Can the Internet of Things (IoT gateways) make you safer? Picture this. A large office building that houses a number of different companies officially closes at 6 p.m. Of course, many employees in the building have to work past normal business hours on certain days, so the building management hires a security guard to ensure that only authorized personnel have access to the building.
To save money, management tells the security firm that when the last employee leaves for the night they can lock up and go off duty. But what happens if the security guard is tired and simply forgets to arm the alarm or misses someone still in the building? There are too many scenarios where a false alarm or no alarm can occur. Even if the building management company has installed the most advanced and reliable alarm system on the market, it won't do much good if it isn't activated.
Building automation can help solve this problem by putting ironclad rules in place for the system. For instance, an IoT gateway, can be configured with wireless door monitors and motion sensors. If sensors don't pick up anybody in the building for a full half-hour, the system arms automatically. Or perhaps the system arms automatically at 10 p.m. and the security guard receives a text reminder to manually extend the activation time if employees are still in the building. Like a programmable snooze alarm, the system allows for consistent logic rules to prevail over less reliable behavior.
With a Syslink gateway and off-the-shelf building automation technology, the management company would also have remote access to the building's settings, meaning any one-off changes to security systems can be made from anywhere. The bottom line is that building automation takes the variable of human error out of the equation and gives companies the peace of mind that comes from knowing they never have to worry about a major security breach again.
So...do you know how safe your building really is?