And, with a final headcount of around 20,000 attendees, the halls were crowded. At LenelS2, Product Manager Mike Green reported watching a solid stream of attendees pour through their booth — located in front of the main doors — on day one for up to 15 minutes without a break. Throughout the hall there was a feeling of excitement and optimism, and reports of good traffic and conversations.

Of course one of the highlights for many attendees — particularly those who had stayed away until now — was seeing the latest technology in action. There was plenty to see.

New to ISC West this year was The Bridge, a central spot on the show floor that held multiple award ceremonies, like the New Products and Solutions Awards, formerly known as the New Products Showcase Awards. Featuring 72 products across 25 categories, the spotlighted technology was an example of the industry’s entrepreneurial spirit. ASSA ABLOY was awarded the SIA NPS Merit Award; Allegion was awarded the Best New Product honor for its LCN 6400 COMPACT Series Operators product, submitted in the Access Control Software, Hardwire, Devices & Peripherals — Wired category. Newcomer Hakimo was awarded the prestigious Judge’s Choice Award for the Hakimo Alarm Monitoring 2.0 product, submitted in the Commercial Monitoring Solutions category. Click here to read more about these awards and access the complete list.

The cloud seemed to be the dominant technology of the day, with many different products and solutions showcasing cloud-based solutions.

“The cloud was coming before the pandemic; and while we were in seclusion our main focus was to get into the cloud,” Green said of his company’s new access control as a service offerings. Elements is a unified access and video management solution built specifically for the cloud, while the company’s flagship access control product, OnGuard, will have a cloud-based option toward the end of the year.

“What is funny about physical security is you can’t really have cloud the way that Salesforce or Dropbox do,” said Sanjay Challa, chief product officer. “You have to have something physically on premise. … The model we are aiming towards is being a transition leader to helping businesses that have a heavy footprint that won’t push all that video up to the cloud.

“Our cloud offering gives people flexibility and affordability and will allow people to do more with their video data, such as giving it to other teams and being able to monitor and manage and configure systems.”

Another popular technology involved analytics, or deep learning.

At the annual Axis press breakfast founder, Martin Gren, and vice president of the Americas, Fredrik Nilsson, made a game of which technology was more important: cloud or edge analytics and deep learning. Dressed in racing gear, they each represented a “team.” In the end the race was a tie: “As with all good things, the answer is really the combination of edge and cloud is the winner,” Gren said.

Edge and cloud also featured in products from Genetec, with its new Streamvault Edge product and Cloudrunner LPR.

At Eagle Eye Networks, President Ken Francis showed off the company’s new “Natural Language” search function. “When you think about searching, having the ability to talk or type into a Google window is key. If you can get video surveillance to the point where it uses natural language it saves tons of time.”

Not all was normal and rosy, however. While the products on display were exciting and new, several manufacturers noted issues with supply chain and rising costs, along with the need to mitigate both.

“Supply chain has been tough,” said HID’s senior director, public relations and corporate communications, Matt Winn. “Chip shortages are causing issues in terms of fulfilling orders in a timely manner, which has been a frustration for our customer base and us as well. We have a global team spending all their time sourcing chips. We are trying to be as transparent as possible with our customers. We have absorbed a lot of cost. It is a macro issue, but it is hitting us and our customers. We are hoping it is short term and not long term.”

Axis also addressed this at the press event.

“In general it is getting better, slowly,” Nilsson said. “There is light at the end of the tunnel. We have become more skilled at the model. We noticed in the middle of last year our spend efforts in reassigning products with new components. We spent a lot time in Q4 to mitigate that. But now it is better because of those redesigns. Memory chip sets are also decreasing in price, so that is a positive sign. But we won’t be out of the woods for another quarter or two.”

During the SIA press briefing, SIA gave updates on legislation affecting the industry, like facial recognition bans and the Build Back Better bill, and introduced the new Proptech advisory board, chaired by Lee Odess of Group337.

SIA also discussed findings from its latest Security Market Index, which shows a growing confidence in industry momentum. The SMI of January/February was 72, up from 47 in December. An index above 50 indicates that conditions within the industry are largely positive and that security industry professionals are predominantly confident in their business outlooks.

And, judging by the findings in the SMI, security professionals are approaching “normal.” Seventy-nine percent of industry respondents rated current business conditions as “good” or “excellent”; 67 percent of security professionals reported increases in marketing spending, and 90 percent said they believe business conditions will be “much” or “a little” better within the next three months.

Off the show floor there were plenty of other signs of returning to “normal” — particularly in the parties, cocktail receptions, and events that were curtailed in previous shows. The Market Leaders Reception was back at Drais; Genetec celebrated its 25th anniversary with a party at Palazzo pool deck; numerous companies hosted cocktail receptions; and the Women in Security Forum celebrated its inaugural Power 100 at its annual breakfast Friday morning.

All in all, most exhibitors and attendees seemed to agree the event was a success.

“It truly was amazing to see all our attendees, exhibitors, and partners in person again,” Shaughnessy said. “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,’ ‘feels like 2019,’ and ‘ISC West is back.’”— SDM Editor Karyn Hodgson and SDM Associate Editor Amanda Reed //

65%

“This industry blows my mind,” she said. “I’ve always felt like this is the warmest, family-feeling industry that I’ve worked in.”

When she lost her home at the beginning of the year due to the Marshall Fire in Boulder County, Colo., which burned 1,084 structures and damaged 149, the security industry stepped in, raising more than $24,000 to help Bayne and her partner, Peter, rebuild.

“If I had waited 20 or 30 minutes [to leave my house], I wouldn’t be here,” Bayne said.

The money, raised through GoFundMe, was started by Stephanie Mayes, vice president of sales at SiteOwl, and friend of Bayne’s for almost 20 years.

With Bayne’s blessing, Mayes set up the GoFundMe and shared it to her LinkedIn page.

“One of my best friends just lost everything she owned, so it just seemed like a no-brainer,” Mayes said, regarding her desire to set up a fundraiser for Bayne.

The GoFundMe quickly received donations from industry professionals, from CEOs to entire companies, with contributions ranging from double-digits to the thousands. “I think when you’re going through something this life changing, it brings out that compassion, and people want to help,” Mayes said.

The security industry’s job is to protect civilian lives and keep the public safe. Now on the other side, Bayne said it’s more important than ever for companies to be vigilant about potential risks and keeping their systems current.

“I have clients who specialize in working with municipalities, counties, state governments, and they need to use situations like this (as) a clear example that it can happen again,” she said.

Now in the rebuilding stages — emotional, mental and constructional — Bayne said that the generosity of the industry stands out to her.

“This thing about the security industry is just unbelievable,” Bayne said. “I have been showered with love and care and concern and offers of help. It’s just unbelievable to me, and I am so appreciative. It’s overwhelming. It’s overwhelming in a very good way.” //

“The profile concept and profile conformance test tools provide clarity to the market about product interoperability and enable systems integrators, end users and consultants to more easily select the right mix of products for their specific application,” said Leo Levit, chairman of the ONVIF Steering Committee. “Profiles and the test tools are part of the cornerstones of ONVIF and will continue to be a crucial aspect of the success of standardization initiatives in our market for many years to come.”

Since the introduction of Profile S, which remains its most widely adopted profile to date, ONVIF has introduced several other profiles that include video and audio streaming, recording and storage, access control and video integration, access control peripherals and metadata handling.

Visit www.onvif.org for more information. //

“John’s leadership roles in ESA and the Georgia Electronic Life Safety & Systems Association (GELSSA) demonstrate a career-long commitment to helping our industry protect life and property through cooperation with public officials and public safety organizations,” said Stan Martin, SIAC executive director. “The successful passage of the Georgia legislation demonstrates his commitment and effectiveness in these endeavors.”

Loud said of receiving this award that it was not a singular effort in fighting alarm company fines in Georgia.

“While I am delighted at this recognition, it is important to note that this was a group effort by dozens of committed individuals in our industry and the state legislature who helped make sure that common sense prevailed in Georgia,” Loud said. “Our industry needs to continue to support our state and local alarm associations as well as SIAC so that we are ready to work with any community that wishes to reduce unnecessary dispatches with a proven model and experts ready to assist.” //

“Enterprise Security Solutions significantly enhances our security integration and support capabilities, while expanding our critical infrastructure, data center, and utility customer base,” said Joe Oliveri, president and CEO of CTSI. “We are very pleased to add ESS and their best-in-class customer service to the CTSI family.”

ESS focuses on the design, installation, integration, management, monitoring and support of security operation centers, access control, intrusion detection and video surveillance systems.

“By joining CTSI, we are significantly expanding our geographic reach, technical competencies and solution portfolio for our data center and utility sector clients,” said Shane Pitt, president of ESS. “I’m very excited my team will have continued growth opportunities with CTSI. They’ve demonstrated years of outstanding execution and customer focus, while striving to reach their greatest potential and satisfy our customers.”

ESS is CTSI’s ninth acquisition since partnering with Wind Point in June of 2020.

“We are really pleased to add ESS to our business,” said Jim Muncey, president of the CTSI Security Integration Business Unit. “Shane and his team bring additional expertise to our growing global data center security business, which will benefit the customers we currently serve, and attract new critical infrastructure customers to CTSI.” //

“Adcock’s services align well with our existing operations, and we believe the addition will be a strong fit for Cross-Fire,” said Brendan Doorly and Kevin Maguire, co-founders of Cross-Fire. “We welcome the Adcock team and look forward to serving new customers with the same high level of service that Cross-Fire is known for within the industry.”

Adcock marks the third add-on acquisition completed by Cross-Fire, a fire and life safety services platform established by AE Industrial Partners in May 2021.

“With the addition of Adcock, Cross-Fire is expanding its footprint south to the Washington D.C. market, a logical extension to its existing Northeastern operations,” said Charlie Santos-Buch, partner at AEI. “Additionally, Adcock broadens Cross-Fire’s service offering as a one-stop solution for its customers with the addition into the sprinkler business.”

Founded in 1998 by George Adcock and Michael Stone and based in Waldorf, Md., Adcock is a full-service fire alarm, electrical and sprinkler contracting business. For more than 20 years, the company has served a variety of commercial clients including property management firms, general contractors and electrical contractors, in addition to private owners. The current Adcock management team headed by Benjamin Thompson and Dave Dunnington will continue to lead the company going forward, with Kelly Preuett as head of the sprinkler division.

“We’re pleased to be joining the Cross-Fire platform and gaining additional financial and operational resources, which will be a competitive advantage as we continue to grow our business,” said Dunnington, general manager at Adcock.

Thompson, chief financial officer at Adcock, added, “We look forward to collaborating with our new partners in providing the highest quality tech-enabled safety systems to a wide variety of customers.” //

Session topics include:

• Contracting and procurement.
• Infrastructure and facility protection.
• How security product standards help meet government needs.
• The latest policies, practices and trends impacting security.

Speakers for the 2022 GovSummit include Daryle Hernandez, director, interagency security committee, cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and James Lewis, executive director, strategic solutions office, office of the chief procurement officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

For full details and early bird pricing, visit the SIA GovSummit website. //