Brink's stock up; TechSec kicks off

Brink's stock is trading at a 52-week high today (the last trade I saw was 68.47. Guess investors like the news yesterday that Brink's Home Security will be spun off to become its own publicly traded company. (See yesterday's post below for more info) Meanwhile, I'm here in Dallas at TechSec Solutions, which in case you didn't know, is a conference that's all about IP-ready security technology, and sponsored by my paper Security Systems News and our sister publication, Security Director News. At the keynote address the morning, David Bunzel, managing director of the Santa Clara Consulting Group, talked about how the adoption of standards will be the catalyst to widespread adoption of IP-ready security technology. The momentum for the adoption of standards, he predicted, will not come from consumer demand, but rather from you, the security integrators. At my table this morning were Derek Gietzen of General Lock, a security technology company in San Diego, and two guys from Dakota Security of Sioux Falls: Bob Peplinski, their regional vice president and Brent Waysman, a systems engineer. The president of their company, Eric Yunag, was featured in our August issue as one of the 20 movers and shakers under the age of 40, in the security industry. Yesterday, before the conference began, I had a great tour of ASG Security's Dallas office, with their general manager Chad Dawald. Dallas is the biggest and most successful (in terms of RMR) branch, and it's easy to see why when you visit. I'll be reporting on that visit in our April issue. On a side note, I arrived in this city late Sunday afternoon and had a chance to visit the Nasher Sculpture Center, which is around the corner from the Fairmont where we're staying. It's an indoor-outdoor museum and where you can get really close to some stunning stuff: Brancusi's The Kiss, Giacometti's skinny people, Moore's reclining women and Picasso's head of a woman statue. If you're in the neighborhood, it's worth a visit.