Contributors
Scott Goldfine, Editor-In-Chief
Scott joined the staff of SSI in October 1998. His one-time occupation as a cable-TV technician and lifelong love of electronics made his move into the security industry a natural progression. More...
Rodney Bosch, Managing Editor
Although Rodney’s name is quite familiar to those in the security industry, his previous experience has been in daily newspaper journalism. More...
Archives
- March, 2010 (1)
- February, 2010 (4)
- January, 2010 (4)
- December, 2009 (7)
- November, 2009 (3)
- October, 2009 (4)
- September, 2009 (2)
- August, 2009 (4)
- July, 2009 (2)
- June, 2009 (6)
- May, 2009 (7)
- April, 2009 (5)
- March, 2009 (4)
- February, 2009 (6)
- January, 2009 (4)
- December, 2008 (10)
- November, 2008 (7)
- October, 2008 (9)
- September, 2008 (2)
Post Categories
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Physical-IT Security Convergence
A few years ago The Discovery Channel aired a reality series called, "It Takes a Thief." The show was really cool because it brought security concepts and solutions into America's living rooms, and did so in an entertaining way. The premise had a former burglar breaking into and ransacking a house... More...
Axis Communications has shaken up the video surveillance industry by becoming the first provider of relatively inexpensive, fully networked thermal imaging cameras. Thermal imaging, which creates images based on the heat that radiates from any object, vehicle or... More...
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Steve Walin, chairman and CEO of Carrollton, Texas-based GVI Security Solutions, and Lloyd Trotter, a founder and managing partner of New York-based GenNx360 Capital Partners, about GVI being acquired and taken private. The deal, which was finalized earlier this month, reunites former GE Security executives in a business focused... More...
Last week I had the pleasure to participate in the 2009 ADT Media Summit, which this year was held in Dallas. As a lifelong Cowboys fan it was to my great lament that the trip did not include a game or even a glimpse of America’s Team’s fancy new $1.5 billion stadium. However, I was nevertheless delighted to be able to participate in this event for the first time since ADT began hosting them four years ago. This experience was enjoyable, enlightening and productive.
The two-day summit included an overview of ADT’s commercial business, a tour of the company’s Carrollton site including... More...
One of the most unique and hotly anticipated of SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION's many research projects has become the Corporate End-User Study, the vast results of which will appear in our September ASIS Show Issue. For this, the fifth annual version of this study, for the first time SSI partnered with ISC West/East organizer Reed Exhibitions to give installing systems integrators a better perspective of how these customers think and what they really need the most.
This information is useful not only in showing security providers a profile of the typical high-level end user (security directors and managers) and the organization they represent,... More...
The PSA Security Network hosted another successful PSA-TEC event at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Ill., last week. This has always been my very favorite industry event due to the unique combination of outstanding industry training, exhibits and relaxed networking opportunities. It was especially enjoyable this year as SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION for the first time served as the conference's Elite Media Sponsor. Perhaps not so coincidentally despite widespread economical challenges PSA-TEC 2009 surpassed last year in both attendance and the number of companies represented. Furthermore, there was a high level of first-time attendees to a tradition with a legacy stretching back a... More...
I wanted to share with you a few of the cool technologies and opportunities to be on the lookout for as a result of my meetings at ISC West 2009 in Las Vegas. This is the final installment of four summaries.
ON-NET SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS (OnSSI)
Jeff Knapp clued me in about Ocularis Video Synopsis, an optional module resulting from a collaboration between OnSSI and BriefCam, that uniquely enables the compression of video activity into a very short timeframe for faster identification of key events. A day of video footage can be compressed into a 60-second video clip. I saw this in action and it was quite... More...
I wanted to share with you a few of the cool technologies and opportunities to be on the lookout for as a result of my meetings at ISC West 2009 in Las Vegas. This is the third of several summaries.
ALTRONIX
Spent some quality time with Alan Forman, president of Altronix, for an enlightening presentation on how the industry's best-known manufacturer of power supplies is keeping up with networked technologies. NetWay is a midspan PoE solution designed to deliver greater functionality and efficiency for IP video systems in one-, eight- and 16 port-configurations that accommodate both PoE and conventional IP cameras – including... More...
I wanted to share with you a few of the cool technologies and opportunities to be on the lookout for as a result of my meetings at ISC West 2009 in Las Vegas. This is the second of several summaries.
RISCO GROUP
I had an interesting sit-down with Len Friedman, former marketing manager for Bosch who is now president and CEO of RISCO Group. RISCO who? RISCO is the parent company of long-time Israeli intrusion sensors leader Rokonet. That brand is being folded into the RISCO name in an effort to better reflect the company's new multifaceted suite of offerings that span... More...
I wanted to share with you a few of the cool technologies and opportunities to be on the lookout for as a result of my meetings at ISC West 2009 in Las Vegas. This is the first of several summaries.
HONEYWELL SYSTEMS
Honeywell Systems revealed that it is taking the trepidation and guesswork out of offering remote managed access control by giving dealers what the company is calling a Playbook. As the familiar football jingle goes, Are you ready for some access? Senior Manager of Honeywell Access Systems John Smith told me how this guide will provide dealers with everything they need to... More...
I bring good news from the desert where I encountered an oasis of relief from the recession blues in the form of ISC West Las Vegas.
Even if you did not attend you may have heard the deafening din of exhibitors' (and show organizer Reed Exhibitions) collective exhale once the event got under way April 1. Vendors -- many of which have experienced as high as 30- to 40-percent dropoffs in business this year -- that had braced for the worst by downsizing their exhibit booths and sending fewer people to the show were not only ecstatic to see busy attendee traffic but also... More...
I recently assisted the National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA) in compiling some market data. Frequently, I am asked for these kinds of statistics or information by trade associations, industry professionals, investors, college students, manufacturers, newspapers and other media outlets. I try to do the best I can to fulfill these requests as I like to be helpful and believe it's in our industry's best interest ... and I am all about promoting the virtues of the electronic security industry in any shape or form I can. Speaking of that, I will be hosting the SAMMY Awards March 31... More...
I realize I may be late to the party, but I finally made the leap from using videotapes for recording television programs to digital recordings. It’s unusual for me to take so long to embrace new technology as I am somewhat of a gadget/electronics freak but VCRs worked fairly well and the tapes made it easy to playback on machines in different rooms of my house. But after a recent stay with relatives who had a DVR and getting my first chance to really experience the interface and take in the full measure of its capabilities, I knew I had to... More...
Digital technology and IP connectivity have made video surveillance an amazingly powerful facet of security and an increasingly valuable business management tool, not to mention a huge source of revenue growth for security integrators. Continued refinements along with advancements in wireless technology, analytics, scalability and integratability, among other areas, are only serving to expand the applications and ubiquity of video solutions even more. However, for all its virtues this new era of video surveillance presents at least an equal number of challenges and quandaries — and I am not talking about commoditization.
Traditionally, video surveillance has always been a... More...
As mentioned elsewhere in this blog, I recently conducted a roundtable at the First Alert Professional Conference with four of the most experienced and respected CEOs from some of the installation community’s most successful companies. The two-hour discourse included John Bourque of Cranston, R.I.-based HB Alarm; Joe Hassan of Certified Security Systems in Jacksonville, Fla.; John Jennings of Safeguard Security and Communications in Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Joe Nuccio of ASG Security in Beltsville, Md. (does not appear in this excerpt).
Although much of the discussion will be available in the January issue of SECURITY SALES... More...
Another one of the educational sessions held during Honeywell’s First Alert Professional Convention at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes Resort Nov. 13-16 was “Selling IT,” about the hottest topic out there right now. The class was presented by a pair of industry friends of mine who are also featured in the November issue (“Intrusion Breaks Into the Network”) of SSI: Honeywell Security Director of Commercial Sales Development Dave Combes and Business Development Manager Michael Linebarger.
The 75-minute course was designed to help dealers promote and sell the use of network communications for security solutions. Attendees learned how improved testing... More...
Although there were lots of pressing issues swirling around throughout 2008, it turns out it was another vibrant year for security technology. The upcoming December issue of SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION features our annual Top 30 Technology Innovations of the year, which for 2008 range from video, access control and detection solutions aimed at the high end of the marketplace to modest installation tools. The picks by SSI Technical Writers Bob Dolph (“Tech Talk”) and Steve Payne (“Convergence Channel”) and yours truly champion products that represent breakthroughs, moneymaking opportunities or timesavers to improve efficiency. In some cases, they... More...
Last week’s history-making presidential election has created euphoria among much of the general populace but despair for much of the business community. Regardless of where your allegiance lies, I think most would agree it’s a fresh start for America in which we will navigate some uncharted territories. We are embarking on a journey of hope and uncertainty, and it’s anybody’s guess which way the pendulum will swing. For our industry, it is a time when people are searching harder than perhaps ever before for insightful market data to help steer them through the dark abyss.
Each year, SECURITY... More...
Most industry veterans thought the notion of placing security systems on networks and transmitting signals and data over the Internet was preposterous when it was first introduced about a decade ago. They were convinced that computer networks were far too unsecure and vulnerable to compromise, as well as prone to outages and failures for a variety of reasons.
Over time, computer, networking and logical security technology advanced and became more reliable, stable and secure. Along with that, electronic security products equipped with network connectivity began to proliferate and be adopted into the marketplace. Gradually, those dubious industry veterans began... More...
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