Services Provided: Master Integration Services of Multiple Technologies Including Phone System, Surveillance System, Physical Door Access Control, and School Lockdown Solution 

Challenge

QPC Security has been the full services information technology engineering and architecture partner to Christian Life School (CLS), a preschool through K12 school since 2008. As such, they supported all of their technology infrastructure, including the phone system.

Prior to 2017, CLS was using an extremely old phone system that was no longer supported by the vendor nor could changes be made to meet their current needs. The school also needed to improve on other technology-related items including a school lockdown solution, updated bell system, better integration with surveillance systems, and improved physical access control. While the school could have taken the approach of getting individual bids from separate providers to deliver on these items, the approach they took was to leverage their relationship with their security provider to gain access to vCIO and vCISO (virtual corporate information security officer) services to develop an overall technology strategy plan.

Traditionally, internal IT does not have the time nor skillset to take on the roles of vendor manager, master integrator, and security solutions architect. The school knew the only way they could afford a high quality, high functionality, and low TCO (total cost of ownership) solution that they could manage inhouse was to have an overall solution that was architected and engineered by someone who understood their organizational needs and had the expertise to design a fully integrated solution.

Solution

After the initial project discovery discussions, QPC Security proceeded with our typical approach of fully researching the solutions available. We do not take a “one size fits all” approach and believe in investing the upfront time needed to ensure that we are developing the right fit solution for each organization and scenario. QPC used industry contacts as well as its own knowledge of technologies to identify limitations and problems associated with various technologies related to the available security solutions designed for use in schools. Many of them failed in their paradigm, cost, security, features, or support. Ultimately it was determined that there was not a single solution available on the market which could meet the needs. QPC decided to invent the solution.

It was important to keep the school’s support model and budget constraints in mind when coming up with their customized solution. QPC has previously designed systems that the school could manage as much as possible with their internal IT team in a truly co-managed IT scenario. The school’s IT team was taught how to do data cabling, including fiber optic installation and termination, so that they could do all of their own installations using their internal staff. QPC cross-trained internal IT to properly mount devices and to program them according to a quality control checklist.

This methodology has worked exceptionally well, enabling the school to use budget for the things that internal IT cannot do. In many cases, schools are able to get grant funding for additional product as part of a project, but that does not include annual fees for subscription licensing. Considering the impact of any solution on the structural cost of doing business is exceptionally important. QPC has observed that many schools have failed to ensure that they have the annual budget to maintain adopted technology which results in security and operational problems when those systems are not maintained or supported properly.

Once the research was complete and the security needs of the school were understood, the next step was to develop a list of functionality requirements which could be vetted against existing technologies. It should be noted that typically only a CTO or highly technical CISO will have the skillset to bridge the gap between holistic business requirements and what technical requirements must be satisfied to deliver those business requirements. The mistake that most organizations make is by asking a vendor for a bid (RFQ/RFP) in which they are being asked to engineer the solution for free. That process will never result in a solution that is best for the organization.

The proposed fully integrated solution for the school included the following components and attributes.

  • Sustainable total cost of ownership with very low, nominal annual subscription fees for a minimum of components
  • Majority of ongoing maintenance able to be performed by internal IT
  • Excellent escalation support by both the key consulting partner (QPC), but also the manufacturer
  • Ability to scale, flex, and grow with the needs of the primary campus and remote campuses as needed
  • Multicast paging support which is an essential function of campus‑wide, or multi‑campus paging
  • PBX phone system with desk phones, Android, iPhone, iPad mobile apps, web apps, advanced interoperability functions, and advanced E911 support which is required for locations with more than 10,000 sqft.
  • Secure mobility functionality for school security personnel on campus and off campus without the expense of cloud subscriptions
  • Clean and clear onboarding/offboarding procedures which can be conducted by internal IT to manage personnel changes with role-based access control
  • Enterprise PBX functionality including complex call queues, IVRs, call routing, and the overall ability to meet the needs of any complex entity
  • Door controllers with access pads, relays, panic buttons, convenient key fobs and access cards, all of which meet the highest modern security standards instead of technology that can be hacked using $30 of equipment
  • Door controller system that did not have a single point of failure or dependent on deprecated software on a single PC. No organization should be using any door controller system which is dependent on software which resides on a PC.
  • Video door stations to meet the needs of push button call access requests for secure interactions between school personnel and visitors with bi-directional audio and the ability to provide entry on-campus and off-campus but only actionable by authorized security personnel
  • Surveillance cameras
    • Long life cycle
    • Stable firmware with easy to complete firmware updates
    • Supports high security protocols and access while enabling the disablement of all insecure and unused protocols (Very few surveillance solutions are adequately secure because they do not meet this criteria.)
    • Supports video storage failover and resiliency with full 2MP or above resolution
      • It should be noted that nearly all cloud hosted storage systems fail in this regard because there is a practical upper limit regarding how much video stream any internet connection has simultaneous throughput capacity to handle. This is why most cloud hosted video management systems restrict the video quality of the cameras to 1080p or less.
    • Supports flexible automation and rules that can be tailored by school security personnel to meet the needs of a particular scene which is being monitored
    • Ability to trigger automation rules based upon scene changes or correlated device events
    • Capabilities for license plate reading at campus entrance points
  • Enterprise grade video management system instead of limited and insecure NVRs
    • Full organizational control over stored video security, access control, retention, video quality, and action rules
  • IP speakers for cross functionality with other components
  • Network layer security appliance to provide NIST, CIS, cybersecurity insurance microsegmentation capabilities to ensure that the components will not be hacked or hijacked
  • Phone numbers and phone services which reduced the organization’s phone bill by 85% while dramatically increasing functionality
  • All network attached devices whether they be the VMS, speakers, cameras, phone system, door controllers or any other component must meet the highest security standards. Components must use industry standard protocols and ports and function like secure, correctly designed network devices, not insecure IoT devices that were engineered without adequate security in mind.

In working with the school to obtain bids for replacement phone systems, a bid was obtained from the school’s sister organization’s phone system provider. Other vendor bids came in at $48,000 and $60,000. It was immediately identified that there were integration, support, and cost problems with all the presented bids. Ultimately, we determined that there was no viable way to get the outcomes the school was looking for unless we built the overall system.

In comparison, the other PBX solution providers were not able to offer a system that was fully integrated including:

  • Ability to in-house manage the majority of the solution while still having escalation support as needed keeping TCO low
  • School lockdown solution that is controllable from the VMS, the PBX, or from panic buttons with fully customizable pre-recorded messages as well as the ability for live messages
  • School security officers being able to monitor the campus in real-time and control the school lockdown solution from anywhere, anytime, using their authorized devices
  • Customized zones for messages for upper school, lower school, elementary, or the entire campus
  • Ability to have the message (live or recorded) play on all IP desk phones and IP speakers
  • School lockdown overrides normal door function until cleared by school security officers
  • No limitations on the number of extensions or desk phones that can participate in the system
  • Significantly reduced monthly voice call costs from $700/month to $100/month
  • Text messaging interaction to be able to send text messages to offsite personnel or parents
  • E911 compliant functionality

For security, the school’s security officer or anyone with privileged access into the VMS can click a button and initiate a school lockdown procedure. Doors can now lock causing ingress restriction, and the playing of a prerecorded message. The security officer can then press a microphone icon in the app and issue any live message through all IP desk phones and IP speakers across the campus. The unlock or “all clear” can also be initiated from the VMS mobile app. All the same functions can be performed from the phone system app using special codes thereby providing diverse and redundant functionality.

End Cost Analysis

From a cost perspective, the custom designed phone system had an all-in implementation cost of $25,000 which included labor, handsets, documentation, and training. Ongoing and upkeep costs of the system are less than $3,000 per year and are inclusive of backups, licensing, monitoring, voice call phone services, and proactive external management.

As a result of the overall savings, the school had the funds leftover to implement an IP speaker solution as well as a door control solution. The IP speaker solution is highly supportable over time as every component is supplied by best-in-class hardware and software manufacturers who provide software and firmware updates and warranty contracts for the hardware as appropriate. The overall functionality and fit of these systems into the school’s comprehensive security plan is a direct result of the intentional planning, careful research, and successful implementation of the solution. By utilizing the relationship the school had with us as their security provider, they were able to fulfill their security functionality requirements under budget and use the remaining budget to enhance their customized solution even further.

Impact

QPC Security had a meeting with the executive management team and school security officers to go over the solution prior to go-live. Executive management expressed their pleasure over having a fully integrated system which met all of their needs and stayed within their limited budget. The primary school security officer said, “I am extremely impressed with the competency and feature set of this solution that QPC Security has engineered and implemented for us.”

To learn more about Master Integration Services offered by QPC Security, contact us today.