He's still around. Bin Laden reemerged on Thursday with a tape that popped up via Al Jazeera television. Despite claims of making preparations to attack the West on its own soil (and a proposal of negotiated "truce" with his terrorist organization), intelligence officials aren't seeing what they call credible threats or an increase in chatter. While most of the U.S. has simply shrugged it off and questioned its authenticity (indications point to the audio tape having been recorded in the last month), the Los Angeles area responded swiftly, upping security at transportation and city infrastructure. Get the details on how that city responded.
Powering Up
Meanwhile, more than half of the editors in the security industry are up
here in New York right now to see some new product offerings from Altronix.
You know them as power supplies, but that's changing. They're rebranding
unique product lines with the introduction of the HubWay series for UTP
video, RS422/RS-S485 data and distributed power on Cat-5 or better lines.
Also in the mix is the Maxim access control power and controller product
series; product specs aren't quite out yet, but it's suffice to say that the
Maxim line is going to give installing dealers a lot of versatility.
Finally, there's another access option, with the StrikeIt power and
controller series for panic devices, that gives a programmable timed release
feature, and 12/24VDC outputs for access control accessories and a couple
other whiz-bang types of features. See the press release here. The expansion in product line
reflects a move not be pigeon-holed as just power, says Altronix's President
Alan Forman. Power over Ethernet products are also in the company's future,
though not quite ready yet.
We All Get Along When Money Is at Stake
Our industry has always been fiercely competitive, so when Mitsubishi and Siemens bought stakes in GE subsidiary
CommerceGuard, a few of us in the industry were a bit surprised to see this
kind of international collaboration. The move brings GE's CommerceGuard
container security device into broader markets, with Siemens able to help
the unique technology conquer the European market, and Mitsubishi able to
give a unique push in the Asian ports market. In summary, the technology is
a simple magnetically attached device that indicates whether or not a
container has been tampered with (i.e., opened up). It's landed a lot of
interest from manufacturers and retailers wanting to make sure their goods
aren't being stolen, and from DHS persons to make sure contraband and
bomb-making materials can't be illicitly inserted into a container bound for
U.S. soil. Watch Him Closely Taking a cue from international terrorist profiling operations that look as
closely at a person's demeanor as they do at their baggage, the TSA is
exploring the detection of visual behaviors as key indicators of
terrorism. One such place the behavioral analysis program is being used is
at the T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, R.I.
Finally, a quick look at the favored stories of the week, as chosen by you
and your peers in our industry:
