It’s too soon to call it a consensus. But the evidence shows that our nation’s businesses and institutions can improve security today through integration. Among dealers, integrators, and their biggest customers, more than six in 10 say integrating security into information technology (IT) systems is an important next step. SDM surveyed our dealer-integrator subscribers, as well as end-user subscribers of Security magazine, about emerging technologies and found this consensus.

With many advantages and much agreement, we have to ask, why isn’t integration happening faster?

We have some clues. At Intel Corp., the security team had to clear up misconceptions among the IT team, according to Allen Rude, security systems product manager. Rude laid out their solutions at the Corporate Security Roundtable, the conference hosted last month by the Security Industry Association (SIA).

“They really feared putting security on the network,” Rude said. “They expected huge volumes of transactions to clog the network.” It took a three-month trial, running all security applications, to remove that fear. In the end, “they were almost embarrassed to see the low volume of security transactions,” he reported. So much for the expected traffic jams.

Few organizations will ever launch a project on the scale of Intel’s. Forty-five sites around the world were running stand-alone access control and CCTV with limited data integration. The new enterprise system was built to network the locations, “to get security out of the IT business,” to phase out security officers in favor of lobby kiosks, and to allow data analysis and investigations from virtually anywhere. Although the size of Intel’s project is rare, its successes can be scaled to fit many different organizations.

Thanks to SIA and many of its members, word is spreading: Integrating security on IT networks definitely works, and 2000-era concerns can readily be addressed today. So why aren’t more integrated systems securing America?

Part of the answer lies in better communications. Security worries about reliability, while IT worries about clogs. HR worries about confidentiality, while finance worries about ROI. Do dealers and integrators have the marketing materials, demonstration tools and manuals that it takes?

In this issue of SDM is information on dozens of marketing materials, demos, manuals and Web sites – all created by leading suppliers, and all designed to help you sell security. All are entries in SDM’s Securing America award program. We encourage you to take advantage of this array of outstanding materials, and we congratulate these suppliers for their creative approach to communicating security to the nation’s homes and businesses.

What marketing materials, demos, and manuals do you use to sell networked security systems? What tools help communicate the benefits to all decision-makers? What is still missing in your marketing of integration? Let us know via e-mail at sdm@bnpmedia.com. We’ll report back in a future issue.