The client: Barings Asset Management, London
Barings traces its origins back to 1762 when it was established as a firm of merchants and merchant bankers. The Baring Asset Management (Barings) operation was established in London more than 40 years ago. Today the company is a global investment management firm with offices, clients and business lines spanning the world's major markets.
The situation
Barings operates two facilities in the London area. The first, in Bishopsgate, City of London, is the company's worldwide headquarters, housing 450 staff. Barings shares occupancy of their building, renting space across the ninth to twelfth floors. Whilst the building has a main reception and manned guard station on the first floor, Barings manages security across its individual floors which includes operation of its own reception and security desks, access control and CCTV.
The second facility is located in South London. The facility is used as the European Data Centre and a disaster recovery office so that, in the event of a crisis at the Bishopsgate office, staff could work at this location without too much disruption.
The security system at the Data Centre needed to be easy to manage remotely whilst performing all of the required functions including continuous synchronisation with the access control system at Bishopsgate. Barings also wanted a solution that offered proven reporting so that, in the event of a security breach, it could quickly and easily interrogate the system's history.
Banks are at risk from all manner of internal, external and cyber threats, hence security and business continuity are pivotal to Barings strategy.
The solution
When Barings first moved into its Bishopsgate office there was an access control solution already in place. Whilst initially meeting the needs of the business, over time it had become unreliable and difficult to manage with costs increasing for maintenance and support, as well as frequent system downtime. The reporting functionality was slow and ineffective, making it impossible to track history when security issues occurred.
Barings took the decision to replace its outdated system and, following an extensive tender process, chose the Honeywell WIN-PAK™ access control system with PW5000 controllers and approximately 50 proximity card readers, all of which were installed by partner of choice Reliance High-Tech Ltd.
For the Data Centre - Reliance demonstrated Honeywell WIN-PAK™ and the Honeywell Fusion IV Digital Video Recorder (DVR), which offer an integrated video and access control solution, enabling staff at the Bishopsgate site to monitor the Data Centre remotely. The cameras would be linked to the graphical user interface (GUI) of the access control software so that, in the event of an alarm being triggered, the remote operator could receive instant pop-ups showing a live camera view or click to easily retrieve historic event images.
Reliance High-Tech Ltd also proposed installing the Neverfail disaster recovery software that would monitor WIN-PAK™ and maintain a replica of the application environment as a back-up in the event of a problem. This meant that the Access database running at the Bishopsgate site would be continually replicated on a server at the Data Centre, ensuring full service continuity. This was a critical consideration in Barings' Enterprise Continuity Planning (ECP) requirements.
Implementation of the new system, including ten readers, one Fusion DVR and a number of cameras, was carried out during working hours without any disruption to staff and no impact on business security. The system runs on a VLAN within Barings's own IT network with a fibre backbone to the Data Centre supporting the Neverfail back-up. "The installation went very smoothly and I doubt staff even noticed" added Dave Matthews, Security Manager at Barings.
The integrated networked solution enables security staff to visually confirm the identity of visitors as images from the CCTV cameras can be instantly compared with access card photo-id pop-ups |
The benefits
As a financial institution, Barings is accountable not only to its customers and shareholders but also to the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The latter has stringent legal requirements with which companies such as Barings must comply, covering all manner of areas from accounting to disaster recovery. The new access control and video system supports Barings' ECP disaster recovery planning.
Dave Matthews, Security Manager at Barings, says:
"Barings has always taken a pro-active approach to IT, recognising that new technology can provide a real competitive advantage in this market. We could immediately see the advantages that the Honeywell system offered including the search and reporting functionality, the database back-up and being the sole supplier for both CCTV and Access".
On a day-to-day basis the system is proving easy to manage. As well as handling the main office systems, security staff based at Bishopsgate are able to monitor activity at the Data Centre, responding to alarms remotely. The integrated networked solution enables them to visually confirm the identity of visitors to the site as images from the CCTV cameras can be instantly compared with access card photo-id pop-ups within the WIN-PAK™ software.
Reporting is straightforward and when searching through history, both access control and CCTV logs can be quickly and simply accessed. The system has already proved its value; following a recent incident, Barings was able to provide police with CCTV evidence which helped police to detain an individual at other premises in the City.
Barings is confident that, as its requirements change over time, the Honeywell system will be able to accommodate these changes. In fact, Barings is so impressed with the security system that it has now asked Reliance High-Tech Ltd to upgrade the Bishopsgate site to include Honeywell Fusion DVRs, to gain the full benefits of access control and CCTV integration across its entire operation.
Partner of choice
Reliance High-Tech Ltd specialises in the provision of fully integrated electronic security solutions, closed circuit television surveillance (CCTV) and access control systems. The company offers a comprehensive range of services, based on cutting-edge technology, for the commercial, industrial and public sectors.
Reliance High-Tech Ltd is a NSI Gold certificated company, complying with ISO 9001:2000 requirements for the installation and maintenance of CCTV, access control and intruder alarm systems. It is proud to have received accolades for the quality of work including ‘Best Integrated Security Solution' awarded at the 2005 industry Security Excellence awards.