ESX draws a crowd in Nashville

The ESX show, now in its sixth year, returned to Nashville this year for the third time but this year, it was in a new, very nice venue, the Music City Center.

The center's musical instrument-inspired design is really beautiful. And the trade show floor and classrooms were easy to find.

The center had literally been open for only two weeks before ESX, so we'll give facility managers a little time to fix two things: the building needs more consistent wifi throughout� (maybe a vendor will sponsor a hot spot next year);� and, it needs more food vendors--at least one with some healthy food.

ESX reports that there were 3,000 registrants and nearly 200 exhibitors at the show this year. Most vendors I spoke to reported good traffic at the show, especially on Wednesday.

I was at the SSN Booth/ESX Experience stage doing video interviews for most of time that the floor was open. We were on the far side at the front of the floor and there was plenty of traffic.

The aisles were wider than usual, so while there were definitely more people walking the floor than last year, there was more space on the floor as well.

A new addition to our booth this year was the Twitter Wall, which was a giant scrolling screen of #ESX2013 tweets. Tim Purpura (SSN group publisher) coordinated with sponsor Interlogix to offer prizes to tweeters for the duration of the show.

We had two big prizes. Each time someone tweeted using the #ESX2013 hashtag, they were entered into a drawing for an iPad Mini. Brandon Savage @biff_savage won that prize.

I chose the winner of a second iPad Mini, the #ESX2013 “MVT” (Most Valuable Tweeter). The prize went to Erica Wood, @TheSecurityGirl, who is one tireless tweeter!

Among the interesting events at the show was a speech given by Michael Kehoe, Newtown, Conn. police chief and a first responder at the Sandy Hook Elementary School during the December shooting.

Kehoe that the Sandy Hook Elementary School was among the safest in the country, with regular safety drills and a security system in place.

People are starting to look at school security differently now. “Security is an issue in every school, and it's really everyone's business,” he said.

He lauded the Electronic Security Association for its work in drafting “The Electronic Security Guidelines for Schools” a new resource for school officials that are considering adding electronic security systems to new or existing schools. The guidelines were announced at the luncheon and can be downloaded for free at www.ESAweb.org.

Put together by panel of experts led by David Koenig of Capital Fire and Security of Madison, Wisc, the guidelines aim to help schools create a security plan and outlines steps� such as: threat assessment, procurement types, contractor selection, how systems affect schools, equipment types, and system use. The guidelines also address community involvement in schools.

ESA is distributing the guidelines to schools across the country.

Kehoe called the ESA guidelines the “perfect blueprint” for school administrators and school boards.

I have much more, which I will report on later, about from the show, including my panel discussion “Financing and Debt Options for your Company,” which featured sage advice from Robert Chefitz of Egis Capital Partners, Jeff Kessler from Imperial Capital, and Jennifer Holloway from The PrivateBank.

One more item about the show floor, which didn't walk as much as I would have liked.

I only did one ISC West-style booth visit at the Honeywell, which by the way, won the “best overall” category for ESX's Maximum Impact Awards for its LYNX Touch 5100,��

The LYNX Touch 5100 is “a full-color touchscreen with graphic icons and intuitive prompts that enables garage door notification, tornado alerts for U.S. and Canadian residents, Z-Wave home automation capabilities and advanced alarm communications. The Z-Wave connectivity module lets installers integrate security, lighting, thermostats and more—for local and remote control.”

The other winners are below: �
-Best Access Control/ID Systems: Access Control System Linear: Linear eMerge E3-Series
-Best Access Control/ID Systems: Keypads DMP: Graphic Touchscreen Keypad
-Best Accessories & Aids: Dealer Company Software DICE Corporation: Matrix Mobile Vivid
-Best Accessories & Aids: Mobile Applications Monitronics: eContract
-Best Alarm Equipment: Alarm Signal Transmission Equipment ipDatatel, LLC: Cellular Broadband Alarm Transceiver
-Best Alarm Equipment: Annunciators, Bells, Sirens, Strobes Cooper Notification: Exceder LED Speaker Strobes and Speakers
-Best Alarm Equipment: Enhanced Video Alarm Videofied-RSI Video Technologies: Indoor Motion Viewer
-Best Alarm Equipment: Fire/Smoke/Gas Detectors System Sensor: i4 Series Combination CO/Smoke Detector
-Best Alarm Equipment: Interactive Services Telguard: Telguard HomeControl
-Best Alarm Equipment: Intrusion Alarm Control Panels Honeywell Security Group: Tuxedo Touch
-Best Alarm Equipment: Intrusion Detection System Xtralis: IntrusionTrace PLUS
-Best Alarm Equipment: Intrusion Sensors/Detectors Xtralis: ADPRO PRO Intelligent Passive Infrared Detectors
-Best Alarm Equipment: PERS Hardware Telguard: MXD3G
-Best Alarm Equipment: Wireless Alarm Systems Honeywell Security Group: LYNX Touch 5100
-Best Central Station Equipment: Central Station Software Bold Technologies, Ltd.: Dashboard
-Best Central Station Equipment: Remote Video Monitoring Equipment/Software I-View Now: I-View Now Guard Tours
-Best Security Robotics: Robotic Technology Vigilant Robots: Vigilus Mobile Camera Platform
-Best Services: Alarm Monitoring KeepYourIp, Inc.: KeepYourIP
-Best Services: Dealer Financial Services AlarmBiller by Perennial Software: AlarmBiller
-Best Services: Dealer Marketing Services Netsertive, Inc.: Digital Extend
-Best Services: Security as a Service (SaaS) Axis Communications: ASG Video powered by Secure-I & Axis AVHS Platform
-Best Services: Video Monitoring Services I-View Now: I-View Now Version 2.0�� ��� �
-Best Video Security: Digital Recording Systems Interlogix: TruVision NVR 50
-Best Video Security: IP Cameras Axis Communications: AXIS P12 Network Camera Series
-Best Video Security: Video Surveillance System Smartvue Corporation: Smartvue S9Q Cloud Surveillance Server