After Hours At ISC West

• By Ralph C. Jensen
• Apr 08, 2011

I’m pleased to report that the Dark Restaurant Society met for its annual ISC West feast with host Frank DeFina. I’m sure I’ve reported on this before, but this is the annual meeting of security industry press editors. It’s a good time for us to compare notes on the show and exchange ideas on products and technology.

DeFina hosts the group and brings us together to share ideas, and enjoy a plate of good food after day two of the tradeshow.

I always enjoy meeting fellow editors and listening to their insight. My friend, and fellow editor, Steve Lasky, talked about security in a cloud, but we also are entertained by his sports stories, his life as a military brat and wisdom of the industry.

I have to agree with my friend that this year’s show is biggest and most active we’ve seen in the last, at least, five years.

I enjoy having dinner with fellow editors, Martha Entwhistle and Deborah O’Mara, who put a new spin on gathering industry news. Both do an excellent job with their respective publications, and when we and I sit together it’s more like beauties and the beast. You can decide which, is which.

One of the earliest acquaintances is Editor Scott Goldfine. Most of the Scott I knew when we met years ago is gone. He has been on a ridged diet and looks great. He also understands the dealers and integrators like no one else. My goal is to look more like Scott and get to know those important people in the industry. I think you’ll see that happening more often as we develop our Dealer Quarterly publication.

Though I don’t have space to mention everyone in this group, and new members join regularly, thanks to DeFina, I have to say that Carol Enman is the most interesting. She seems to know everyone in the industry, and everyone knows her. She has incredible poise and grace when talking with people in the industry, and is another quality I hope to develop.

What I do see from our little group is dedication to furthering the work of security, technology and passing along information to our, our readers. I am prejudice, of course, but Security Products magazine has passed our 15th year milestone, and our goal is to reach more of you within your vertical group with the information you need.

Here’s a few interesting things I found today:

• Stanley Convergent Security Solutions has joined forces with Hoyos Corp. to deliver an iris-scanning technology solution, which is intended to eliminate identity-based fraud by matching people with the unique biometric markers associated with their irises. More on this technology later in the June issue of Security Products.
• Verint brings Nextiva PSIM to the industry. This product also won a platinum award at our GovSec tradeshow last week, and is a solution aimed at airports, seaports, cities and metropolitan areas. It provides actionable intelligence for your command, control and communications center.
• Brivo announced its new IP Door Controller, a native Ethernet access control panel in a compact form factor. It should hit the streets in June, and is available in single or dual door configurations. It is an affordable, yet sophisticated alternative to traditional control panels.
• IQinVision is touting its 5 year warranty program. Too good to be true? It’s not and it’s a better warranty program than I get on my car. It’s an all-inclusive standard warranty, bumper-to-bumper, on the Alliance-mini dome camera line.
• Infinova announces its HD matrix switcher, which gives end users high definition and real-time performance. It will not be influenced by the transmission network and there will never be a delay in receiving images, and there is no image distortion.
• Middle Atlantic Products is announcing a new line of UPS systems that provide true individual outlet control, both remotely via RS-232 and IP, and locally using the company’s Power Manager, a Web-based interface for local monitoring and control. I sat at the controls and designed by own office space; nine screens, all for watching baseball, though you might want to use it for remote monitoring.
• Finally, 3VR is back with a new logo and team colors as they announce enhancements to its video intelligence platform, S-Series appliance. There are several new features, which will improve security effectiveness and operational efficiency. Key enhancements to the new S-Series include redundant array of independent disks (RAID) storage options of up to two terabytes and the highest possible analog camera resolution.  The appliance is designed to operate in confined spaces such as ATM or retail kiosks, convenience stores and small business offices.

Today finishes off ISC West. It truly has been a pleasure to seek the tradeshow floor aisles filled with anxious and interested security professionals. I will have a final wrap up of the show in the next few days and look forward to sharing a little more in insight from the final day.