The scale of the enterprise is stunning. Cisco’s corporate security, technology & systems team manages security for over 270 of the company’s sites in over 50 countries around the world. Their primary role is to make sure that only people authorised to do so have access to these facilities – or to specific parts of them – but that those who do can enter and leave them as easily as possible.
Based on the size and risk level of a given site, technologies such as intrusion detection, access control and CCTV are all used. Security includes:
In all, the team at Cisco has to maintain more than 6600 proximity badge readers, 2600 cameras which stream video to networked video recorders or across the WAN, and thousands of other devices for access control doors, smoke and fire alarms and motion detection signals.
Single standard
Cisco has developed a centralised server architecture based on a single set of equipment standards, supported by regional security servers worldwide. A single set of standards has benefits all round: it’s easier for the IT department to manage the servers, while the security department is freed from managing and maintaining its own servers and can concentrate on its primary security tasks.
These centralised servers are located in data centres supported by the IT department, and which are connected to the human resources department servers. Using the existing IP WAN, these centralised servers are linked to each other, and to the access control systems at each of the sites around the world.
Standardisation is also very much the name of the game for the access control and intruder alarms systems at every site, and they are supported with a single set of software tools. These are maintained by a global software and services vendor, which provides technology compatible with the current security database systems, and installs and supports the systems at a competitive price.
Database administration occurs at regional administration points, with data records being reconciled and updated between all the servers on a preset schedule. Employees’ photo ID badges also contain an embedded number to identify them every time they are used. The picture is copied from the regional security server to the global enterprise system, and also copied to the employee directory where it is available to all staff. If an employee needs access but has lost or forgotten a pass, site security staff can compare the picture on the database with the person in front of them. And because security personnel monitoring IP video streams from security cameras also have access to this database, they can compare any images from the video to those of staff on the database, to check they are authorised to be there.
Access to company resources is determined by an employee profile, which is assigned automatically based on the person’s employee status and location, and then customised to an individual’s job needs.
The global enterprise systems replicates all employee data to each of the regional servers, making each employee’s badge a ‘global’ badge. So any employee can go to any Cisco building in the world to work without needing to have their badge updated. “This convenience saves time and makes Cisco a more comfortable environment for travelling employees”, says Bill Jacobs, corporate security, technology and systems manager.
Regional security operation centres – and ultimately a global one – are the focal points for alarm management and response. All incident and event information from around 60-80 monitor points per building (for example: fire alarms; glass break alarms; and door opening alerts) is automatically sent from each office to the regional server, and from there to the central server. At the centres, staff can log onto the nearest camera to the incident and determine what response – if any – is needed, either by the local private security patrol or the local police. As with any security system, many of the events turn out to be false alarms, but the integration with video over the corporate IP network means that the number of false alarms passed on for response has dropped significantly. Among other things, this has helped maintain credibility and good relations with local police around the world.
Two models
Although the security department wanted a single global systems integrator to centrally manage and maintain all its access control systems, it couldn’t find one. Instead there are two separate support models: there is one nationwide systems integrator in the United States while for Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions, another single integrator is used. For each region, this provides a single point of contact for each major integration component: programme management; project management; and service co-ordination.
In the US, the integrator supports regional offices throughout the country, with local offices of the integrator’s parent company performing installations and service. In the EMEA regions, a different model exists owing to the lack of a pan-European systems integrator at the time. Here, the systems integrator subcontracts to companies in specific regions; so in Europe, there are local systems providers in the UK, France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. What differentiates this from the US model is the need for the primary systems integration company to collaborate with the local service providers.
Though difficult to quantify the results of the move to a global, networked access control system, some statistics speak for themselves. From 1997 to 2004, Cisco has tripled in size, growing from 10,700 to more than 35,000 employees and more than doubling the number of locations. Yet during this time, the security team has remained about the same size, mostly because of the efficiencies gained from automating its access control systems, centralising its management and outsourcing the maintenance of these systems to trusted partners. The primary access system is globally managed by an in-house staff of four, and the servers have an average up-time of 99.97%.
Using the corporate WAN for low-bandwidth alarm information saves Cisco the cost of separate dial-up or data lines, and the WAN is sufficiently large to carry the necessary IP video information whenever control room personnel need to see what is happening at any particular site. Migrating to network digital video also eliminated the need to visit each building to replace and store tapes, and gives the control room live, real-time information on local alarms and events.
“Back in 1997 there was no such thing as an enterprise access control system,” explains Bill Jacobs. “If we had wanted to provide a similar level of access control security today, without our enterprise access control system to all of our more than 300 locations, it would cost us several million dollars more than we spend today for security. We would need to put a security officer in each lobby, with a video monitoring terminal to view the cameras and a PC to access the alarm systems. We’ve saved Cisco millions of dollars by eliminating the 300 security officers and by monitoring everything worldwide using three people working from each region’s centralised security operations centre (SOC).
Next steps
The security department is looking into developing IP card readers and door control modules that can be directly connected to the local network. Traditional access control panels would be replaced with software controls. Cisco is also considering linking local police departments to its video systems over the Internet, to allow them to view sites before sending in officers to an unknown situation.
Wireless technology is also going to play a greater role in the company’s security plans. A pilot study has already begun involving patrol vehicles equipped with a wireless tablet PC running security management and video applications. Alarm events and video are transmitted securely over 802.11g ‘hotspots’ so that the mobile security patrol in effect become mobile control centres.
