ISC Quest

Day one of the 2009 ISC West tradeshow left no doubt in my mind: the security industry is alive and well in this troubling economic time. The show floor was packed, and although there were whispers that attendance is down, I honestly couldn’t see a difference in the crowds from last year’s show.

Several companies’ representatives commented that while attendance could be slightly down, the true decision-makers are still present, making each meeting and networking opportunity that much more important. Either way, Wednesday was a busy one, with plenty of new product and news announcements to keep everyone on their toes.

Lenel kicked off the tradeshow with the news that the company will be partnering with On-Net Surveillance Systems to provide a new video management platform that monitors and manages cameras while investigating video. The system will be known as SkyPoint -- an intelligent, open-architecture IP video platform that Lenel president Louis Orbegoso says will be more innovative, powerful and intuitive, as well as simpler to use.

Orbegoso said Lenel’s video surveillance market has been growing significantly each year. So why the change?

“End users wanted a better interface,” he said. “And that’s why we chose the industry’s best -- OnSSI.”

In other news, Bosch announced that it is debuting its Divar XF hybrid DVR at the show this year. The Divar XF supports both analog and H.264 IP cameras, a functionality that goes hand-in-hand with Bosch’s overall theme for the show: “Think IP. Maximize Analog.” Jeremy Hockham, the company’s president of sales for North America, explained that Bosch is still growing in both the IP and analog markets, despite the downturn in the economy. In fact, Bosch’s CCTV business grew two to three times the market rate during 2008 (though Hockham mentioned that growth had slowed by the fourth quarter).

Sure, the IP revolution is upon us, but Hockham stressed that we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves.

“Dealers should shift their focus from new building installations to growth opportunities with existing customers and systems,” he said. That way, users can eventually migrate to an IP-based system for the advanced capabilities that can help them save costs and reduce risks.

Hockham said Bosch will be launching several IP and analog products throughout the remainder of the year, including an analog fire alarm control panel, extreme environment cameras, an Autodome Easy IP camera and IP cameras with H.264 compression technology.

“The trick, particularly in this environment, is to make sure we’re well-positioned to keep growing,” Hockham said.

About the Author

Megan Weadock is a communications specialist at Monitronics.

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