Building a smart, secure future
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Inside WSP’s mission to bring digital integrity and smarter buildings to Canada’s property space
NOVEMBER 2019
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WSP CANADA
Sharyn Gravelle, National Vice President, Telecom and Technology, and Terri Govang, Director of Technology for Western Canada for WSP talk IoT, 5G, cybersecurity and the future of smart property development
T
oday, more than half of humanity lives in cities. The United Nations predicts this proportion will rise to 68% by 2050,
adding 2.5 billion people to the world’s urban areas. To promote successful coexistence within these 04
increasingly congested jungles of glass and steel, city planners and developers in the public and private sectors are increasingly turning towards cutting-edge technology for solutions. “We’re standing at the dawn of another technological revolution, and keeping up with the speed of the coming change is key,” says Terri Govang, Director of Technology for Western Canada at WSP and an expert in smart building security systems. Govang, who started her career as an electrician and progressed from roles in integration and manufacturing to design and consulting services, joined WSP in November 2018. With 60 years at the forefront of progress in the professional services space, WSP in Canada is now a leading supporter of the companies engineering our hyper-urbanized, interconnected, Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G-powered future. NOVEMBER 2019
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$1,053.6mn Approximate revenue
1959
Year founded
8,300
Approximate number of employees w w w.w s p . com
WSP CANADA
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘WSP FUTURE READY’ 06
“At WSP, we have a Future Ready®
is reshaping the smart building space
program that offers our clients a clearer
and how WSP is positioning itself to
understanding of what the future will
lead and benefit from the coming
look like,” adds Sharyn Gravelle,
technological revolution.
National Vice President of Telecom and Technology at WSP in Canada.
CLOSE CLIENT PARTNERSHIPS
“We look at four different pillars: climate,
Commitment to continually improving
society, resources and technology.
the quality and effectiveness of
We strive to make our designs ready,
processes, by educating both her
both for current design codes and for
team and her clients, is at the heart
the future we envision. This is where
of Govang’s role.
we add value for our clients.” Gravelle and Govang sat down with us to explore the ways in which technology NOVEMBER 2019
“The overall industry and the technology it employs has seen several changes over the last decade,
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and I’ve personally worked with hundreds of clients to educate and support them through these transitions,” she explains. “WSP has a long history of providing technology and telecom specialty services to an established client base. We strive to understand our clients’ business. Before commencing any design, it’s crucial to sit with the client in conversation about how they envision their building operationally.” Working closely to develop a clear
“ Ensuring end-to-end encryption between all devices is increasingly important. In fact, I’d say it’s crucial” — Terri Govang, Director of Technology for Western Canada, WSP
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WSP CANADA
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for everything from aesthetics to
As technology evolves, the demands
core system functionality is a key
of the market do as well. “Clients are
differentiator for WSP.
more educated now than they’ve ever
“Our clients are competing to provide
been,” Govang explains. “They have a
elegant buildings, packed with ameni-
greater understanding of technology,
ties and world-class technology,” says
and these pioneers are ultimately
Govang. “Our focus is on offering the
seeking overall improvement in
kind of strategic advisory services that
building performance, operational
support design and project manage-
efficiencies, and improved user,
ment of enterprise security technolo-
employee and guest experiences.”
gies and programs, with an emphasis
Working with a team of seasoned
on intelligent infrastructure in high-
technology professionals, Govang is
performance buildings, digital adoption
at the heart of WSP’s efforts to both
and technological improvements.”
increase the interconnectedness and
NOVEMBER 2019
technological capabilities of its clients’
all over a building, campus or city, the
buildings, and ensure that those clients
vulnerability points for potential attack
remain safe in a rapidly-evolving threat
increase drastically, so ensuring
landscape. “With more devices being
end-to-end encryption between all
connected to your network, security
devices is increasingly important.
and integrity are often overlooked.
In fact, I’d say it’s crucial.”
With the digital era and the increasing adoption of IoT, yes, we can converge
A STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE
intelligence systems, capture analytics
Alongside the evolution of intelligent
and connect buildings across the city.
business systems, the need for
But as exciting as this may be, the
integrated security has grown, to
technological revolution has brought
the point where Govang argues it
with it a changing threat landscape,”
is no longer a technological issue,
she says. “If we disperse IoT devices
but a managerial and strategic one.
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Sharyn Gravelle Sharyn Gravelle is the National Vice President of Telecom and Technology at WSP in Canada. She is a strategic leader with strong acumen and progressive career experience spanning over 30 years with start-ups and large corporations. Having begun her career as a Radio Frequency Design Engineer in 1988, Gravelle has held diverse roles shaping the wireless industry from early analog to the current 5G landscape and continues to help shape Canada’s telecom and technology infrastructure. Over the last 6+ years, she has led a unified national team of 200 employees at WSP.
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WSP CANADA
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NOVEMBER 2019
“ We use technology to create open and secure spaces, improve the flow of traffic or people and deliver a more sustainable, reliable solution” — Terri Govang, Director of Technology for Western Canada, WSP
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Great minds think together. Your business has unique design, security and operational needs. Axis Professional Services provides personalized advice and customized expertise to help you optimize existing surveillance systems and be able to meet the demands of tomorrow. There, when you need us. Visit us at www.axis.com/professional-services-us or call us at 1 800 444 AXIS, option 1
In the past, Govang often encoun-
experience, reduce waste, reduce risk,
tered organizational tendencies to
increase compliance and drive efficiency
sacrifice technology and security
through new and emerging technologies.”
investment for the sake of perceived
The driving capability behind all
convenience and cost. Today, that
these improvements that WSP is
simply isn’t an option.
delivering is the ability to gather more
“Above all else, a smart building is
high-quality data than ever before.
a secure building,” she says. “We use
“It wasn’t long ago that cameras were
technology to create open and secure
used to capture general overviews,
spaces, improve the flow of traffic or
which helped deter and reactively
people and deliver a more sustainable,
review safety or security in spaces.
reliable solution. Clients want to
That’s all changed,” says Govang.
leverage their investments to create new use cases, improve the customer NOVEMBER 2019
Working alongside one of its partners, Axis Communications,
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E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Terri Govang As the Director of Technology for Western Canada at WSP, Terri Govang oversees the design, development and deployment of comprehensive security and technology systems and applications. Having begun as an industrial electrician, Govang has 13+ years of industry experience that she leverages to deliver modern and optimized approaches to security. She is an ASIS Certified Protection Professional (CPP ÂŽ), specializing in new construction and enterprise systems migration and upgrades. Her expertise is evidenced by her track record of mitigating risk, project planning and innovation.
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“ Above all else, a smart building is a secure building” — Terri Govang, Director of Technology for Western Canada, WSP NOVEMBER 2019
WSP is using IoT-enabled devices in order to provide its clients with better insights pulled from larger, more sensitive networks. Then, Big Data analytics allow WSP to draw actionable insights from that data. “What’s great about this is that all Axis devices support the application platform, which enables developers to leverage a lot of device processing power, which helps edge-based analytics that enable the camera to do more than it ever could before,” enthuses Govang.
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Looking to the future, both Govang
says Govang. “Gone are the days
and Gravelle see the capacity for smart
when technology and security were a
buildings to increase efficiency, security
nice-to-have extra option. Technology
and comfort as a key driver of the
has become the modern critical
digital evolution of urban environments.
infrastructure.”
“The market is evolving towards 5G and IoT — IoT being both massive IoT for large scale applications, and critical IoT for latency and other sensitive, niche applications,” says Gravelle. And as with any major paradigm shift, this evolution has rendered old practices obsolete. “Change is certainly the one thing that is constant,” w w w.w s p . com
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