BLACKSBURG, Va., Oct. 22, 2010 – Virginia Tech has entered into a public-private partnership with information technology solutions and services provider L-3 STRATIS and enterprise decision support solutions developer ERIS Technologies LLC, to co-develop an integrated security and incident management center of excellence at its campus in Blacksburg.
The initiative establishes a new infrastructure for fostering continuous development and advancement in the field of campus and facility security and management. The center will showcase an advanced platform that integrates applications for campus security, incident management and response, facility management, energy monitoring, and cyber security.
Together with L-3 STRATIS and ERIS Technologies, the university will provide an integrated management, command and control platform – a common operating picture, or “dashboard” – for facility managers, emergency personnel, and information technology security professionals.
The dashboard will provide users real-time single interface into the critical systems in buildings and campus infrastructures, giving them visibility into both two- and three-dimensional information for identity management, access control, geospatial data and sensors integration, building management, energy management, cyber security, and security systems.
Complementing and enhancing Virginia Tech’s experience in security, state-of-the-art building management, and energy management, ERIS Technologies’ real-time building information system (BIS) solution for first responders and facility managers will provides situational awareness and tactical information about buildings and infrastructure for users, based upon the user’s function.
“This is a opportunity for us to explore the integration of our existing processes for communications with our campus safety, incident management, and facility management personnel," said Earving Blythe, Virginia Tech’s vice president for information technology and chief information officer."Through this partnership, we can leverage our capabilities and knowledge of cyber security and advanced computational infrastructures in the new arena of smart building systems integration. Visitors and interested partners are to be welcomed to the demonstration center included in this project."
Les Rose, president of L-3 STRATIS, stated, “We are entering a new era for campus first responders and facility managers, as well as for educational institution administrative leadership, helping make first responders more effective at saving lives and property, and in their role to protect the vital infrastructure of our colleges and universities. Further, we are designing a new model for creating, documenting, and sharing incident management best practices.”
“This will create a continuum of collaboration and new developments that will continuously evolve and firmly position Virginia Tech in the forefront of this technology worldwide. The partnership intends to tap the Virginia Tech campus as a large scale test and demonstration environment, and anticipates employing students to support the development and services process,” added Joseph Boggs, a managing member of ERIS Technologies.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 225 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $496 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
Brenda van Gelder contributed to this news story.