Page 88 - Security Today, July/August 2020

Intelligent Campus
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slip-and-falls.
For facilities and grounds. Talk about
ways motion sensor analytics and radar can help facilities and grounds reduce lighting costs on campus. This could be anything from automatically turning lights off in unoccupied classrooms and offices to turning lights on in the quad at night when pedestrians are detect- ed and off after a set time to save electricity. Also talk about how suddenly triggering lights in the middle of the night in areas where no one should be has proven to be a more effec- tive, and cost-effective, deterrent than simply keeping the lights on.
Physical power plant. Talk about ways visual and thermal cameras can protect cool- ing and heating systems operations. The thermal cameras can monitor the heat signa- tures of the machinery and trigger an alert if they start to overheat or drop below temper- ature parameters. The cameras could also be used to detect anyone entering the area who might be intent on sabotage and trigger an alert to campus police.
Academics. Talk about how network cam- eras can be used to deliver lessons to students who can’t be in the classroom. In view of the recent pandemic and the rise in streaming platforms, there are a lot of creative ways educators can use high-quality network cam- eras and interactively conference with the entire class simultaneously, share lectures and course material.
Information technology. Given that all this technology will be riding on the institu- tion’s network, it’s important to point out the features of the security system that can allay IT’s concerns about resource consumption, maintenance and cybersecurity. Talk about the advances in video compression technol- ogy that have cut bandwidth consumption by 50% or more. Talk about solutions that enable the cameras to initiate their own firm- ware and hot fix updates without human intervention. Discuss the advantages of deploying a security system that can send an alert when a camera has lost power or focus, its view becomes obstructed or loses its net-
work connection. Explain the layers of cybersecurity is built into each component to block hacking and prevent it from becoming a conduit for malware to enter the network.
While this, by no means, represents an exhaustive list of hooks you can use to appeal to potential stakeholders, it should be enough to get the whole team’s creative juices going.
The More Uses, The More Value
The more departments that buy into your proposed end-to-end security system solu- tion, the greater the usage and the lower the total cost of ownership for the entire univer- sity or college. But even if pooling budgets isn’t possible, showing decision-makers how this investment delivers benefits far beyond security can be a winning proposition.
Bruce A. Canal, CPP, is the business develop- ment manager for K-12 and Higher Education for Axis Communication Inc.
12 campuslifesecurity.com | JULY/AUGUST 2020