Frank Pedersen: Siemens Helps to Make the World a Safer Place

At the end of 2009 we talked to Frank C.S. Pedersen, CEO of Security Solutions, Siemens Building Technologies Division, about their new approach to security. Some 12 months on, we conduct another interview to see how far things have moved on.

GIT SECURITY: When we last spoke, open standards seemed to be very much a focus of the Siemens approach to security. Is this still the case?

F. Pedersen: More so than ever. This is certainly what customers are increasingly asking for and as this gains further momentum, it will drive the market to respond. Customers are much less prepared to accept a situation in which manufacturers of security products and solutions providers take a proprietary standards approach to connectivity across different systems. Such an approach limits options. It can lock customers into a manufacturer's service and pricing and can have significant consequences in terms of legacy issues - a complete replacement of the installed base is a not uncommon but a very costly way of dealing with inadequate compatibility if a system upgrade is required.
Flexibility is what customers are looking for - the capability to choose a security solution based on its performance, return on investment and suitability for a given application rather than being tied to a limited number of cameras, for example, simply because they are the only ones that are able to communicate with an existing system. And, of course, one which allows additional devices to be added easily, as and when the security requirements of a site change.
It is up to progressive and forward thinking companies to explore ways in which such open standard based technologies can be developed. At Siemens we have research and development facilities in 30 countries throughout the world, employing around 30,000 people, and for us ensuring that we are introducing technologies that are market driven is crucial.

So, does that mean that IT is becoming an ever more important feature in what you do?

F. Pedersen: Anybody involved in today's security marketplace cannot help but be aware of the ever increasing role of IT in the decision making process. The person ultimately responsible for security in an organisation now often operates at a corporate level and combines responsibility for both physical security (employees & assets) and also logical security (corporate information access). Only a few years ago a security officer in a building was someone who sat in the control room and was responsibile only for ‘physical security', reporting either to an HR or facilities manager. As video surveillance has transferred into the digital environment with the advent of IP based systems, using the IT infrastructure, this has enabled greater integration and interoperability. This increased importance of IT with respect to security applications is driven by both technology and also business evolution. A security solution must now work in harmony with the IT environment that an organization employs. Supporting other business processes is important and IT managers/consultants now have a stronger impact in the specification process of the security disciplines.
As a business, Siemens Security Solutions has evolved and repositioned ourself to reflect this change. We are an integrated solutions provider of software based security systems and this is an important point to make. It is the software that is critical to opening up the capacity for different hardware elements within a security system to communicate. This software focus is a crucial change in our approach which we have been building on in recent years.

So what does that mean in terms of the solutions that you offer?

F. Pedersen: 2010 saw the launch of our Siveillance portfolio, designed to provide integrated security solutions to meet the security requirements of an organization whatever its size, and to provide support throughout the security chain. The Siveillance portfolio includes command and control and wide-area surveillance solutions, as well as security management stations, with a range of options to suit different applications.
Siveillance Command is for those whose primary task is to intervene in an emergency situation in the most appropriate way possible, such as fire brigades, police and ambulance services. With Siveillance Vantage we are targeting customers that typically have larger sites (either in terms of georgraphic distribution or in terms of physical size) with a variety of alarm sources, usually having small to medium intervention forces on site - airports, ports, oil and gas, water and energy,and other critical infrastructure are typlical applications. Siveillance SiteIQ, our wide-area surveillance system, automates traditional video surveillance and ensures immediate situational awareness.
Siveillance Fusion is a solution which can be used on large projects or sites but which is equally applicable to small and medium sized projects. It is for a business that wants to adopt the open systems architecture approach - for example, a customer can select from more than 100 ONVIF conformant products, and those supplied by our strategic partners.

You mentioned strategic partners. What does that mean, why is Security Solutions adopting this approach?

F. Pedersen: For example, Bosch is one of our "tier one" strategic suppliers, particularly in the area of video based products, supplying a comprehensive video portfolio focusing on imaging and recording devices. I mentioned earlier that we have focused our business on software platforms, interfacing and maintaining links to our management stations. By combining the strengths and technical competence of our product suppliers with our experience and expertise in systems integration, we can offer even more comprehensive solutions based on our Siveillance portfolio.

Returning to ONVIF, are the open standards you referred to only confined to network video equipment?

F. Pedersen: Providing a standard for integrating the various brands of network video equipment was certainly the initial objective behind ONVIF. We were the first systems integrator to become a full member of ONVIF which I think helped in that we brought a different perspective to the manufacturers since we had more direct experience and understanding of what end-users were looking for.
We are fully committed to expanding the open standards process and have a steering board position on ONVIF, in addition to a large team working on the development of the standards. We were the first member to have a security management station which fully conformed with the ONVIF standards with Siveillance Fusion. Access control is the next focus and we look forward to participating with further ONVIF Plugfests and other events through which the potential for true interoperability through open standards can be clearly demonstrated.

‘Convergence' is a term that we are increasingly hearing in security. What does the term mean and how is it impacting on the solutions you provide?

F. Pedersen: Convergence applied in a security context refers to what were historically two distinct security functions - information security and physical security - and how they can be integrated. The ultimate goal is for the customer to have a seamless view of his business, with the underlying processes working together to improve productivity and to reduce costs and risk.
At Security Essen in 2010 we introduced the next step in this process. At the moment IT infrastructure is protected by various security measures to prevent data theft and building security is achieved through intrusion protection, access control, risk management systems etc. The two are effectively separate entities since the building security systems are not currently able to exchange data with IT security. Such integration would provide significant advantages in exploiting the full potential of modern security technologies.
In reality, IT security and modern physical security technologies use the same or similar resources and run on the same IP network infrastructure. Recognizing this, we developed Siveillance Netwatch which is an integrated solution which links physical and IT security for the first time.

And future developments?

F. Pedersen: I believe that customers are right in demanding systems which can deliver the real benefits afforded by open standards and convergence. We will continue to support and help to drive the work of ONVIF and to support open interfaces such as XML, OPC and Bacnet. This open approach will certainly provide the foundations on which our ongoing R&D will be based.