PSA-TEC changes dates back to May

NEW YORK—Some of the news coming out of the ISC East show, here, is about another show: PSA-TEC. PSA Security's annual education and exhibition event, held in the Chicago area, has decided to move its dates from June 14 through 18, 2010, to May 24 through 28, 2010, at the Stephens Convention Center, in Rosemont, Ill. Further, PSA announced that Reed Exhibitions, owner of the ISC shows, will now manage PSA-TEC, while PSA will provide educational offerings for both ISC shows going forward.

The previously announced June dates coincided with the CSAA/ESA (formally NBFAA)-owned ESX show, which will be held in Pittsburgh in 2010. The changed dates will avoid a conflict.

“The truth is,” said Bill Bozeman, president and CEO of PSA Security, “we try our best to be a good corporate citizen, and we had concern from some of our integrators who also participate in CSAA and NBFAA, and they asked that we take a look at the dates and see if there were others dates that were possible. So we spoke to our partner, which is Reed, and they were actually very cooperative in assisting us in moving the dates.”

He said the move also relieves some concerns that were expressed by members about school vacations, but that manufacturers were largely silent about the former conflict. “We had a handful express concern,” Bozeman said, “but, considering we have as many vendors as we do, not as many as you'd think. The decision was made because we do our best to listen to our integrators and we just wanted to do the best thing for them.”

At the time of the announcement of the June dates, Bozeman expressed the opinion that there wasn't much overlap between the members of ESA and CSAA and PSA Security. Has he changed his mind about that?

“Our business is really heavily focused on systems integration,” he clarified, “and I believe that companies who are alarm-centric are not necessarily the best fit with us. But if they choose to get into the video surveillance and controlled access market, they're a great fit.”

As for the education that PSA will provide at the ISC shows, Bozeman said it wouldn't be the same as what's available at PSA-TEC, as there are “some classes that last five days” at PSA-TEC, but “we're working with Reed to determine what is a good fit for two-hour, four-hour, and half-day blocks, focusing on controlled access, video, and the peripherals.”