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Unpacking the unfashionable infrastructure

Good security is about more than a solution or an endpoint; it is about having a sound infrastructure in place that is able to support and communicate with the technology.

William Mcgregor-Langley

As an organisation’s surveillance needs become more extensive, so too do the demands placed on the network. This also increases bandwidth requirements. This makes it very important for businesses to focus their attention on developing an infrastructure that has all of the functionality necessary to meet their unique requirements.

There are two schools of thought as to how best to address these new requirements and the two are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Organisations most commonly move to centralise or decentralise their IT security infrastructure. Decentralising decreases the demand on the network and can complicate the maintenance and monitoring of the technology, due to placement of the equipment in the field with no adequate environment available – making it a less appealing option for some.

Centralising everything, on the other hand, which is what the majority of people are doing, is particularly attractive for clients with larger systems. It also makes it easier for organisations to keep recording devices in an environment that is secure and boasts conditions that are ideal for the seamless operation of the technology.

Although centralising can work out more expensive in some cases, depending on the technology you choose, networking benefits are one of the biggest advantages an organisation can enjoy by centralising their security infrastructure. In addition to this, the higher load on the network results in increased bandwidth requirements.

When dealing with video, many organisations fail to understand the extent of the network requirements that accompany the viewing and recording of this kind of footage. And when the video playback is unclear or of a poor quality they wonder why this is happening. With video there is a constant stream of data, which, depending on the client’s requirements, is for viewing and recording purposes. All this video on the network means that the network is always busy and won’t perform as optimally as it could if incorrectly specified.

As more organisations move away from analogue systems and adopt IP communications, an adequate network infrastructure and sound security and technology solutions are essential. This is especially true should an organisation want its security solutions to perform at an optimum level. Part of this involves thinking about the backbone of the infrastructure and future-proofing all elements within the security environment.

Looking ahead, another wave is coming as we move away from wireless to free-space optics, which use laser light to transmit data from one point to another. Not only is this technology a lot more secure than wireless, it also can be significantly more cost effective in situations where physical connections may be impractical.

At the end of the day, things have already gotten faster and will continue to get even more so. Having the right infrastructure in place will better situate an organisation to meet its ever changing security needs in the most seamless way possible.

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