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Integrated electronic security at Barloworld

Securing its campus meant protecting its future for Barloworld.

Barloworld Corporate Office in Katherine Street, Sandton, comprises various buildings in an extended office park that houses different divisions within the Barloworld Group, including Barloworld Equipment, Barloworld Logistics, PPC and the corporate head office itself. The group required a reliable security platform to minimise the effects of unauthorised access, theft of physical and intellectual property, damage to property and danger to people.

Together with IDtek, Barloworld decided on a solution that comprised components of IP surveillance and biometric (fingerprint) access control. The objective was a solution that integrates all the security electronics into a single intelligent system.

The Barloworld team sought to achieve the following benefits from the implementation:

1. Deter, monitor and record unauthorised activities, such as intruders that may lead to losses and liabilities.

2. Raise alerts on detection of such activity, enabling the relevant response.

3. Implement a visible deterrent to criminal or unauthorised activities.

4. Have access to reliable proof of crime to aid in identification of criminals and for use as evidence in court.

The solution, an integrated security concept was designed primarily by Garin Harbottle of the IT Department and implemented by IDtek Solutions. “This building represents one of the largest corporate facilities where both IP surveillance and biometrics have been implemented,” says Julian Thorrold, MD of IDtek Solutions.

IDtek’s recent installations included certain logistical superhubs in KwaZulu-Natal and Isando – where biometrics where installed on the back of a full Honeywell EBI platform with surveillance, fire, intruder and time and attendance.

The solution consists of an access control and CCTV system, and is controlled by a single control room which is equipped and operates on the back of Impro’s IXP400 system and Bosch Vidos surveillance software. The intricacy of the undertaking becomes apparent when one considers that the system controls and monitors around 60 Sagem biometric doors and 45 Bosch IP surveillance cameras with various other supporting components, such as intruder beams.

The system allows for automatic communication between the different components in the field. For instance, the administrator could prescribe that a user is only granted access based on certain conditions. A user could be required to present their finger at certain other doors before arriving at a prescribed location.

Where there are areas of extreme sensitivity and no single user is allowed in any specific location alone, the system could prescribe certain supervisory privileges to users.

The system allows for Random Search – a useful feature to have at the gate where the requirement may arise to search employees’ vehicles for items not authorised for removal. Zone counting and muster stations can easily be created in the event of a fire or bomb scare.

The system also features Denied Transaction Alarms, which prevent predetermined people, eg, blacklisted employees, from being allowed access to the facility.

Special actions per user and fingerprint is also a feature. For instance, the administrator could program that certain fingers become panic fingers and each biometric device doubles as a panic station on the intruder component of the platform.

All activity in the software can be viewed using a Web-based reporting facility; and an SMS message can be loaded to initiate an action or to result from an action.

The Bosch IP surveillance system has been configured to allow for remote monitoring on the local area network by users with the required security clearances. It also delivers the following functionality:

1. The integration is realtime and activates cameras as and when the alarm or monitored event takes place.

2. The cameras have intelligence built in, allowing Barloworld to save on infrastructure and installation costs.

3. IP cameras encode the signal before transmission – eliminating the need for additional devices for encoding – and additional points of failure.

4. Progressive scanning built into the Bosch cameras avoids the problems of interlacing where objects are moving in field of view.

All visible hardware also conformed to the overall aesthetics of the building. The project was awarded in June 2008, and the work will be complete in February 2009.

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