According to Access Control & Security Systems, Liberty Mutual Insurance has integrated lighting, access control, CCTV surveillance and alarm management into a system designed in-house that manages security at the company's 40 or so buildings in the United States, including its 10-story Boston headquarters, through Liberty's local and wide-area networks.

Increased security is not the only benefit to have emerged from the integration. By incorporating lighting management into the security management system, savings of about $5,000 per floor in energy costs have been realized at Liberty's Boston headquarters.

Prior to the installation, security officers typically turned off main floor and lobby lights during evening rounds at about 11:30 p.m. Now, lighting is turned off automatically at an earlier hour and turned back on only as needed.

"We have more control over which lights go on and off after business hours and on weekends," said Steven L. Porter, the chief electrician for Liberty Mutual and designer of the system. "If an employee comes in to work on the third floor, for instance, only those lights will go on, and they will automatically time out. Previously, a greater area of lights may have been turned on. When the employee leaves, the lights will go off according to the preset internal time clock."

In the near future, lighting will be activated automatically after hours through integration with access control systems. Thus, when an employee uses his ID proximity card badge to gain access to the building, the lights will be turned on automatically on the employee's floor and in his office. CCTV also is integrated into the system, with cameras activated when the access control system triggers an alarm.