The spread of Control Rooms within the SME, and no longer only for important strategic assets and the usual vertical markets, entails greater attention to be dedicated to delicate topics such as data management and Cyber Security.
We continue our examination of the ‘Control Room world’ in which Fabrizio Ponzo, Territory Manager Large Videowall & Control Room at Barco, is our authoritative guide. “The Control Room market,” says Fabrizio, “has always been a constantly evolving sector. Undoubtedly the pandemic has anticipated certain trends, favouring both the digital transformation of already operational environments and the creation of a new tendence of command and control rooms.”
Fabrizio continues: “We are witnessing a growing market, our everyday life is increasingly connected to the network, from the simple smartwatch to the IoT peripherals we use on a daily basis. In addition, smart & remote working have brought out potential risks related to cyber security dynamics. Moreover, the more objects are connected, the more information turns into big data to be analysed and controlled, and in this case artificial intelligence comes to the rescue, applied very well for example to video analysis.”
One more element to keep in mind: “If until a few years ago the control room was the prerogative of large public/private entities or of the inter-force sector with the clear task of governing sensitive infrastructures – says Fabrizio – we are now seeing a widespread increase in command and control points in many, many corporate entities.” Hence, technologies applied to control rooms are reaching new sectors. When we think about control rooms, we imagine an environment mainly dedicated to energy management, transport, or security; however, today the possibilities of application have greatly expanded. The recent geo-political changes have highlighted the importance of the cyber domain and how important it is to implement prevention and all-round corporate protection.
So what is Barco‘s proposal for the growing demand of Control Rooms? “In this climate of constant change, the role of the NOC/SOC control room operator has also changed radically, playing an increasingly strategic and business-critical role. The constant increase in applications goes hand in hand with the constant demand for new skills, artificial intelligence and process automation are helping to moderate the workload for the operator staff.
Fabrizio Ponzo concludes: ‘It no longer makes sense to put the operator in front of hundreds of data points in real time, instead we need to ask ourselves what is the right data to display at that specific moment and how to ensure that there is full collaboration between analyst teams and maximum business continuity for the security of the business. With a solution such as Barco’s OpSpace, analysts have access to a working tool that is fully integrated with the company’s neural network, enclosing all sensitive applications within a single workspace and allowing for increased efficiency and speed in decision making.
Over the last 25 years we have shaped the control room market, providing operations and management personnel with the most modern technologies and visualisation tools. Today, Barco presents itself as a strategic partner to support companies in this digital transformation process, assisting them in choosing the best technologies and guaranteeing the highest standards of collaboration and operational ergonomics.
