Gallagher Security: Creating smart perimeters and safer futures 

Gallagher Security’s Dave Solly highlights the importance of understanding customer requirements and building intelligent, integrated perimeter solutions from the ground up.

What is the greatest current challenge with perimeter protection? How is Gallagher helping facilities face that threat? 

The value of perimeter security is often underestimated, which results in organisations opting for substitute technologies rather than using the right tools for the right application.

This is less prevalent for critical sites like correctional facilities or utility sites where the risk of someone breaching the perimeter line is strong, but for those at the beginning stages of building out their security solution it’s a commonly overlooked factor. 

However, the threat landscape is changing and siloed approaches that separate physical and cybersecurity are rapidly becoming outdated and ineffective.

Cybersecurity threats are becoming a very real danger to perimeter protection and are forcing organisations to rethink how they plan their defences and which technologies are installed, with a shift towards intelligent, integrated solutions. 

Perimeter protection acts as the first line of defence for an overall security system, and when considering the cyber-protection of these systems, an end-to-end approach is vital.

A cybersecurity vulnerability can occur along any of the communication channels, from the fence detector, right through to the device that displays the alarm to the security guard. 

Gallagher considers each communication link and device to assure the complete security of a perimeter protection system.

Our security solutions are engineered to meet stringent standards that define how high security sites around the world should be protected and are backed by the implementation of government standards to validate their effectiveness.  

We regularly undertake internal and external penetration testing of our products to ensure they are hardened and secure to mitigate the risk of cyber-attacks.

As a result, organisations around the world can take advantage of that rigorous testing and design to protect their sites from curb to core with a high level of confidence. 

From a technological aspect, what do you think has been the greatest recent advancement with perimeter security?  

Historically, perimeter protection systems have been completely independent of a site’s internal security system, leading to disparate systems in the control room that are not designed to work together.

In recent years, we’ve seen a shift to intelligent, integrated perimeter solutions where reporting and configuration can be carried out on the performance of the perimeter technology.  

By integrating all systems into a single security management system, like that of Gallagher’s Command Centre, operators are trained on one application, with a single point for reporting on detail such as fence voltage levels, operator use statistics or specific zone alarm data – saving time, creating operational efficiencies and reducing cost.

An integrated approach provides the control room operator with all the information associated with an attempted attack to their fence-line, ultimately assisting with faster response times. 

What do you think is the key to success when it comes to seamless perimeter security?  

There are many factors that contribute to the performance of a perimeter security solution, ranging from environmental through to site requirements for a high degree of redundancy – all of which can have differing impacts depending on the tech used.

The key to success in providing a perimeter security solution that genuinely meets a customers’ needs is to gain an understanding of the site and the surrounding environment alongside the customers’ requirements and ability to respond. 

For sites requiring higher levels of perimeter protection, like national infrastructure or prisons, providing a solution that provides a high probability of detection with a low false alarm rate is critically important; this is where intelligent, integrated perimeter solutions provide the edge. 

For higher security sites, it is crucial that the perimeter security is a sensitive to tampering on the fence line as possible to prevent and detect perimeter breaches.

However sensitive fence lines using the wrong technology for the purpose can be subject to false and nuisance alarms due to factors such as disturbances from wildlife and environmental extremes. 

To help organisations, particularly in harsh environments, Gallagher has a range of award-winning intelligent perimeter detection systems that can be uses independently or combined to provide a multi-layer approach to perimeter detection, providing assurance to the customer that their site is maintained in a safe and effective manner. 

The main requirement from customers when it comes to an intelligent perimeter is a high probability of detection and low false alarm rate.

For sites requiring higher levels of perimeter protection, it’s crucial that perimeter security is as sensitive to tampering on the fence line as possible to prevent and detect perimeter breaches.

However, a highly sensitive fence line can be subject to false alarms due to factors such as disturbances from wildlife and environmental extremes. 

To help organisations operating in harsh environments, Gallagher has introduced a new feature, Adaptive Thresholds, within our Command Centre security management system.

This feature allows Gallagher’s Monitored Pulse Fence System to adapt dynamically to environmental changes which cause fluctuations in voltage on the fence line. Through the application of Adaptive Thresholds, sites can reduce false alarms while still ensuring unsurpassed sensitivity for a highly secure perimeter.  

However, no matter the site, success lies in understanding and meeting the needs of the individual business. As a vertically integrated company, Gallagher designs and manufactures its own products, which allows us to adapt our technology to ensure customers get the best solution for each of their sites.

That model has served us well and has earned us several manufacturing awards. 

How have global supply chain disruptions affected perimeter security, and your approach, if at all? 

When supply chain issues began during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gallagher continued to provide perimeter security solutions to our global customer network to ensure their people and assets remained protected.

Our intelligent deterrent and detection technologies continued to be utilised across small-to-medium commercial and industrial facilities, right through to larger commercial and high-profile government sites.

However, we weren’t without our own disruptions.  

Due to a perfect storm of events in 2021, including the pandemic, droughts, shipping complications and increased demand, Gallagher had key pieces of hardware, such as microchips and electronic components, that increased in price exponentially.

For some, those conditions would have been a critical blow to operations, but Gallagher’s vertically-integrated production model gave our engineering team the ability to be responsive and re-engineer products when it mattered most. 

The speed at which we reacted while maintaining the highest quality product is what has set us apart from our competitors.

Even today, we’ve continued to meet supply challenges head on thanks to our in-house production model that enables highly skilled teams to adapt on the fly and enables 95% of global purchase orders to ship next day. 

While the protection of property continues to be a serious factor, the protection of people has been an important part of Gallagher’s supply chain response.

In recent years, we’ve amplified our development plans and investment strategies and created award-winning solutions like our Proximity and Contact Tracing Report which enables organisations to quickly and accurately identify where a specified person has been on-site through fast and effective contact tracing.