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Physical Security Gets Logical
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By Steve Lasky
Security Technology & Design
When I met with Louis Parker, CEO of GE Infrastructure Security, at the recent ISC West event in Las Vegas , Cisco had just announced its foray into the physical security marketplace. So, one of my first questions for Parker was what he thought of Cisco's new focus and the potential impact on GE.
“Our focus is on GE,” Parker replied, with a slight grin. “Stability is the key for us right now. The ship is headed in the right direction, and we want to move forward as the industry leader.”
Then, as if firing a retaliatory salvo to Cisco's opening shot in the convergence wars, GE announced an OEM relationship with Sun Microsystems for access control. GE will now be able to integrate Sun's popular Java System Identity Management Suite into GE access control solutions. This move is a boon for enterprise-level organizations and government operations, since it will allow for a merged network and physical access control system while ensuring SOX and HSPD-12 compliance.
This collaboration between GE and Sun will only strengthen the case for better cooperation between IT and physical security managers. It shows the IT department that physical security vendors are willing to parlay their strengths with traditional IT clients in order to bring unified network solutions to the enterprise.
Of course, overt partnerships between software giants and traditional physical security vendors are not entirely new. Lenel built its reputation and brand name recognition with a strong Microsoft alliance years ago and continues to be a leader on the software-centric front.
IT security managers have cast a skeptical eye toward physical security providers. They don't always trust the technology physical security brings to the table … and to the network. CISOs tend to insulate themselves in a vendor comfort zone when constructing their security solutions. Once they brand themselves a Cisco house or an Avaya abode, they remain loyal. It makes an IT manager nervous to see his physical security counterpart grappling with multiple vendors.
For physical security vendors like Paul Novak, vice president of industry solutions sales for Pelco, this poses a challenge. Novak admits that he and others in the physical security space are sailing into uncharted waters when they attend events like SecureWorld Expo (www.secureworldexpo.com) , which are primarily stocked with IT savvy attendees. But he is confident that convergence is on the horizon.
