After receiving the funding to develop several security projects to update or replace systems and components, including upgrading more than 3,000 cameras to IP, across more than 100 facilities that Security Director Kirk Simmons is responsible for securing in Hennepin County, MN, Simmons and his team found themselves in a predicament: navigating the county’s IT department processes for project development, as most systems depend on the IT network and servers for which the Hennepin County IT team has responsibility.
With video surveillance increasingly IP enabled – IMS Research estimates that about 22 billion devices overall will be internet-connected by 2020 – it’s really just a matter of time before most companies consider convergence. But before any enterprise can realize the potential gains – like cost savings and efficiency – it must sort out any power struggles and turf wars that likely can result between the physical security and IT departments. Because the modern design of IP networks means that they can encompass business critical system alongside security video and other security systems that enable physical access to a building.