Page 10 - Security Today, May/June 2023

One Pane, Less Pain Making the case for a unified security solution By Rob Druktenis Company A decides to kick its proprietary security system to the curb and re- place it with an integrated solution. They finally have the freedom to pick best-of-breed devices and software and build the security sys- tem of their dreams. But what the com- pany soon discovers is that it might have swapped one set of problems for another. Just because a solution is built on an open-standards platform does not ensure that all the vendors’ systems will work together as promised. Some features may not be supported, or not supported to their fullest potential. To achieve the inte- gration they want, the company may have to pay additional licensing fees for certain features and/or hardware. Other issues that come to the forefront are integrations that stop working when solution partners update their firmware and drivers on different schedules. There Photon photo/Shutterstock.com “Just because a solution is built on an open- standards platform doesn’t ensure that all the vendors’ systems will work together as promised.” 10 MAY/JUNE 2023 | SECURITY TODAY may also be inconsistencies when it comes to cybersecurity standards, which creates vulnerabilities that cyber criminals can exploit. Furthermore, managing all these components requires logging in and out of multiple system platforms. Moreover, with so many vendors in the mix, who do they call when something goes wrong? INTEGRATION VS. UNIFICATION But if an integrated security solution isn’t the best choice, what other option does the company have? The answer for many or- ganizations is to adopt a unified platform solution instead. Because the platform is built on open standards architecture, un- like a proprietary system it can support multiple vendors’ hardware and software. Unlike an integrated system, there is only one user interface needed to program and administer the entire solution – from access control and video surveillance to intercoms, audio, credentialing and more. By employing a single log-in pane, a uni- fied security solution makes it easier for the security team to do maintenance, sys- tem health monitoring and other opera- tions across the whole ecosystem. Equally important, unlike in an inte- grated system, in a unified solution there’s only one vendor to call for support, war- ranties and merchandise returns. When a problem arises, there is no confusion or runaround about which vendor to call. Nor is there a long wait for resolution while the case is handed off from one eco- ACCESS CONTROL