Issue link: https://securitytechnologyexecutive.epubxp.com/i/195858
says Marcello. "We were looking for the best and most effective way to manage this increasing workload, with a particular focus on regulatory-driven requirements — because the consequence of not applying the appropriate responses can result in penalties and violations. "From a cost perspective, we also wanted to curb the growth in manpower by providing tools to increase our security operators' productivity and efficiency. That's how we came to identify PSIM, and specifically NICE Situator, as a key element of our plans going forward." NICE Situator enhances efficiency for security operators by automatically analyzing and correlating information and alerts across security subsystems in real time. Adaptive, predefined response plans embedded in NICE Situator then guide security operators to follow specific standard operating procedures based on the indicators of what's happening. The solution also documents incidents for investigations and compliance reporting. Greater than threefold increase in monitoring capabilities without adding staff Prior to implementing NICE Situator, Duke Energy's former Security Command Center (known as the "Security Console") was able to monitor 15 critical sites with fewer than 100 sensor points. Today, with the addition of NICE Situator, the new ESCC has been able to grow its monitoring capabilities by more than a factor of three, without adding staff. Security operators use NICE Situator to keep watch over 53 critical sites (a number anticipated to grow to 110 by year-end). Critical sites include substations, office buildings, operations centers, transmission lines departments, hydro facilities, generation facilities, etc. Alerts that come into the Security Command Center are either security-related (e.g., door-forced-open alarms and door-held-open alarms), or of the system variety (e.g., communication failures of access-control panels and readers). When an alert comes in, NICE Situator displays the core information the security operator needs to respond or deploy local security forces. The alarms are overlaid on a map-based interface complete with building graphics, and supplemented by structured and easy-to-follow action plans. That allows operators to quickly pinpoint and direct response personnel to the alarm's exact location, even if it's on a sprawling campus or in a very large building. But it wasn't always that easy. Before NICE Situator, security operators would have received general details about the alarm location, but not in a visually intuitive way. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, covering a service territory of approximately 104,000 square miles in the Carolinas, Midwest, and Florida. www.SecurityInfoWatch.com SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE • October 2013 27