feet from the probe, giving the cameras the closest every view of the fierce winds turning just off the ground around a tornado's center. Wind speeds within tornadoes are so difficult to measure directly that scientists must rate tornadoes by the damage they cause. The one Samaras caught plucked up a steel bridge and threw it down in a twisted heap, severe damage that earned it an F3 rating, with estimated maximum wind speeds of 158 to 206 mph. Scientists can measure wind speeds with mobile Doppler radar, but only from a safe distance. Samaras' cameras looked into a part of the tornado long hidden from scientists using Doppler: the bottom 30 feet. Winds at this level flatten houses and hurl cars. Understanding these winds - the tornado's strongest and most erratic - may enable engineers to design better tornado - resistant structures.

Click here for more information.



Emergency and Safety Audio Distribution

In a unique integration design, Amerex Corp. of Trussville, Ala., has installed a system to manage audio matrixing and distribution of important operational and safety functions including fire and tornado alarms, telephone paging and shift-break alarm. Designed and installed by Larry Bounds and Barry Henry of the EBS group, from Odenville, Ala., in conjunction with Amerex's in-house system technicians, the iDR-4 system from Allen-Heath also includes the optional PL-8, a four input/output logic contact closure unit.

"We chose the iDR because the programming of the box is very simple and the processor is very solid. We were able to install the system very quickly without any of the employees knowing," stated Bounds. The iDR-4 handles the matrixing of the various alarms with the company's telephone paging system, and the PL-8 is used to patch the signal from the alarms through to the iDR system. When one of the alarms is tripped, a spike signal is routed through the PL-8 to the iDR-4 which un-mutes and prioritizes the appropriate channel and distributes on-board tone generator signals, matched to the alarm's sonic signature, throughout the company.

By Dore Scott Perler

Providing a solution to a problem for an individual situation is simple. Providing a solution to a problem for the entire United States is an order of magnitude. Providing a solution for which the entire world can share in, and has their individual needs meet, is monumental.

This is exemplified by the current state of biometrics technology. Outside of the AFIS database shared by multiple nations there is no biometrics repository of any kind. In order to effectively track, catch or even slow down terrorist threats, this is exactly what will be required. Several companies currently provide their version of border control, biometrically enabled identity management solutions. However each company's software requires registration of the user and storage into their proprietary architecture. This may work for a single country to register all persons entering and exiting at the borders, but how does this relate to providing a comprehensive blanket of protection for the world?

In order for that to happen a consortium of world technology leaders must outline their specific requirements for what is tracked, how alerts are delivered, how information is shared, what information is shared, and several other factors. This is all after-the-fact information, accessible after the system knows who is requesting access or departure. Ideally, travelers would go to an authorized registration point within any of the participating countries and register their biometric and other related information. These registrations would then be shared across the globe to all participants.

The sharing of registrations provides not only a single point of inconvenience to the traveler but also aids in detecting potential circumvention of the system. For example, a traveler registers in London, England for travel to the United States. Upon arriving, the traveler checks through customs. Since their registration was shared, the United States already knows information about this traveler. Additional information can be gathered and a biometric match can be made. The system can also check if the biometric changed from London to the U.S.

This change will raise a red flag, for swapping passengers, where two persons register and gain access but during the commute they switch identifies. Since the registrations are shared, a more detailed search would produce a match on the other passenger. This is just one of many situations where biometrics enhances the solution.

For this to work effectively, multiple biometric technologies must be utilized within the system. Since no one biometric works for everyone, a layered approach to biometric implementation should be required. Should a traveler fail to register with a fingerprint they could use iris, voice, face or any of the other biometric technologies. The system would track what has passed and what has failed for further detection of circumvention.

Even if fingerprint registration is not possible, images of the traveler's fingerprints should be taken. This would provide a wealth of information for development of richer algorithms as well as human visual inspection.

Once this repository is under way, smaller applications could also use the repository for use within their applications. This would eliminate the individual registration for each biometric application. Once installed, the application for time and attendance or access control could download the registrations from the repository. This would also help track suspected terrorist hiding within small towns.

Short of having a national repository of biometrics, smart cards offer an excellent method for a portable database. The current state of smart cards has proven to be less than stellar for security. But the technology will get better, and over time should become a proven leader for portable applications.

Technology grows by leaps and bounds, so while it is common for first-world countries to expect high-speed wireless connection at McDonalds, while much of the world's population has yet to incorporate the Internet into their daily lives. When taken on a global scale, a common denominator must be found. Contactless smart cards are a low-cost solution to a less-than-perfectly connected world. As the world becomes more interested in securing public venues from terrorist threats, the time to act is now. Smart cards provide the means to increase security with valid credentials instantly. By storing related security data on the smart card visitors can be scrutinized quickly without concern for setting up a network infrastructure.

A large problem with smart card deployment in a large community is the cooperation from vendors on how their data is stored and located on the card. In a university setting a smart card may be employed as a debit system at the campus store. The campus store application uses location A on the smart card for storage of its information. The university library also has a smart card application that tracks which books are checked in and out of the library, and also uses location A on a smart card. The current solution is to issue two smart cards to each student or have the vendors of the applications change their application so that they could both share the same card. But security companies have developed a software abstraction layer for smart cards that allow multiple vendors to work with a single smart card. The universal card engine (UCE) allows a single smart card to support multiple vendor independent applications. By implementing UCE, each vendor could simply change the logical location of storage on the card without recompiling a single line of code.

About the Columnist
Dore Scott Perler is chairman, CEO and president of Sense Holdings, a developer of security technologies and funding sources for research and development of explosives detection technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.



Zalud's Blog Recommendation: Preventive Measures Book

Preventive Measures: Is your Company Ready? Are You?,a practical book by David Shepherd, is a great working and learning tool for all businesses and security related sectors. Each chapter has been crafted for decision makers within the business to understand, identify and implement preventive measures need for their property. Zalud's Blog met the author in Las Vegas recently and was impressed.

Regardless of any potential solution or solution matrix, each business owner and executive has a duty and obligation to customers, employees and community to identify vulnerabilities, prevent terrorism and criminal acts, mitigate impact on the business and recover from any attack or emergency.

The author, C. David Shepherd, served for over twenty years in the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Supervisory Special Agent. He founded the Las Vegas Telemarketing Task Force, supervised the criminal apprehension team, SWAT operation for twenty-two years and participated in nuclear emergency search operations at the Nevada Test Site. He is Executive Director of Security for the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The book is $29.95 with more information at www.preventivemeasures.org.

Analytics System
Cogito's new Knowledge Center 2.2 provides powerful relationship analytics solutions for public safety professionals. Knowledge Center 2.2 adds more fuse, query, flexibility and customization so organizations can quickly analyze large data sets and identify complex relationships, patterns and social networks. The outcome is improved data analysis, situation intelligence and process understanding. Powerful data analytic software, like Knowledge Center 2.2 can be useful for ID fraud, risk mitigation and insurance fraud applications. For information on how Cogito can help you transform data into actionable intelligence, visit www.cogito.com.

Integration Opportunity: Change Locks to Electronic Access
Two DeSoto (Tenn.) Central High School seniors and a former student have been charged with felony malicious mischief after police said they jammed more than 50 of the school's locks with a quick-drying glue. Click here to read the rest of this article.

Invasion of Privacy?
Aerial photos of every property will soon be sold on the Web
The public will soon be able to purchase detailed aerial photos of every Orange and Seminole county home, business and land parcel on the Internet -- to the chagrin of the two county property appraisers who used taxpayer money to pay for the images. "It would cause me heartburn to know that somebody can get such close images of my property," Orange County Property Appraiser Bill Donegan said. "I think when the public finds out, they are not going to be too thrilled." The Central Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is looking into potential privacy violations by the sale of the images. In Orange, the appraiser and other county department heads pitched in $385,000 in public funds for a two-year contract with Pictometry International Corp. The county got more than 85,000 digital color photos showing every square foot of the county from a variety of angles and views. Click here to read the rest of this article.

TWIC Competition Back on Track
In a reversal, the Transportation Security Administration has announced it will conduct a full and open competition for all aspects of the Transportation Worker Identity Card project, including enrollment and data management services. This is a change of direction for the program. On April 26, a TSA spokesman said the agency was considering awarding a contract for TWIC data management services to a unit of the American Association of Airport Executives trade group. A sole-source contract with the airport executives group appeared to be required under a provision in the fiscal 2006 departmental appropriations, according to industry sources. Click here to read the rest of this article.

Google, Nokia Plan Wi-Fi Phone Service, Handheld Device With Talk Software
Google Inc. is making its first foray into mobile telephone calls in a partnership with Nokia Corp., the largest maker of handheld mobile devices. The deal is expected to be unveiled this week at an event in Sweden, according to a person familiar with the plans. Click here to read the rest of this article.

White-Collar Road Warriors
Tech-savvy users want latest, most efficient gadgets
If you don't spend a lot of time in hockey arenas, you might not know that a number of them have Wi-Fi hot spots. But to Tracy Scott Johnson, father of three hockey players and a partner at Ohio-based law firm Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP , this is not just a well-known fact - it's a crucial one. Armed with his BlackBerry 7000 and his wireless laptop, Johnson can travel to his sons' many tournaments knowing that he has everything he requires to respond to client needs - whether it's an e-mail reply, a document review or even a court filing. "It's very much expected in my realm that clients have instant access to their attorneys, even when they're on vacation, to get an issue dealt with immediately," says Johnson, who works in the intellectual property litigation office at Calfee, one of the largest law firms in Ohio. "The days of clients waiting 24 hours for a turnaround on a problem are gone. They want a response within five minutes if possible, and maybe they'll accept a half-hour." While recently on vacation in Madison, Wis., Johnson was even able to revise and file a PDF version of a document in a Chicago federal court's electronic filing system. Click here to read the rest of this article.

Zigbee Inside
Five new Zigbee-based wireless systems
It has been a little over one year since the ratification of the ZigBee specification (December 2004), and the subsequent announcement on April 1, 2005 of four ZigBee-compliant platforms from Chipcon, CompXs, Ember and Freescale Semiconductor. Based on the recent and planned introductions of several ZigBee-based end products, the standard is starting to gain traction. The ZigBee Alliance has more than 200 Alliance Members and a presence in 24 countries on six continents. With OEMs and end-product manufacturers representing 30 percent of the global membership, ZigBee promises to enable new features in several leadership products. This means homeowners will be able to buy off-the-shelf products that work together in a networked environment. In addition, heating, lighting and security systems in homes equipped with ZigBee-based networks can be easily reconfigured. In building automation, wireless monitoring networks with centralized management of lighting, heating, cooling and security systems will provide the flexibility to reconfigure systems to adjust for occupancy changes within a building. What's a ZigBee? Click here to read the rest of this article.

Integration Opportunity
Device helps locate people who wander off
Massachusetts officials team up to offer Project Lifesaver, aimed at people with Alzheimer's, Down syndrome or otherwise at risk of being lost. DARTMOUTH, Mass. - It resembles an old-fashioned TV antenna and chirps like a bird, growing louder as you close in on a missing Alzheimer's patient. And now emergency responders in Rehoboth, Attleboro and two other Bristol County towns are equipped with the people-tracking system, which is spreading into use across the country. Click here to read the rest of this article.

Focusing on Safety
Iris-recognition tech used by missing-persons agencies
The eyes of 10-year-old Hannah M. Rodriguez's lit up Wednesday when she became the first child in Pennsylvania to be photographed for a nationwide registry that can be used to identify missing children by matching their eyes through digital photographs. Click here to read the rest of this article.

Zalud's Blog Has Insider Views - Updated Daily!

Check out Zalud's Blog on the Security Magazine Web site. The Blog provides a unique view into the events, technologies, products and issues of top interest to systems integrators and their enterprise end-user clients. Go to http://blog.securitymag.com

SDM 100 - New List Available

When the floodgates of demand for security finally opened in 2004, the industry's largest companies - acting as a barometer of the health of the industry - were ready to market and sell, closing out that year with 9 percent overall growth in gross revenue. It was a stunning success following the SDM 100's meager 2 percent growth during 2003. Last year, the industry's largest firms - ranked here on SDM Magazine's 16th annual SDM 100 - performed exceptionally well, illustrating that the market is strong and balanced, and that it provided ample opportunities in most segments. Click here to read this feature in SDM's May issue.