Blog Archives
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In the Land of IP–with Milestone
By Deborah L. O'Mara - Saturday February 14, 2009Sure, it was cold. Sure, there was snow in Las Vegas. But it didn't matter one bit for the 60-plus partners in attendance at the Milestone Integration Platform Symposium 2009. They came to hear about the IP market and where it's headed, and they didn't go away disapppointed, because as we all know, IP is growing. It might not be next year, or even the year after that, but soon Internet protocol cameras will saturate the market and the Milestone integrators will be ready. There were many new faces looking to get a piece of this growing pie and rightly so. There's tons of business out there, especially analog users who may soon upgrade, and if these integrators do their jobs and can espouse all the virtues of video... -
Peace to John and Reve Walsh—and Adam
By Deborah L. O'Mara - Wednesday December 17, 2008Adam Walsh would be thirty-something would he be alive today. He isn’t. He was only six when he was abducted from a shopping mall near Hollywood, Fla. His severed head was found two weeks later in a canal some 120 miles away. His body was never found. His parents are John and Reve Walsh. They never recovered, but they moved onto another phase of their lives. John Walsh co-founded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ( www.missingkids.com ) soon after to channel his energies. There were movies and news stories and America’s Most Wanted, which John Walsh hosted—all an effort to get criminals off the streets. Now, after all this time, the Walshes may have the ultimate holiday... -
Time for Football
By Deborah L. O'Mara - Tuesday November 25, 2008Excuse me as I exercise my right to talk about football--just once--in this coveted space. And of course, it has to do with the Chicago Bears, that love 'em or leave 'em team in the Windy City. Here's the juxtaposition: an interview with Kyle Orton and another interview with Rex Grossman, right after Orton was injured. When Rex Grossman was talking about playing for Orton, he kept talking about himself. "I feel I'm ready; I'm going to do my best, blah, blah, blah." In Orton's interview, he didn't use the "I" word once. He said: "The team is the most important thing; we are working together, blah, blah, blah." No offense (pun intended) suggested with the series of blahs. But my point is that clearly Grossman is not as... -
Are You Telling the Truth?
By Deborah L. O'Mara - Tuesday November 18, 2008Are you selling, and telling, the truth? Integrators need to be honest about what they are providing in terms of service and value. The end-user doesn’t want all the details, but they do want to know the system specified by the integrator will accomplish what it intended. So that’s how the integrator or VAR has to proceed. They have to talk to the customer, walk through the business, assess what’s there and what can be used; provide an open and honest commitment in the bid. Maybe I’m preaching to the choir and I hope that’s the case. I think you will all agree that there’s no better way to burn a customer quickly when you deploy a system that causes a ton of problems with false alarms, lack of... -
JVC’s Anderson Meets Giuliani
By Deborah L. O'Mara - Monday November 3, 2008JVC Professional Products Co., Wayne, N.J., was kind enough to get this photo to me after last week's exciting ISC East Show in New York. One of the highlights of the two-day event was the keynote presentation by Rudy Giuliani, which I blogged about last week in this space. Geoff Anderson one upped me with this photo of he and Giuliani standing shoulder to shoulder after America’s mayor’s impressive talk. Anderson is the national marketing manager for Security Products, JVC Professional Products Co. BTW, did I mention that JVC also had an informative press conference during the show? One of the really cool products released was an addition to their V.Networks line--the VN-V685U, a Power over Ethernet... -
Right or Left, Giuliani Pleases
By Geoff Kohl - Wednesday October 29, 2008America’s Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, had the crowd enraptured at ISC East in New York as he spanned his life’s career from defense attorney to the 107th mayor of the city of New York. For those who haven’t heard him speak before, he focused on crisis management in his speech “Effective Crisis Management: A Commitment to Preparation.†Sponsored by Rapid Response, interestingly enough, Giuliani said nothing could have prepared him for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, even though he did his best to be prepared. “Relentless preparation, that’s how you prepare for a crisis,†he told the audience. “But no matter how much you prepare, something unanticipated will... -
Convergence is everywhere
By Deborah L. O'Mara - Wednesday October 15, 2008Even in journalism and mass communication we’re talking about converging with all types of media. The medium truly is the message. I was struck by a book offered through the Oxford University Press titled “Understanding Media Convergence.† Billed as the only reader available in convergent journalism (why does that not surprise me?) the reviewer wrote the following: “On our contemporary media landscape, the potential of the written word is limitless. Repurposing print journalism for the Internet and beyond, convergent journalism invigorates and transforms how we create and experience media.†Wow. Integration and convergence in security is not just happening, it’s here.  One of my sources for a... -
Fly Naked!
By Deborah L. O'Mara - Thursday July 24, 2008Last few times I've had to fly, I've mentioned to my fellow travelers as we undressed in the security checkpoint: "why don't we all just fly naked?" Don't get me wrong. I believe in security and will do anything I can to help avert a terrorist act or the works of a malcontent or wrong-doer. So now it seems we are nearly flying naked. O'Hare International Airport will soon unveil new security scanners that are in essense a full body scan. Think Superman and his X-ray vision. The image generated shows the skeletal outline of the body--so there's nothing that can be missed or hidden, even in the most unobvious body cavity parts. The system, manufactured by L3 and called ProVision, is a "virtual strip search... -
Imagine That!
By Deborah L. O'Mara - Thursday June 26, 2008Clever nomenclature -- all on-board -- is just the crux of a new product to be rolled out July 11 by DMP in Springfield, Mo. It's truly one panel with everything a dealer needs to close sales, including a two-way wireless receiver along with network, cellular and dialer communications in a single enclosure. The XT Series ( see product announcement ) is a burglary, fire, door access panel that can be customized to include any or all of those communications methods -- depending on the customer's needs. Since they are all "on board" no additional enclosures, cabling or connections are required. There's tons of cool features and expandability. I especially liked the Attrition Detection (TM) feature. which sends a message to the central... -
Great ideas in tough times
By Deborah L. O'Mara - Friday June 6, 2008 I’m aptly reminded of the saying: when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Here’s just one example of a company that is working the angles rather than just complaining that there’s nothing they can do and the economy is to blame. And it comes from John Menard, owner of home improvement giant Menards. I have an inside scoop on this company (a family member works for them).  John Menard rewards employees with small tokens throughout the year and a bonus during the holidays that they can spend (in the store, smart). He is known for innovative ways to do business and it must be working because I haven’t heard any gloom and doom from his holdings, but have heard them from The Home Depot side...
