Nothing Down About This Year’s ISC West Show

Ralph JensenRumor has it that tradeshow officials expected fewer people this year. My very unofficial count says that there are more people at this year’s event. If not more, the aisles are surely crowded and the people attending have a keen interest in being here.

Seems to me that attendance is up over last year and the tradeshow is a success. That’s day one in the books and, it will be interesting to see if the crowds are as heavy Thursday.

There are some very interesting products on display.

First of all, Panasonic wins the New Product of the Show competition (more on that in the next installment) with its newest IP video surveillance camera. Company president J.M. Allain said last night at a media dinner that Panasonic had been focused on this opportunity for the past several months, putting an all-out effort in the project to win.

At a time when U.S. companies are moving jobs overseas, give Axis Communications its due for building a North American distribution center in Atlanta. Forty percent of the company’s business is in the Americas, and this is a genuine commitment on the part of the Swedish company’s efforts in the United States and, of course, Canada.

Axis general manager Fredrik Nilsson also stated at a press briefing yesterday that a HDTV intelligent video surveillance camera isn’t far behind. How do they think of these things? It’s easy. This technology is already in use on the consumer side and, with the flip of a switch, or use of technology, it will be integrated into the security industry.

BRS Labs out of Houston also wins a prestigious award in video analytics. It works pretty simply. Its AlSight automatically learns and stores memories of normal behavior for each camera position when the view of the PTZ camera changes. If something seems out of the ordinary, it probably is, and the operator is notified. As the camera moves from one position to another, AlSight calls up memories associated with the new position and applies cognitive video analytics to detect abnormal behavior immediately.

About the Author

Ralph C. Jensen is the Publisher/Editor in chief of Security Today magazine.

Featured

  • Security Today Announces 2025 CyberSecured Award Winners

    Security Today is pleased to announce the 2025 CyberSecured Awards winners. Sixteen companies are being recognized this year for their network products and other cybersecurity initiatives that secure our world today. Read Now

  • Empowering and Securing a Mobile Workforce

    What happens when technology lets you work anywhere – but exposes you to security threats everywhere? This is the reality of modern work. No longer tethered to desks, work happens everywhere – in the office, from home, on the road, and in countless locations in between. Read Now

  • TSA Introduces New $45 Fee Option for Travelers Without REAL ID Starting February 1

    The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced today that it will refer all passengers who do not present an acceptable form of ID and still want to fly an option to pay a $45 fee to use a modernized alternative identity verification system, TSA Confirm.ID, to establish identity at security checkpoints beginning on February 1, 2026. Read Now

  • The Evolution of IP Camera Intelligence

    As the 30th anniversary of the IP camera approaches in 2026, it is worth reflecting on how far we have come. The first network camera, launched in 1996, delivered one frame every 17 seconds—not impressive by today’s standards, but groundbreaking at the time. It did something that no analog system could: transmit video over a standard IP network. Read Now

  • From Surveillance to Intelligence

    Years ago, it would have been significantly more expensive to run an analytic like that — requiring a custom-built solution with burdensome infrastructure demands — but modern edge devices have made it accessible to everyone. It also saves time, which is a critical factor if a missing child is involved. Video compression technology has played a critical role as well. Over the years, significant advancements have been made in video coding standards — including H.263, MPEG formats, and H.264—alongside compression optimization technologies developed by IP video manufacturers to improve efficiency without sacrificing quality. The open-source AV1 codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media—a consortium including Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Amazon and others — is already the preferred decoder for cloud-based applications, and is quickly becoming the standard for video compression of all types. Read Now

New Products

  • EasyGate SPT and SPD

    EasyGate SPT SPD

    Security solutions do not have to be ordinary, let alone unattractive. Having renewed their best-selling speed gates, Cominfo has once again demonstrated their Art of Security philosophy in practice — and confirmed their position as an industry-leading manufacturers of premium speed gates and turnstiles.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.