ISC West 2010 Best of Show

April 1, 2010

Every year at ISC I look for “My best of show product”, you know what I mean, the products you find that makes the trip worth taking. I am sure opinions vary depending on the reason you attended the show. This year I attended the show as a representative of Microsoft Global Security, presenting our Global Security Operations Center (GSOC) offering. Our team worked in shifts allowing me to take in the other booths every afternoon.

Having attended this show for the last 10 years I am familiar with most of the vendors and a majority of the products. Most of these mainstay products are very good (in this economy they have to be) and I believe some are exceptional, however this blog is centered around two that really made me stop and take notice.

My first pick is a product that I even recommended to a few companies while still at the show is called the D7-180 camera by Scallop Imaging. This megapixel camera is very esthetics friendly and can be painted any color to easily blend into the environment. The D7 is a seven megapixel surveillance camera records in full-color high resolution throughout its 180° field of view, without fisheye distortion. The camera processes over 100 megapixels per second providing a 180° full situational awareness image, plus an instantly slewing zoom window(s), all with full motion video over one Ethernet connection. You really have to see it to believe it: http://scallopimaging.com/imagery.php and scallopimaging.com/

My second pick and no less interesting is the “Solar Pole” which is a wraparound solar solution for pole mounted cameras. The solar wrapped pole integrates computer management for maximum power collection for your region. The pole powers a security camera and remote encrypted communications without sun for up to 18 days and can also power optional lighting. This is a great remote solution for locations that do not have power and accessible communications. I met the president of Sloan Security Group, Greg Sloan, and he explained that the product was the answer to one of their clients’ needs and they have been installing and vetting the solution for a while now with great results. I really like the sleek design and ease of installation. Combine this pole and the right camera(s) and this is a real winner. http://www.sloansg.com/technologies_/genlux_solar_platform/

Honorable mention goes to my pick from last year who keeps adding functionality and open collaboration. Situational awareness is very important to the overall response to an event. The Immervision 360 lens does this very well. The reason I really like this company is their ability to listen to the customer. Last year they added functionality that allows you to drill down into the video, find a preset box and move into another “stitched in” camera(s) view, pre-existing or not. This takes you from situational to specific information without leaving the original view you started with. At any time you can pull out of a view and back to the whole situational picture. http://www.immervision.com/en/security/index.php

Thanks for reading, Chris Hills CPP, CRMP