Calculating Costs of Securing a High-Rise Building

A high rise may seem an oasis of calm compared with the bustle of city streets: The entrances are finite and population controlled; cameras and card readers record movement; and the range of activities taking place is limited. But a basic security challenge—how to use data to predict as well as explain crimes—is the same, whether the area being protected is an office or a neighborhood. INTERACTIVE TOOLS Run your own numbers with this Excel spreadsheet In this example, badging and video systems record who is doing what in a 20-story multi-tenant building and its adjoining garden and underground parking lot. Security staff located in the building's command center use an access-control application to manage the data, construct activity logs, prioritize events and broadcast information to staff on patrol. The software incorporates data from the digital video, alarm, intercom and RF systems; it can also be connected to personnel databases in real time. Tenants will be able to access subsets of information using browser-based clients.

Copyright © 2002 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Baseline.