An interesting trend in smart buildings is happening in the intersection of physical and logical security.

The first step was when companies started combining physical and logical access into a single credential. For example, a smart card (basically, a credit card with a computer chip embedded in it) can have an RFID antenna built in with the employee’s picture printed on the front. The RFID is used by the employee to get through the front door of the building, and the smart chip is used to logon to the network when the employee sits down at his or her desk. While either credential – RFID for physical access and smart card for logical access – can be expensive to deploy on its own, by deploying them together, some costs can be shared.

The second step is in making more intelligent decisions based on the new data available. For example, building access data can be used by corporate security to determine who is in the building at any given time. If a given individual isn’t in the building, should the network server let him or her login and access sensitive files? Or does the fact that someone is trying to login without first scanning their front-door badge imply that it’s actually a hacker who has compromised the account and is connecting remotely?

As an aside, it’s worth noting that, historically, physical security and IT are almost always separate teams at a typical medium-sized to large company. Again, that can be an opportunity for cost-sharing as smart building technologies pull the two together. But it also poses obstacles for adapting these technologies, since there can be political conflicts, etc.

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