Jouret kicks off ISC West; companies jockey for position

LAS VEGAS--Cisco's Guido Jouret issued a "call to action'' during his March 28 keynote address here, urging physical security professionals to "think about a convergence-ready business strategy." Close to 700 people crowded into a room at the Sands Convention Center Wednesday morning to listen to and pose questions to Jouret, who is CTO of Cisco's Emerging Markets Technology group. Cisco and fellow IT giant IBM had an official show floor presence for the first time ever, sporting large-scale booths and attracting crowds. Also new this year is a second floor dedicated to international vendors, with a particularly large Chinese pavilion. As is usual, the show's first day featured a smorgasbord of new product announcements (notably some new entrants into the IP camera market) and partnerships. Jouret discussed this proliferation of IP technology, noting the "global explosion of IP traffic ... which is expected to grow to eight exabytes per month by 2009." Today, 25 percent of cameras sold are IP-based, he said; "in the next three years, half of the cameras sold will be IP-based." Technological revolutions are accelerating. To prepare for the convergence of logical and physical security, Jouret suggested that lessons can be gleaned from other instances of convergence, specifically IP telephony. "The first IP telephony products were introduced in 1997. Seven years later IP telephony outsold" traditional telephony. As changes occur in physical security devices and applications, some things will not change, Jouret said. "You are the experts; you know your customers and you're a critical channel to the market." The crowd was eager to question Jouret, who fielded nine questions, some of them skeptical about the IT world's readiness to play in a big way in the physical security space. He was also asked about getting IP technology (particularly with fire) to comply with regulatory framework. It is possible, he said. With time, "regulations will adapt, but they will never lead technology. Technology is always ahead of what the regulations are." Jouret urged the crowd to hire "IT-savvy employees," to have physical security professionals "share requirements" with their IT counterparts, and to support joint planning and cross training between the IT and physical security employees