Security Technology & Design Magazine Honors 'Best of the Best'

When Security Technology & Design asked this industry for the "best of the best" among innovative security applications, we were again swamped with impressive examples. This year's crop of entries for the Security Innovation Award covered a wide spectrum of the vertical markets - illustrating how a successful, collaborative security application can help secure a college campus, a regional airport, a downtown area and a Fortune 500 company - to name a few.

Steve Lasky, publisher and editor in chief of ST&D presented Frank Dale, manager of physical security of Loyola University-Chicago, with the 2007 Security Innovation Award on Tuesday afternoon at ASIS. Dale oversaw a massive security upgrade across his campus that integrated technologies from multiple suppliers, including IQinVision and Milestone Systems.

"It's gratifying to be able to recognize peers at an event like ASIS. It brings together the best of that collaborative spirit between end-users, integrators, and vendors," Lasky said. "Frank Dale's accomplishments exemplify the best of what a true security partnership is all about."

The Innovation Award winner, selected by a panel of security industry experts, was submitted by IP camera technology provider IQinVision. The project scored high marks with the judges in the three major categories of innovation, collaboration and project scope. The university's initial task of creating a single-card platform exploded into a campus-wide security upgrade that included IP video surveillance and access control. "The assessment, planning and implementation process was well thought out and included input for a particularly diverse set of stakeholders," one of the judges wrote of the Loyola project. "Throughout the entire endeavor, the consultant and project sponsor worked collaboratively...which led to innovative and even cutting-edge technology and process implementation."

"The most important thing about this is that it validates our company, with respect to the stability of our products," IQinVision vice president of sales and marketing Paul Bodell said.

Lasky also honored the Innovation Award runners-up: Vidient Systems Inc. and CT Solutions for its Tallahassee Regional Airport project; and DVTel Inc. for its Baltimore Citiwatch project.

Here is what one of the judges had to say about the Tallahassee Regional Airport project: "Not only did they converge existing systems, but they also used business intelligence to reduce human intervention and solve the problems in an innovative way. A wide variety of subsystems were implemented that brought a holistic solution."