Since You’ve Been Gone

Ah, it's good to be home. I just flew in from Las Vegas, and boy are my arms tired. I’ve got a few more dad jokes in me courtesy of Editor Cory Harris, but I’ll just move on and say that although I had a great time at ISC West this year, I’m glad to be back.

Now I have a cartoonishly large pile of interviews to sift through, emails to return since getting back, and to reflect on the experience. It was my first attendance at this show, but everyone I met couldn’t help but remark about how it felt like the show was finally “back.” I haven’t seen a firm attendance number yet but if you told me it was north of 30,000, I wouldn’t be shocked.

What was nice for me was putting a face to some of the fine industry representatives I normally email throughout the week. Let me tell you, some of those people are troopers. I spent three days walking in a pair of shoes about a size or so too small, and I wanted to cry by the time I was done, while some of those lunatics did it in heels! 

It was also a great place for shop talk on what’s trending in the industry. If I had to pick the three phrases I heard the most at the conference it would be cloud-based, recurring revenue, and artificial intelligence (AI), with a side of edge computing. Cyber-physical integration was on the lips of many access control providers, and to my surprise a few vendors indicated to me there was a clamor to return to simpler, non-smart solutions. Nearly all the vendors I spoke with were tailoring products to the specific needs and requests of clients.  

Speaking of simpler solutions, I had several readers stop me at the show to tell me how much they enjoyed our publication. One fine gentleman even commented that “I feel like your issues are always the one I see sitting at our office,” and I have to say that filled me with pride. We here at Security Systems News enjoy our work, and it’s heartening to hear that you do too.

Here’s to next year’s show! Stay tuned for some great articles and interviews this week.