Coverage from ISC West 2019

It sounds cliché to say, but “I'm excited about ISC West this year.” This is my first ISC since returning to the security industry and while I have memories of sore feet, late nights and early, sleepy mornings, I gladly welcome all because that means I have the opportunity to get reacquainted with old friends in the industry, and see and interact with new security products and services.

In addition to booth visits, breakfasts, happy hours and dinners, and of course, live tweeting @SSN_Ginger, I was invited by ADT to moderate their consumer privacy panel, “Consumer Privacy - How Can Security Lead the Way?” on Thursday, April 11th from 9:45 am to 10:45 am in the Sands Expo Center room 307. I cordially invite you to grab a cup of coffee and join myself along with panelists Kenneth Olmstead, internet privacy & security analyst, Internet Society; Brandon Board, chief information security officer, Resideo Technologies, Inc.; and Dylan Gilbert, policy fellow, Public Knowledge as we explore current practices and opportunities for the industry to strengthen their leadership in privacy standards. There will be an audience Q&A afterwards, so bring your questions and comments for our panelists.

Check out my blog for daily recaps this week and don't forget to follow me on Twitter @SSN_Ginger for live show updates.

And, in the blink of an eye, ISC West 2019 has come and gone, and the happenings of those days will forever be written in security industry history.

Leading up to the event, people are filled with excited wonder about seeing industry connections, making new acquaintances and establishing new industry relationships, and interacting with new and legacy products manufacturers display in their elaborate booths.

At the event, SIA offers education sessions that qualify for CE hours; the security industry joins forces to raise money for Mission 500 to help underprivileged children and their families; companies host breakfasts, happy hours and dinners, some complete with awards as symbols of appreciation to their integrator partners; and the showroom floor is literally alive with a humming buzz of conversation and an unexplainable energy that attendees can't help but feel. And, that's just scratching the surface. ISC West is truly a “wonderland” for the security industry.

Then, of course, there is the post ISC West reflection after everyone returns home, has time to rest and then think about the week gone by. The following is an excerpt from my ISC West daily diary with tid-bits from industry professionals:

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

The day before the show floor opened, DMP hosted their 9th annual Owner's Forum for its top 100 dealers, where like-minded executives and owners network and learn from acclaimed speakers on how to grow their business. Morning keynote speaker, Tim Whall, former CEO at ADT, imparted his knowledge to the room full of integrators, inviting them to think about why someone would buy from them. When employees are taken care of, this pride trickles down to the customers and profits will follow.

“How much effort are you willing to put into your business,” Whall asked. “Make it [your business] meaningful by engaging with your employees; they must know you care about them as people and your vested in their success. Develop and acquire the necessary tools for success, establish pride by formulating team goals and define employees' duties so they can expand and grow.”

Dealer attendees were awarded diamond, platinum, gold and silver level awards and a year in review video was presented, highlighting all of DMPs achievements, such as adding dealer analytics into Dealer Account, the company's online platform for integrators; launching their video doorbell with audio and local storage on the device; and introducing LTE Communicators with a lifespan until the year 2030.

The event concluded with the afternoon keynote speaker, Mark Murphy, CEO, Leadership IQ, who encouraged integrators to “clearly articulate to employees about their work performance so they know they are doing right.”

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

The 12th Annual Axis Press Breakfast, hosted by Fredrik Nilsson, vice president of the Americas, and Martin Gren, company co-founder, kicked off my ISC West-centric festivities with coffee, scrambled eggs and the key components of a smart city, which include safety and security, waste management, critical infrastructure and IoT/cybersecurity.

“Can you ever have too many cameras,” Gren queried the audience, to which heads shook left to right, indicating the answer as 'no.'

Gren agreed, but said that obtaining a permit to install a camera in a city is sometimes the most expensive part of the process. He offered this solution: “The more sensors you add, the more money you save because only one permit is needed.”

Energized from the breakfast, I went onto the showroom floor to visit company's booths, starting with Vintra, where I learned about FulcrumAI, the company's AI-powered video analytics solutions.

“There are a number of deep learning concepts that are producing false positives,” said Brent Boekenstein, CEO, Vintra, “but Fulcrum was built from the ground up using the company's own AI technology, and it works on fixed and mobile systems.” Vintra created their own algorithms and they are able to explain exactly how the technology was built to integrators and end users. Coming in Q3 is a concept called “person re-identification,” in which body recognition will be used.

Next, I spoke with Russell Vail, EVP - market development, Alula, who introduced me to BAT-Connect, a device that easily upgrades legacy security platforms into mobile by bridging intrusion, video and automation between smart devices end users already use.

“This is hot for dealers because major investments were made into legacy systems,” Vail said. “BAT allows the use of mobile to arm and disarm legacy systems, for example, giving new life to older products.”

I then sat down with Dan Cremins, global leader, product management, March Networks who is taking on the integrator challenge of RMR via a new version of Insight, a self-service portal that can be sold as a service for monthly recurring revenue.

“Insight provides scalable, system administration via a closed-loop system to understand all health management of all cameras at all locations,” Cremins explained. “This provides complete visibility of the system,” so, for example, integrators can monitor customer cameras and send a report indication which cameras at specific locations are coming close to using up their warranty, enabling proactive security and excellent customer service to help prevent attrition.

Additionally, March Networks integrated their POS with Shopify, making this their first cloud-based integration.

The topic of video evidence was next on my agenda, so I met with John Gallagher, vice president of marketing, Viakoo. The company announced the release of its Video Assurance Service (VAS) that provides oversight, automatic problem detection and continuous diagnostics, empowering teams to resolve issues onsite or remotely. Delivered as a managed service, integrators can use it to build “new recurring income with an out-of-the-box solution that delivers value to customers,” Gallagher said. “VAS provides integrators with a digital connection to their customers, enabling preventative maintenance to be done remotely” which furthers end-user satisfaction.

Dortronics brought scalability to access control via the 4800 Series Intelligent Interlock Controllers. “With these controllers, a maze of two to five locked doors can be created, or scale up to 128 doors, all functioning off one controller, as facilities expand,” Bryan Sanderford, national sales manager, Dortronics said.

By this time, I was getting a bit weary. As I walked to my next appointment with Kirby Han, art director, Altronix Corp., I was excited to see the company-hosted coffee bar and helped myself to an expresso with dark chocolate shavings before jumping into the topic of power supply. New to Altronix is the Trove Access and Power Integration Series, a rack-mounted solution with a removable backplane that allows installers to easily configure and test the system before installation.

“Trove comes as pre-assembled kits to make installation easier and running wires underground isn't necessary, which is costly,” Han said.

Next was a conversation with Nancy Islas, president of Maxxess Systems, to discuss the access control software arena, with the introduction of the Maxxess InSite, a security solution that combines machine intelligence with human intelligence via a managed mobile communication system to empower employees to report their suspicions.

“The mobile app gives employees power to report,” Islas explained, “and adding the human element of reporting allows for early detection of potential threats.” Hence, taking a proactive approach to security.

Also unique is the Maxxess panic button, a feature found on the mobile app, wirelessly in the cloud via physical IoT devices and as hot keys on a keyboard.

Usually surge protection comes as an afterthought, but when investing in expensive security systems, it is a cost-effective insurance policy for protecting equipment. Ditek, a surge protection company, urges installers to at least offer surge protection to end-users or specify it at the proposal stage because it can reduce warranty claims and increase customer satisfaction.

Matt Virga, director of sales, LifeSafety Power, was my last visit of the day to discuss low voltage power solutions for access control solutions. OutSmart Technology provides visual voltage verification with a glowing blue LED light indicating 24 volts and a green light representing 12 volts of power.

“With our efficiency of design, the integrator, installer and end-user all benefit,” Virga explained. “On the job, installers are able to simply switch a jumper from 12 to 24 volt or visa versa and end-users are provided with a unified solution.”

Thursday, April 11, 2019

The SSN team got up around 5:30am to participate in the Mission 500 race � well, almost the entire team! I opted out this year because I was honored to moderate ADT's consumer privacy panel and then I was off again to more booth visits. First up, Resideo by Honeywell, where I saw solutions such as Buoy, a leak detector and their next generation ProSeries, a portfolio of products for a self-contained security system, that captures Resideo's four key elements: comfort, security, water management and air.

Next, I went over to the ADI Distribution and was met by John Sullivan, vice president of sales. He explained that all products housed on the company's shelves are color coded for easy identification. ADI has a “pick up anytime” room that is open 24/7 so dealers can rely on ADI to keep solutions at the ready. They also have a “quick pick up” where dealers can call in, go online or use an app to order products and the order will be ready for pick up in one hour.

Hanwha Techwin offered me a tour of their booth, demonstrating their cameras and explaining that trends seem to be moving into AI cameras and Android platform cameras.

ADT unveiled its new ADT Commercial brand at the show. “When a dealer calls into support there is a zero wait time and emails are answered within two hours,” Dan Bresingham, executive vice president, ADT Command said.

My next stop was IRIS ID, a biometric access solution that scans a person's iris as the credential. When I asked why the iris instead of a fingerprint or different biometric, Mohammed Murad, vice president global business development and sales for IRIS said, “The iris has 240 to 400 data points that are analyzed compared to approximately 30 in fingerprints.”

Moving on along the show floor, Christy Roth, marketing manager - applications and solutions took me through a journey through an actual simulated retail store to demonstrate the company's integrated solutions such as video paired with voice. Bosch offers a variety of products, so “we are focusing on what individual solutions can do when used in conjunction with our other solutions,” Roth said.

As the day second was coming to an end, I stopped by and visited with LenelS2 and Interlogix. These companies were highlighting mobile credentialing, using mobile devices to operate access control, home and building controls, and video surveillance

My final stop was with Nortek/2GIG to interact with some of the technology that was featured in my article “Joe Roberts of Nortek Security and Control predicts industry trends.”

Friday, April 12, 2019

I greeted the last day of ISC West 2019 at the Women in Security Forum breakfast which consisted of sipping coffee and networking with women (and men) in the industry. The whole room was in awe and inspired by guest speaker Juliette Kayyem, Harvard professor and most recently, President Obama's Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, as she detailed the exact location of herself and her newborn baby when she first heard about the 9/11 incident.

After an inspiring morning, I was ready to return home and back to work, excited to research and write all about what I learned.