The bigger an organization is, the more intricate the integration of its security systems are. When managing an access control or video surveillance network within a simple network, all that’s typically required is a server or two to run the management software platforms smoothly. For a large corporation, with multiple departments, buildings, campuses, and locations, with security systems that consist of potentially thousands of cameras, access cards and readers, and intrusion detection devices…you get the idea. In order for all the hardware to work harmoniously and without fail, these systems require a lot more processing power—which virtualization is able to provide.
Because the majority of security networks today are ingrained within IT infrastructure, virtual environments provide a clearer method of management and general operations. Virtualization enhances physical security by making it fluid and context-aware. Sophisticated software allows integrated security systems to become more accurate, efficient, and less expensive to manage. When hundreds of employees of a large organization filter through access points at the beginning of the day, the management software is able to allocate resources of dozens of virtual machines to balance the load of data being transmitted, ensuring that every user is properly granted access—and that non-employees do not slip through any unsecured entryways.
Additionally, because server virtualization software divides a dedicated physical server into multiple virtual environments that behave independently of one another, it not only reduces costs to the company (since less hardware is deployed) but it also reduces physical space needed to house the servers (since several machines are consolidated into one running multiple virtual environments). Maintenance costs are also decreased due to the fact that virtual servers can be effortlessly move across physical systems to align available resources with demand.
For smaller organizations, setting up virtual machines wouldn’t bring much value to their bottom line as the physical security systems may suffice with the one dedicated server managing all of the hardware, but for enterprises that span the globe, the proliferation of virtualization and cloud computing is no surprise. These trends evolved within IT infrastructure in order to efficiently protect the flow of sensitive data throughout an organization's network which, in turn, lends a hand in the management of its physical security systems.