INDUSTRY FOCUS

R.I.P. COVID-19

• By Ralph C. Jensen
• May 24, 2022

By my estimation, that crazy pandemic might have slowed things down a bit for the past two years. Working from home, tele-calls and other means to keep a personal distance of at least 6 feet. COVID-19 and all its variations are still hanging around but it hasn’t stopped technology innovations.

A memory from the 2021 ISC West was a reminder of a tradeshow on life support. Things changed for the better. What’s new in security products took a huge leap forward in March during ISC West.

Above all else, it was amazing to see friends, face-to-face. So, where did this year’s tradeshow land in terms of attendance, exhibitors and overall buzz? Is the security industry resilient?

“It truly was amazing to see all our attendees, exhibitors and partners in person again! Clearly the security and public safety industry is ready to get back to face-to-face meetings, as the Show Floor was packed and the electrifying energy consistently included positive messages throughout the week such as ‘exceeded our expectations,’” said Mary Beth Shaughnessy, event director of ISC Security Events.

People in the security industry are passionate about their calling of providing security systems and solutions. Attendance only proved to me that providing security will never be on life support. One thing I have noticed, and was mentioned several times during ISC West conversations, the pandemic provided a means by which engineers and product managers could concentrate more on new product development.

From my travels on the show floor, I noticed several new products and amazing iterations of products that had been launched previously. Technology is ever changing, and advancing so quickly. Back on track, ISC West is soaring once again.

“SIA was inspired by the outstanding growth seen at ISC West 2022 and by seeing the energy and dedication on the show floor, in the conference sessions and at events taking place throughout the week,” said SIA CEO Don Erickson.

Perhaps as many as 20,000 attendees and exhibitors attended. I’m not naïve enough to think the pandemic is over but hoping it can now rest in peace.

This article originally appeared in the May / June 2022 issue of Security Today.