Page 42 - Security Today, March/April 2023

Planning for Your Perimeter Taking a hard security review of your first line of defense
By Aaron Saks
The perimeter is an organization’s first line of defense
a similar effect on stopping malicious activities before they occur. and a critical element of any security and surveillance
program. Even if a building’s interior or exterior se-
WHAT TO CONSIDER?
curity is strong, without a solid perimeter surveillance
Security considerations include choosing the right technology for approach any company or business is vulnerable.
perimeter surveillance. The reasons vary from one organization The point of strong perimeter security is to stop or deter crime
to the next, based on a range of factors from a company’s market, or malicious activity before it enters onto your premises. Advanc-
application, location, size and, as always, budget and resources. es in AI, PTZ and multi-sensor cameras, and technologies like
Camera choice can depend on how far a camera is located from license plate recognition (LPR) technology are all combining to
a building or guard station, but typically, a company needs to cover make perimeter surveillance a growing focus for security teams
a long field of view so they will either choose a wide-angle lens to and a rapidly expanding business as well.
capture a very wide area. On the other hand, if cameras are mount- Most industry reports forecast continued growth for the global
ed on the perimeter far from a building, then the right option may perimeter security market; Grand View Research estimates growth
be long-range cameras with a high-zoom lens and high-powered IR. from $59.21 billion in 2021 at an annual rate of 9.4% through
Depending on environment, an organization may need to con- 2030. The reasons for this growth are clear. It is nearly impossible
sider the factor of “unnecessary information.” If there are many to watch the daily news without seeing the latest report of a new
waving trees along a perimeter or pedestrian activity on sidewalks network intrusion or ransomware attack. Many organizations have
adjacent to the perimeter, then those environmental factors may reduced their on-site physical security teams, making it impossible
trigger false alarms. A security team only needs to know if some- for them to have “eyes” everywhere across a campus. Just like hav-
thing comes over the perimeter or enters the grounds, but the ele- ing a security alarm sticker or sign on your front lawn, the sight
ments on the outside usually are not that useful.
of pole-mounted cameras across a company’s boundaries can have
That is where AI-based analytics are beneficial. Surveillance
42
MARCH/APRIL 2023 | SECURITY TODAY
Idealphotographer/Shutterstock.com
VIDEO SURVEILLANCE