LIVE From IFSEC 2006: Day 3 Report

May 11, 2006
Security Dealer's Peter Harlick reports from the show floor as traffic builds at IFSEC 2006

It is the half way point of day three and IFSEC has held true to its promises.

Show floor traffic has been steady for the past two days, bringing in attendees from all over the globe. According to Rob Zivney, V.P. of Marketing for access control and security solutions company Hirsch, “This show is great for us; it puts us in touch with distribution channels from everywhere. There’s been a great showing of attendees from the British Commonwealth and eastern Europe.”

“We have been able to demonstrate that we are much more than access control by demonstrating our complete security management solutions, we are able to integrate HTML with the IT network.”

Sharing Zivney’s feelings on attendance was Umberto Malesci, business development manager for Fluidmesh Networks, headquartered in Milano, Italy, with a US office in Boston, Mass.

“IFSEC provides us with a great international audience," said Malesci. "We are meeting people from Africa, the Middle East, South & Latin America, Israel and Australia.”

Fluidmesh Networks provides another option for communications that operates transparently and integrates well with wireless, IP, analog, and VoIP without having to invest in a new infrastructure. According to Malesco, “This show has been all about educating the installer and integrator that our systems our reliable and secure.”

While walking the show floor I ran into another U.S. face, Chuck Stevens of Linear. Chuck, an avid golfer, says has been so busy speaking with attendees that he hasn’t even been able to get out there and challenge some of the UK golf links.

"The true untapped potential at this show is the “PERS” or “Personal Emergency Response” product market," says Stevens, whose company offers a number of residential and automation-type offerings. "No one really fits the bill when it comes to manufacturing and supplying a good product for Europe. Another emerging market that is about to explode here in Europe is MESH Wireless Networks.”

Steven’s has been exhibiting at the NEC since 1986 and says he has had the same heavily trafficked spot on the show floor since 1995.

JVC was promoting a new NVR at the show. According to Yash Patel, executive director of CCTV Europe for JVC, the dealers, installers, integrators and end-users are seeing what's almost become a saturation of products to choose from when it comes to the video market. "It’s been my main focus to tell my prospects and customers that they must also consider quality, reliability, customer support, research and development, as well as future product offerings," said Patel. "Price is important, of course, but shouldn’t be the only factor when considering what to buy."

Another exhibitor with cutting edge technology and products was Video Domain Technologies, based out of Israel. According to Annette Davis, marketing communications manager, two products of the company's products have been especially popular during the show.

"Our MEMOCAM, covert CCTV System is a camera, DVR, PIR, Time & Date Stamped, with VMD – video motion detection and records on a 2GB card, similar to a digital camera memory card," said Davis. "Some applications include home owners that may want to monitor their windows, a museum that wants to watch a specific painting or a small business owner who wants the convenience of setting a timer to record only specific times of day."

And newly unveiled at the show is Video Domain's D-V58/CELL, a hand-sized, wireless, miniature DVR that is battery operated with all of the above mentioned features and benefits. It's designed for remote site monitoring and features a sleep mode so the battery can last.

Towards the end of the day I was able to catch up with Sarah Tanner, public relations and communications manager for IFSEC host CMP.

“We would love to have more end users and technology users attend the show from the US," said Tanner. "IP has been the overall theme throughout the show. We are finding that the attendees are much more knowledgeable about the companies that they visit. When they speak to the exhibitors, instead of asking what you do, they are prepared with specific questions about specific products and applications. Attendees are here to do research; the learning curve has been shortened again.”

In addition to the new Man Guarding pavilion at IFSEC, another highlight was the awards dinner that took place on Monday evening. With over 500 people in attendance, awards were taken home in the following categories: Best New Access Control Product, Best New CCTV Product, Best New Intruder Alarm Product, Best New IP Security/Communications Product, Best New Physical Security Product and Best New Security Project or Installation. Two new categories were Security Industry Personality of the Year and Security Industry Leadership Award.

CMP reports that the press coverage has been outstanding with over 60 members of the press signing into the press office each day.

Day 4 to come with an exclusive interview with a UK Security Integrator that has done some high level installs throughout England. Stay tuned for more news -- Live From IFSEC 2006! -- only on SecurityInfoWatch.com.


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