High-End Solution Satisfies Higher Ed Requirements

The University of Kentucky is investing $5 million to renovate decades-old standalone legacy systems. A unified security management platform serves as the linchpin, tying together video surveillance, access control credentials and emergency call stations into a centralized security system. Find out how the integrator is leading a highly coordinated project to make it all happen.

Under the new security renovation, residence halls are being equipped with seven exterior and seven interior IP-based megapixel cameras. At the conclusion of the project, more than 3,000 cameras are expected to be installed campus wide.Standardized Solution Runs on Elaborate Fiber Network

Operating on its own secure wide area network (WAN), the unified security system is connected by an elaborate fiber-optics backbone managed by UK’s Central Network Services (CNS). Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD)-designated technicians run fiber to the edge from outdoor distribution switches. The distribution switches are utilized at every end point so the network can be monitored out to every device, including outdoor and indoor cameras. Typically, one rack-mounted Gateway appliance has been installed per building in a secure, temperature-controlled communication closet, along with access control panels and various auxiliary equipment.

“That is not necessarily how it has to be done but it is the way UK decided to do it so they don’t overload the Gateways with cameras or card access doors,” explains Pyles.

In conjunction with on-site deployment of NLSS Cloud Services, the distributed Gateways send video to centralized cloud-based storage. The services enable remote access and multisite security management from any location via a Web browser interface.

“We require a gigabit port for the [Gateway] devices to communicate o
n so there are no bottlenecks or latency issues,” says Leon Johnson, ADS’ east central regional program manager. “We also have 10-gig up to the backbone. It provides the proper amount of throughput we need for cameras and access control.”

Among the hardware installed with each Gateway deployment is a unique use of configurable, dual-voltage power supplies by LifeSafety. These are equipped with built-in metal-oxide varistors (MOV) to prevent transient voltage from being sent back up to the access control panel.

Johnson explains: “The board uses two buses, Bus 1 and a Bus 2. You can apply either 24V or 12V to either one of these buses. The distribution boards and the control boards have a jumper to select which bus you want to pull power for depending on what type of device you are powering on the end. It can be selectable in a matter of seconds. You can change it from 12V to 24V on any of the inputs and outputs. And if it is a normally closed or normally open circuit, we can swap that out as well just by moving the jumper.”

The university will be taking advantage of the NLSS appliance’s built-in analytic alerts to help ease the staffing needs required to monitor live video. Along with video analytic capabilities, the solution offers facial capture, license plate recognition (LPR), gunshot and glass-break analytics, among others.

While the police department has assumed full control and supervision of the university’s newfound security capabilities, other users can still be granted access to the system’s peer-to-peer functionality. This allows a user in a secure group to establish a direct connection from a remote PC to a local Gateway appliance and share the video and data streams with other users on the system. For instance, virtually an unlimited number of first responders could look in to view live video. Because the shared data stream does not go out over the WAN — it makes a very low bandwidth connection internally between users — video can be accessed without congestion or latency.

“Once the client and the Gateway are introduced and the first connection is made, the user can interface with the video and other systems from a group direct connection, improving the performance and saving bandwidth,” explains NLSS Vice President of Access Control Bill Jacobs “It is especially useful in terms of being able to save bandwidth and not create bottlenecks when many users are requesting data simultaneously through a single peer or a single server connection.”

Overcoming Challenge of Merging Campus Databases

Electronic locks on outside entrances to many facilities will be modified to provide for centralized access control, allowing UKPD to lock down certain buildings remotely if necessary. The NLSS access control system is combined with iClass HID cards/readers and Mercury Security panels (programmed with a special NLSS code) and controllers integrated into the university’s SAP database.

Prior to the renovation, students, faculty and staff were issued a different card for multiple purposes. Nearly all campus buildings were still being accessed with keys. Today, a single “Wildcard” credential features multiple pieces of embedded technology, including a computer chip for iClass readers, proximity, bar code and magnetic stripe. Beyond access control, the cards are used to purchase food and merchandise.

“UK is almost a cashless society, even the employees use the meal-card system and cashless card,” says Pyles. “They have to have a multitechnology card to carry them through this transition. Someday, hopefully the prox goes away and it will all be iClass.”

Pyle and other team members initially expected that integrating the university’s CBORD cash management system into the NLSS unified platform would present the biggest challenge in the entire project. However, much preparation and work has been performed by the university’s own programmers and others to ensure a smooth transition.

Because the SAP database is so cumbersome, the university uses a Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) program to simplify management challenges associated with SAP. Migrating student, faculty and staff information from CBORD to the new system would be necessary, in part, for printing the new 40,000+ badge credentials.

“What we have done is kept a line of demarcation between CBORD and Next Level,” Pyles explains. “CBORD enrolls the student and prints the badge. Out of that it reads the iClass number from the badge and feeds that to a table. So, Next Level gets from the FIM database the cardholder information and the iClass information.”

The database integration allows individual colleges or “business units” the ability to set access levels and open times for their respective facilities. Common buildings that do not belong to an individual college will fall under the domain of the police. The administrative capabilities allow users to only manage and monitor doors in their respective facilities. Users will not be able to add people into the database.

“It’s not a top-down, single management structure. There are 36 different organizations within the university. It is what I would call an enterprise architecture,” says Jacobs, who is providing consultative and database management services for the project. “To the university’s credit, there is going to be a single, unified security platform across 400+ facilities by the time they are done.”

Rodney Bosch is Managing Editor for SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION. He can be contacted at (310) 533-2426.

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About the Author

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Although Bosch’s name is quite familiar to those in the security industry, his previous experience has been in daily newspaper journalism. Prior to joining SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION in 2006, he spent 15 years with the Los Angeles Times, where he performed a wide assortment of editorial responsibilities, including feature and metro department assignments as well as content producing for latimes.com. Bosch is a graduate of California State University, Fresno with a degree in Mass Communication & Journalism. In 2007, he successfully completed the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association’s National Training School coursework to become a Certified Level I Alarm Technician.

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