Integration Of Security Systems And IT Infrastructure At Critical Infrastructure Facilities

—By Pavel Mishchenko, Specialist in IT infrastructure and integrated security of critical facilities—

Critical infrastructure has no room for improvisation. At an energy facility, a transport hub or a large industrial site, a camera is never “just a camera” and a turnstile is never “just a turnstile”. Every device is part of a larger system that must work predictably 24/7, in any conditions, for many years.

Work on large energy projects including facilities at the level of nuclear power plants has clearly shown that security today is not a set of separate subsystems but an extension of the IT infrastructure. The task is no longer simply to “install video surveillance and access control”, but to build an integrated, manageable and long-lived architecture.

Why Integration Matters Now

The market itself pushes projects toward this approach. According to Grand View Research, the global video surveillance market in 2024 is valued at around USD 73.8 billion and is expected to almost double to USD 147.7 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of about 12.3%. In parallel, the Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) segment is growing from roughly USD 1.55 billion in 2024 to an anticipated USD 4.8 billion by 2033.

These figures reflect a simple shift: from isolated “boxes” to integrated complexes, where cameras, access control, sensors and IT infrastructure are treated as one environment. For a specialist working at critical facilities this means that security decisions inevitably become IT decisions and vice versa.

A telling example is the way modern cities use video. As Wired has written, Mexico City has become one of the most surveilled cities in the Americas: cameras are deployed not only for crime prevention, but also for transport management and emergency response. At this scale, it is impossible to manage security without solid IT foundations and proper integration.

From Islands Of Technology To A Unified Architecture

Not so long ago, security at many sites looked like a patchwork quilt:

• CCTV lived its own life on a separate network
• Access control was deployed as an autonomous system with its own controllers, software and operators
• The structured cabling system was designed mainly “for IT”, almost without regard to the needs of physical security

This fragmentation created predictable problems: different consoles, different databases, different teams. Investigating an incident meant switching between several systems and manually correlating data. Updating access rights across multiple platforms took time and carried the risk of errors.

At critical infrastructure facilities such fragmentation becomes not just inconvenient but risky. A delay in reacting to an alarm, a misconfigured access rule or a blind zone in surveillance can affect both safety and continuity of the technological process.

The response is an integrated architecture built on several principles:

• Common logic. Video, access control, intercoms, perimeter protection and IT are designed as parts of a single infrastructure with consistent rules for redundancy, segmentation and protection of communication channels
• Integration platforms and PSIM. Events from cameras, card readers, sensors and IT systems are collected in one environment, where operators work not with individual devices but with scenarios and incident management workflows
• Unified standards. At the design stage, attention is paid to protocols (ONVIF, SIP and others), interfaces and scalability, so that the system can be expanded without a complete redesign

In practice this means that cabling, server and network infrastructure, placement of equipment and redundancy mechanisms are planned together from day one not retrofitted around already installed “black boxes”.

Cost, Longevity And Maintainability: What Really Matters On Site

In the energy sector, projects are measured not in months but in years. Construction can last for a long time; operation, even longer. Under such conditions, the key question is not how much the system costs at the time of commissioning, but what its total cost of ownership will be over ten or more years.

Integration directly influences this cost:

• Less unnecessary redundancy. Unified racks, cabling solutions and device types reduce the number of unique components required for installation and spare-parts storage
• Simpler modernisation. A well-designed structured cabling system allows new cameras, controllers and analytic modules to be added without re-doing half the facility
• Predictable maintenance. Clear labeling, documentation, standard mounting and redundancy solutions speed up fault localisation and reduce downtime

At critical infrastructure facilities customers increasingly demand exactly this: not just a “working system” at handover, but a solution that will remain supportable and understandable for operations teams long after the original integrator has left the site.

Growing Markets, Growing Expectations

The steady growth of the video surveillance and PSIM markets changes the way customers think about security.

In the early stages, the typical request sounded like “install cameras and access control at the perimeter”. Today clients talk about “a unified control centre”, “a single situational picture” and “integration with IT and process systems”.

PSIM platforms and modern VMS solutions have become the backbone of such approaches. They allow operators to see in one interface that:

• A door at a critical room was opened
• A camera near this door detected movement and triggered analytics
• An alarm from a process system came from the same area
• A cybersecurity system registered a suspicious connection to a local network node

Without integration, building this picture in real time is almost impossible.

For specialists this means that experience limited to one subsystem is no longer sufficient. Understanding networking, server infrastructure, virtualisation, storage systems and basic cybersecurity has become part of everyday work in physical security.

International Projects: Technology Meets Regulation

On large international projects the technical component is closely intertwined with regulatory and organisational challenges.

Different countries have their own rules for security systems, fire and intrusion alarms, data protection and cybersecurity.

On a nuclear-power-plant level project dozens of contractors operate simultaneously; security and IT must be coordinated with construction, technological and energy subsystems. Local specifics; climate, language, qualification of personnel, safety culture influence the way documentation is written and how training is organised.

Under these conditions, the role of a department head is not limited to checking cable routes and device layouts. It includes:

• Negotiations with the general contractor and local partners
• Alignment with operation services and IT departments
• Planning of staged commissioning, so that the facility can gradually move from construction mode to full-scale operation without losing control of security

The quality of this coordination often determines whether the integrated system will really work as a whole or remain a set of unrelated pieces stitched together at the last moment.

People And Knowledge: The Invisible Part Of The System

Even the most advanced integrated system ultimately depends on people. Experience from large energy projects shows this very clearly.

Errors during installation or configuration can leave important zones “blind” or break redundancy schemes. If operations personnel are insufficiently trained, sophisticated features such as analytics or complex incident scenarios remain unused. The system is then perceived as a collection of “cameras and turnstiles”, and its potential is never fully realised.

That is why a significant part of work on critical infrastructure projects is dedicated to knowledge transfer and team development:

• Standardisation of design and installation solutions so that engineers do not “reinvent the wheel” on each new site
• Preparation of clear documentation and operating procedures
• On-site training for young specialists and mentoring during the first years of operation

This invisible work ensures that the system does not degrade over time and that the facility retains a competent team capable of supporting and developing it.

Security as Part of Infrastructure, Not an Add-On

Integration of security systems and IT infrastructure at critical facilities has already become the norm rather than an exception. The growth of the video surveillance and PSIM markets simply reflects what practitioners see every day: customers expect a unified, manageable and scalable complex, not a collection of separate subsystems.

Experience from large energy and infrastructure projects confirms that the decisive factor is not a particular camera model or brand of controller, but the overall engineering approach, attention to architecture, life-cycle cost, maintainability, integration with existing IT systems and investment in people.

A specialist who can combine hands-on installation experience, understanding of IT architecture and the ability to lead a team in an international environment becomes a key figure in such projects. This combination ultimately determines how resilient critical infrastructure will be and how confidently it can meet the growing demands of the modern world.