Page 121 - Security Today, March 2019

can enable applications that make campuses safer and more secure for everyone living, learning or working there.
For example, by adopting smart lighting for improved energy efficiency, IT is connecting outdoor LED lighting to their networks. This likely requires ladder or lift access to pole tops to connect the lights. In
so doing, many IT teams take the opportunity to
add outdoor Wi-Fi and surveillance cameras which run off the Power-over- Ethernet (POE) provided by the Wi-Fi access point.
By integrating brighter
lighting controlled by motion sensors or remote network control, combined with CCTV cameras while extending connectivity with Wi-Fi, this is a highly efficient way of achieving a more secure Smart Campus. Additionally, the following is an example of how a Smart Campus could respond to someone trying to break into a residence hall at night...
1. Someone finds a student ID on the floor (or lifts from a backpack or purse)
2. Said person taps that ID on a digital door lock multiple times, or taps on each door along the hallway, hoping to gain access
3. Wi-Fi locks report activity to IoT controller and door lock systems, which meets trigger criteria indicating an attempt at entry without proper authorization
4. Connected lights snap on illuminating the entryway
5.Local CCTV cameras automatically pan/tilt/ zoom and capture video; VMS prioritizes feed
6. If the intruder is a student or employee with a smart campus ID card, the system immediately recognizes who it is
7. An alert is sent to campus security with all the relevant information and a real-time video feed so they can respond appropriately
THE BIG QUESTION: HOW TO GET STARTED TRANSFORMING INTO A SMART CAMPUS?
This is a particularly interesting
and challenging question.
For help with the answer,
we turned to our friends
at Ruckus Networks, who
are dialed in on creating
and maintaining Smart Campuses. They suggest determining what your Smart Campus priorities are (student experience, learning, safety,
or operational efficiency like green initiatives) and how these align with your University vision or technology plan, then working back to determine steps to achieve this starting
now. Start with reliable and pervasive wired and wireless networks. Add to this an IoT access network to gather campus data for analysis of energy use, traffic, safety, and more.
Richard Nedwich, Director of Education at Ruckus gets more specific. “I suggest step one is the security management platform (onboarding, access management, policy management) to delivery
two things: a common student experience for onboarding devices from legacy networks to new,
as well as a common IT tool for policy management and secure onboarding. Over time, as campus
IT migrates their wired and wireless networks, students experience the same onboarding process and access rights, while IT uses the same policy management for wired/wireless access. The vendors or product families may change over time, but the disruption to students and IT is minimized.”
To sum up, a Smart Campus can deliver Smart Living, Smart Learning, and Smart Security while achieving operational savings. And just like the experience being created for the students and faculty it serves, every Smart Campus project is more of a journey than a destination.
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