New ways to add revenue and boost connectivity continued to become apparently clear at the inaugural day of ISC East in New York.
Visits to companies such as Phihong USA Corp., BelAir Networks and Reach Systems indicated that there are many ways to approach the market—and they all mean more business for the systems integrator and new ways for their customers to stay connected.
Phihong, based in Fremont, Calif., brought two new Power over Ethernet products to market—showing systems integrators that power is always necessary but not always impossible to achieve. Keith Hopwood, vice president of marketing, said meeting installation standards and having enough power are critical to the integrator's cause.
"We've developed a switch which extends PoE and Ethernet up to 200 meters and can power up to four IP cameras from a single Category 5 cable," he said.
It saves users money because it allows them to provide power to locations that would otherwise require extensive wiring and high labor costs, he added. Another cost-saving product is the PoE splitter, which provides 12V at 1.75A for powering heaters or illuminators and can also forward IEEE802.3 at or af power and data to video surveillance cameras.
"The splitter products allow thin clients, LCD monitors, RFID readers, biometrics and door access controls to be installed into locations without requiring an electrical outlet and UPS local to the device," he said.
On the wireless side of the spectrum, BelAir Networks, Kanata, Can., espoused the virtues of its multi-server architecture of wireless security products. Used increasingly for municipal networking and critical infrastructure protection, some of the other applications include data, digital video, Internet access, voice and access control, according to Eric Johnson M.Eng., director of global sales engineering. New uses for increasingly scalable and flexible wireless mesh networks are constantly being discovered by integrators and end-users in the field, added Terry D. Allen, director of sales for BelAir. Another manifestation of wireless mesh technology, known as switched mesh, is delivering high-capacity, low-latency, mission critical reliability and vehicular speed mobility needed for intelligent transportation and mass transit applications.
"Trackside wireless mesh units are being deployed on poles for railroad applications to provide continuous broadband connectivity to meshed onboard units on high-speed trains," Allen said.
Reach Systems in Oakland, Calif., presented one of the Manufacturer's Product Training events during ISC East, titled "The New RMR for Integrators and Central Stations." Ian Framson, inside sales manager, focused on getting dealers and integrators to sell managed access business solutions, rather than simply product. The ReachNet Access Control Solution is a Web-based software platform used to manage its keyless entry solution and is based on 'software as a service' model. It uses intelligent access control devices, the open Internet and a hosted Web application to deliver a low cost, secure, access control system that is ideally suited to meet the needs of all types of organizations. Framson said selling managed access gives integrators and their customers many more options and uses for their system.
"They can sell a basic service and add services for additional monthly revenue, such as add and delete cards; scheduled reporting; e-mail and text message notifications; schedule changes; and environmental monitoring. "It offers them many more opportunities to upsell to the customer," he said, adding that changes can be made on the fly without a VPN, and that's a big plus for the end user.
