Specifically Speaking with Mark Bavousett

What's your role at the company?

As a senior consultant for WJHW, I am responsible for security design in stadiums, arenas, as well as the hospitality, corporate and education markets. I am part of a team that offers state-of-the-art design services and consulting in acoustics & noise control, audio, visual, video and scoring displays, broadcast provisions and video production, theatre planning, lighting & rigging, distributed TV and satellite, and tel/data structured cabling.

What kinds of systems do you design or specify?

We design a full array of security system ranging from a simple alarm monitoring system to the more complicated fully integrated system that includes access control, video surveillance, intrusion and intercommunications systems as well as a few very custom systems. WJHW's main goal is to design a system that the owner can use as an operational tool. This is why we like to call it an integrated security management system.

What vertical markets do you work in?

WJHW has been meeting some of the most challenging security needs in stadiums, arenas, as well as the hospitality, corporate and education markets. Due to our extensive exposure to a large number and different project types, we have the people, processes and experience to take care of the security needs, no matter how challenging or extensive.

The WJHW team specializes in providing security solutions, which span the spectrum of today's security challenges, to all clientele across a global footprint of properties. Today's security management, video surveillance, alarm and access control systems involve complex computer technology and sophisticated information, software and hardware systems, which require specialized expertise in design, installation and operation. The WJHW team is called on to assist its clients with these challenges.

WJHW provides security systems consultation and design—assisting our customer's plan, specify and build their security management systems by applying our innovative and comprehensive approach to integrated security management system design. We assist our customers in all phases of this work including schematic design, design development, construction document development, project cost estimating, bidding, construction administration (observation) and (post construction) system implementation services.

How did you get started in security and designing/specifying?

While in college I needed a job that paid better than waiting tables and I found a job doing home security system repair for a company in Lubbock. After I graduated college with my electrical engineering technology degree, I was offered a job working for Texas Instruments in their security design group. I eventually worked my way into designing most of the security for the government projects in the Dallas area.

Can you talk about what new or emerging technologies you are seeing or specifying today?

The security industry seems to be embracing the IP convergence. This convergence is requiring more IT knowledge on the part of the integrators, which is required by the emergence of megapixel cameras and IP addressable devices. We are seeing cameras as high as 40 megapixels, which have limited use cases at this time. It is getting more common to find a 4K version of a camera in each manufacturer's line. We are seeing an increase of the use of biometric readers in applications where carrying a credential is difficult.

What is your view on the industry moving forward?

We are seeing security being used more and more as an operational tool than the historical security monitoring system. The ability to confirm that enough concession stands are open to serve the public at a stadium or to identify where in a store the customer travels most are becoming a more common requirement of systems today. As a result of this kind of request we are seeing a convergence of security sub-system into one system for the operators to use. We see more and more integration of access control, video surveillance, intrusion, and intercommunication system at the database level. We are also seeing the need to bring in building management alarms into the converged system.