What's Trending at ASIS

• By Ginger Hill
• Sep 25, 2013

Truly embracing a tradeshow environment takes extensive planning and perseverance, with time spent strolling around an exhibit hall, speaking with a number of people, all of whom represent different companies and offerings.

And, as not to disappoint, ASIS 2013 is no exception.

Acting as the hub, McCormick Place in Chicago is filled with security products and services all of which are highlighted by elaborately-designed booths set up to impress passersby to entice them to pause to learn more.

I visited with about 15 different security companies offering products and services ranging from access control to perimeter security to manageability software...even life safety. What I found particularly interesting is that no matter what security advantage was offered, all companies seem to be trending in three specific areas.

Affordability. Manufacturers realize that in order to move products, they must price their offerings in a way in which consumers feel comfortable spending their hard-earned dollars; therefore, initial affordability as well as total cost of ownership is key.

In the access control sector, focusing on locks, ASSA ABLOY offers Ecoflex, a green solution that saves money while providing security. Taking an electrified mortise lock that is detention grade and stable, ASSA ABLOY offers a 97% reduction in energy usage compared to other standard electrified locks. This significantly reduces overall operating costs.

In fact, a typical electrified mortise lock costs approximately $20 per year to operate. Sounds fairly cheap, right? But, if you have a facility that has 400 doors, this quickly adds to your yearly operating costs. With the Ecoflex locking system, each lock uses under $1 of energy per year with a total cost of yearly ownership being less than $2 per year to fully operate.

And, because the Ecoflex is PoE integrated, it will operate on previously installed, PoE infrastructures, saving money and time on the initial installation.

Ease of Installation. Once a customer has purchased a specific security solution, it is important to the manufacturer that their products are actually used by the consumer. Therefore, offering "out-of-the-box" solutions is the goal.

Spotter RF offers wide-area, motion radar that uses Doppler technology to track people walking through an area to document the time spent in that area. This technology is important for verticals such as dams/bridges, utilities, water treatment plants and even upscale luxury homes all of which seek a small, covert, easy-to-hide security solution that provides effective coverage of a large area.

Offering 140 acres of coverage, Spotter RF's C550 radar brings radar to security managers that are integrated with video management solutions, allowing the use of one interface. This makes installation easy and offers turn-key, off-the-shelf, wide area coverage, thereby bringing security to consumers via a waterproof, IP-67 rated network box.

User Friendly. Once purchased and installed, manufacturers want to save their customers time and frustration be making their products as user friendly as possible, eliminating service calls and increasing product usability.

Offering Secure Stat, an online tool that offers a single point for account management and efficient building management, Diebold created this solution to solve customer problems based on customer feedback.

With Secure Stat's totally customizable dashboard that includes real-life weather, shown on a map, a single-click action to add and take away tools, as well as an aesthetically pleasing look, users encounter a modern, up-to-date tool that is essentially "point and click" to effectively act as a single repository to offer data in an open environment to manage a facility. Basing this technology on solutions that the consumer is already using, such as smartphones, tablets and familiar-looking computer interfaces, Diebold effectively captures the user-friendly component.