ASIS Wraps Up With Plenty To See And Do

• By Megan Weadock
• Sep 18, 2008

ASIS is hard work … and a little play, too.

The final day of ASIS wrapped up Wednesday with plenty to see and do. For me, this included checking out a few educational sessions and cruising the show floor one last time to see what caught my eye.

I couldn’t resist shooting a few hoops at Stanley Security Solutions’ tailgate-themed booth and watching some of the Wii baseball action at EverFocus. Why doesn’t it surprise me that those companies with games and snacks seem to pack the most visitors into their booths?

The night before, I was lucky enough to enjoy a dinner with Panasonic System Solutions Co. and other members of the trade press at the Atlanta Grill. We got to chat with J.M Allain, who was named president of Panasonic earlier this year. The conversation was lively -- and sprinkled with politics, thanks to James Carville’s and Mary Matalin’s appearance earlier that day -- and the meal was amazing. Who knew cheesecake goes so well with schnapps tapioca?

In the meantime, there was plenty of actual news and product announcements going on. Sielox Access Control introduced a new generation of access control technology that is designed to be the most advanced controller in the industry. A true IP solution supporting PoE and data transfer rates up to 100 MBps, the AC-1700 can be deployed as a main or terminal controller.

Johnson Controls announced a new business plan that will aim to triple its security business by targeting the integration side of things. Lisa Roy, vice president and general manager for security and life safety, said the new strategy will focus on integrated command and control systems, identity management and compliance management.

She also said Johnson Controls will begin investing very heavily in organic growth, focusing alliances to grow its scale and pursuing acquisitions to rapidly grow the company’s overall scale in the marketplace.

Finally, up-and-coming video surveillance provider Optelecom-NKF announced the addition of a new open codec platform to its Siqura product line. Ethan Maxon, marketing director, said the new codec offers standardized video streaming and full remote control, which will allow third-party integration.

“We need to be able to play nice with the other players,” he said.