How Microsoft Maps Enterprise Data and Security Events Creating Visual-based Business Intelligence
Posted on Fri, Feb 18, 2011
By Dan Shaver, Vice President Commercial Sales for IDV Solutions Gold Sponsor at the ASG Security Summit & Expo
Microsoft's security teams face a challenge of global proportion every day. The company's three Global Security Operations Centers (GSOCs) constantly monitor over seven hundred company locations. Streaming into the centers are live video feeds from more than ten thousand security cameras, alarm messages from over eleven thousand card readers, and newsfeeds from around the world.
In this ocean of data, operators need to make sense of everything from an open security door (careless error or a break-in in progress?) to an earthquake. (What company operations are in the affected area? And are all employees accounted for?)
Until recently, the GSOCs (located in Redmond, Washington; Reading, England; and Hyderabad, India) had to manage this flood of data using more than 60 proprietary technologies that didn't interoperate. Needing a better way to spot and react to problems, the company took a new approach, and developed a security application using Visual Fusion from IDV Solutions. This application layers data from many sources in an interactive view over Bing Maps. It incorporates everything from live camera feeds to building maps. Users can add web feeds at will, to display time-sensitive data on developing events.
When an alert comes in, the security team can spot its location and drill down for more information. The map interface lets them evaluate news events visually. By drawing queries on the map, they can locate information on company operations in the affected area. By integrating Microsoft commercial off-the-shelf software such as SharePoint and InfoPath, the application lets them collect information from each facility such as the number of employees and the security manager's contact information, in a standardized form and retrieve it immediately when the need arises.
The application has proved its worth in daily use and emergency situations. When a major earthquake struck Latin America, security personnel used the Visual Fusion application to locate the company operations in relation to the event and contact employees in the area.
This new approach to security means workers have instant access to the information they need to evaluate risks, make better decisions, and take action in urgent situations.
In what instances could this technology improve your operations? Let us know your ideas of how to implement this!