Steve Titch

As journalist Frank Barbetta reports in "Changing Channels", manufacturers are beginning to demand a host of certification requirements, personnel training and education as network-centric convergence calls for greater dexterity with IT concepts among installers and integrators. "This technology shift is going to require security integrators to respond now--to devote all their available capital, human and technical resources to learning a new core competency of IP design, integration, deployment and installation," says Tim Holloway, vice president-technology and security solutions at Anixter International Inc., Glenview, Ill.

Distributors, system integrators and installers should heed this statement. Convergence isn't something you can hide from. It's not a buzzword that will lose favor in a few years. You can't hope to side-step its consequences by invoking platitudes such as "we've always been a niche player."

The next few years will see a dramatic change in the way manufacturers structure their channel partnerships. Established end-to-end camera and video security system manufacturers, who have long been a source of steady income for their affiliated distributors, are under attack from a spate of big-caliber IT companies including IBM, Cisco, Accenture, EMC and Microsoft. These companies, who have long worked in environments of open systems, best-of-breed partners, and ISO 9001 certification, are forcing changes in the security supply chain. No matter what the history of your manufacturing partners, the introduction of IT into physical security has pushed their customers' expectations up several notches. Tools, technologies and packages for surveillance, identity management and access control that fit client needs two or three years ago won't cut it in today's market.

Distributors and installers who do not embrace IT will find themselves falling behind competitors that do. New companies, drawing almost exclusively on IT talent, will make a run at your business. Vendors will start making strategic decisions about partners. Long-time relationships will give way to the demands that convergence creates.

No one likes change. And success in the future requires management commitment today. Happily, most vendors stand ready with programs to help channel partners become IT experts, but they also expect initiative from you. That means retraining personnel to understand how to meet the new IT challenges involved in physical security. For top level management, it means setting an example by becoming familiar with the companies and technologies that are influencing purchases.

The task might be difficult, but it is far from impossible. ProTech Security Inc. , which discusses its approach to convergence in Barbetta's story and is featured in Sharon J. Watson's "Open But Secure," a case study of a network-centric video installation at a Massillon, Ohio, high school, is one of the best examples of a small value-added distributor that is making the transition.

IT's role in security is here to stay. The best way to assure your future is to answer its call.