Home » Identity & Access » Access Control

The Architect: How to Design a Secure Facility

Imagine being able to layer security into your building the way you do the plumbing or wiring. Genzyme's Dave Kent doesn't have to imagine it-he got to do it.

In fact, it is so hard to keep the security goals mostly parallel to the business ones that Kent says he is proudest of the fact that he has managed to do so.Construction Here are some of the ways Kent integrated security into the physical construction of The Genzyme Center: He created a universal card access system and linked it to the garage and then put surveillance at every access point. That helps to prevent one of the most common security problems, "tailgating"when one person accesses a facility and holds the door open for another person. Kent integrated the motion-light system with security so that if a light is activated at, say, 2 a.m., it triggers an alarm. He infused the glass with break sensors, and he employed a limited number of biometric access systems (thumbprint readers) for highly sensitive lab areas.

In the smooth concrete support columns throughout the building, if you look closely, you'll see two holes at various levels. Like unblinking eyes. Which are, in fact, what they will become. Inside the columns are the wiring systems for closed-circuit cameras that will plug into the support columns. Surveillance has been, literally, built in.

All of those features will link to the room we're standing in now, the Security Operations Center, on the third floor. There is no glass and no natural light in this room. But when it's finished it should attract as much attention from security professionals as the atrium will attract from Hollywood. It will look like any operations center, with screens at the front of the room and four "pods" for staffers facing the screens. But the SOC is a jewelthe ultimate manifestation of Kent's ambitious security plan for Genzyme. It is one of the only operations centers that will combine physical and IT security in one space. Someone here will watch the network while someone else watches for intruders. The SOC will interlock with other Genzyme facilities worldwide. If an emergency occurs, redundant controls are present. A security team member in Ireland can switch control over to Cambridge. Cambridge could then monitor and control systems.

The SOC allows Genzyme to provide better security with fewer staffers. "It's just good risk management," Kent boasts. "Not a lot of people are combining all of the security disciplines the way we are."

But in Geel, Belgiumwhere another Genzyme facility is being builtcontractors recently told Kent that they want to reduce their project expenses by putting in a cheaper, noninterlocking security operations center. "We can't do that," Kent says. He's already applying a little CPP in Geel. "We'll turn that ship before they know what's happened," he says, and then suggests a tactic he had mentioned on a previous visit. "You take a mostly nonnegotiable position," Kent says, "and give the perception that there's a negotiation."GlassFinally, we've reached the first floor. Even though scaffolding fills the space, the atrium's scope starts to materialize. From near the Potato, we spy surveillance ports in another support column.