Convergence Hits The High Road

• By Ralph C. Jensen
• Sep 22, 2009

One of the great benefits of attending ASIS, or any other security conference is the new products, technology and people. I like the products and technology because they are a great fit for Security Products magazine. The people are a perfect fit for the industry.

I opened my 2009 ASIS experience with a visit with ADT. What you can look for from ADT this year is a thorough experience with access control, or on their own terms, deploying more intelligence at the edge of the network.

What this means for businesses is allowing management to focus more of their assets on their particular businesses and outsourcing security to the professionals. This moves ADT into the building infrastructure security business. It also means security fills the role as the security outsource professional.

Security professionals are the core competency professionals. Daiva Wood, manager of access control products at ADT probably said it best, “We have dedicated people that cross all verticals. We understand the special needs of access control.”

Security also is about the people. Our online editor and I spent time yesterday morning weaving our way from one booth to another interviewing security stars. We’re putting together a video extravaganza that will be available on our Web site where I ask a few questions and we capture the essence of security people in a few minutes.

Take the time to check this out, and watch the interview with Altronix president and CEO Alan Forman. If you want to learn about customer service and serving the integrator and end user, Alan has the recipe.

In a few words, he says, “take care of the customer.”

I spent Monday evening with Altronix staff and a few of their closest friends at the Yankees/Angels baseball game. I watched, and the recipe is still the same whether on the tradeshow floor or the baseball stadium … take care of the customer’s needs.

You’ll enjoy the video with Forman. That’s a promise.

Why this is so important to me is because of an interview I had late in the day on the tradeshow floor. I’m interested in everything available to the security industry at large, but the question was asked of me whether I liked controversy or not. I suppose it was meant within this industry.

Here’s my answer. After thinking about this for several hours, some of my best friends are editors of competing magazines. All of them have been kind and gracious to a fault. There is little room for controversy when we all want to reach the same goal. That goal is to provide the best security possible for the end user. Each end user has different needs, and I return to the phrase by Forman, “take care of the customer.”

It’s good advise, and I’m glad that thought came to my mind during a baseball game among friends and editors.

I’m anxious for Day Two at ASIS. There are a lot of reasons to attend, including products, technology and the people.