Product and Service Highlights from ASIS

Nothing that I would consider earth-shattering from this year's ASIS conference, but there were some impressive showings:

First off -

I've always been a big fan on Smiths Detection - especially the x-ray machines. But they have fitted trucks now with the technology they are famous for- so now you can drive up to vehicles, containers, or just about anything and scan it. Of course there are legal and privacy considerations but if you are screening large items / vehicles in multiple locations and need a highly mobile solution - check them out.
(PS - it's very expensive)

They also carry some slick portable explosive detection units

Sagem Morpho continues to impress in the biometrics market.
I think people are starting to realize that if you're ready to grow out of your first generation of biometric solutions, you need to graduate to the next level of technology and Sagen Morpho will be waiting for you.

HID is pushing the total identity and logical access angle pretty hard now, and with their Omnikey line (and others) - they are on the right track. 

Imagine using your iClass card to gain access to your parking garage, building and then computer. For users of shared workspaces (clinical, etc) this is a great option. 

The naviGO server keeps it all running and they have a nifty tag line as well "Just as you do not expect your employees to become locksmiths to open a door, they should not need to become security experts to authenticate to computer systems".

I won't even get into the edge devices HID have released recently - that deserves it's own post. 

How many integrators did you see represent the way Niscayah did? I think they are just what the industry needs. It seems like all the global providers are married to a specific system or product line. If they are totally independent - more often than not they are only one or two branch locations covering a region. 

Securitas gobbled up all the winning integrators they could at first, bundled everyone into "Securitas Systems" and now they have broken free and become their own company. You get local service - backed by hundreds of experts around the globe. If you are running into a problem, chances are they have a project manager who has recently run into the same thing and can help. Niscayah can draw on that experience base as well as leverage their size in the product pricing game. They have recently started offering managed systems hosted offsite (access control, video, intrusion, etc..) very smart. 

Now, I have first hand experience with some of these products/services but my experience with others is limited to the ASIS trade floor. The newer products I've mentioned here look to be winners, but until I'm able to demo them myself (wink wink - nudge nudge) I'll reserve whatever seal of approval I can offer. Feel free to let me know if you have any feedback on anything listed! I understand that you may not want to use the comment section below but I'd like to share your experiences - even anonymously. 

Notes from the Conference

I enjoy the yearly ASIS conference, and this year's was no exception.

There were a few serious research projects I had to knock out when I was there,

and it's incredibly beneficial to conduct your product research when the manufacturer's

developers, engineers and sales reps are all in one place.

 

Let's see - some of the highlights (social this time, saving the product/service-specific comments for later) :

 

Steve Hunt's  event at the Hard Rock was well attended. Some great panel-type discussion and enough subject matter experts walking around to start a few companies. I enjoyed listening, and meeting a few new contacts.

 

HID's aquarium get-together was done in the usual HID style. That's got to be one of the best places to host that kind of event. Enough room for people to walk around and talk, with plenty of cool stuff to look at.
HID has some very cool options out now for use of your HID cards. A lot of it has to do with using the cards you already have to do more (unlock your computer quickly - etc.) but the edge devices they are offering are very slick as well.

I finally met my two favorite industry editors, Sam Pfeifle  and Rhianna Daniels. I must say, it's got to be difficult to write about the industry - starting from the outside. These two have jumped neck deep into things and work very hard to produce quality content.

 

The Niscayah  function was classy - these guys have come out of the gate strong and are going all out to set the standard. I love the concept of being as large, experienced and capable as they are but purely agnostic when it comes to product. They are selling expert integration and security technology services - not designing systems around a product line.

 

I don't know how - but I think it's logistically impossible for me to ever attend the President's reception - nothing specifically against it but it seems like as much as I plan to go it never works out. This year, I struggled to handle some left over work in time to attend, but the work got the best of me.

 

AMAG  had a classy event as well, and it's good to see the success they are having. I've got a very short list of access control systems I recommend and AMAG's is definitely on it.

 

Let's see - Softwarehouse /AD  hosted an event in an old refurbished opera house which was pretty cool - complete with bull riding. And last but not least - Pelco had a dixieland group playing, and it blew me away when they busted out the canteena scene song from Star Wars. 

More to come on equipment, booths and industry politics 

Using Twitter at ASIS (#ASIS)

Twitter has been used at various conferences for some time now, and if you're not familiar with it - I'd suggest checking it out (not just for conference reasons). 

If you're in the dark here - Twitter is an Internet service that allows people to post short (the size of a SMS Txt) messages that are available to anyone who cares to "follow" the user. 

It's called "micro-blogging" but the uses go way beyond what most would consider traditional blogging activity. I won't go into all the details, mostly because there is a wealth of information online about Twitter, more skillfully written than I could attempt. 

There are also references on RTP Physec to Twitter you can check out. 

So - I'll be using Twitter next week at the ASIS conference in Atlanta. All ASIS related posts will contain the "tag" #ASIS so they will be easy to track. Not just my "tweets" but anyone who uses the tag #ASIS will be included in search results for the tag itself. 

If you're going, and have a Twitter account - feel free to "follow" me, or - you can just subscribe to an RSS feed for the search results of #ASIS to see what everyone is talking about at the conference. 

Visit Twitter here

My Account

Search results for ASIS

Search results for #ASIS

Subscribe to an RSS feed of the #ASIS tag

Sticky Fingers Can Cost Billions

Time to shift focus back on to the retail floor. And this time, it's not just kids swiping video games.

The FBI recently reported that Organized Retail Crime (ORC) losses are up to $30 Billion a year - not chump change. I guess it makes sense, because it's easier than ever to buy and sell bulk goods in this day and age. Drug stores are being hit the hardest, with over the counter medicine and products being the largest targets.

What's interesting to me is the level of organization and expertise the criminals (boosters) are showing. To be successful, you need to obtain large amounts of merchandise and be able to sell it to discount retailers eventually. So, groups of boosters are skillfully distracting store staff, thwarting theft systems and walking out the door with bags full of product, and moving on to the next mark. "In as little as five minutes, they can sweep several shelves and walk out
carrying a bag loaded with several thousand dollars in stolen merchandise. Their targets are typically small but expensive items like Prilosec, Oil of Olay, Braun toothbrush heads, Xantac, Claritin, diet pills and more.

They manage to pass undetected through store security because their bags are lined with special aluminum foil that keeps the alarm tags on the stolen merchandise from going off.
Others push products out in the bottom of baby carriages or even in shopping carts, claiming that a friend is in line paying for it." - SecurityInfoWatch (article)

There have been some promising developments though. A new organizations like the Law Enforcement Retail Partnership Network (LERPnet) and keeping tabs on activity through retailer participation (some heavy hitting players by the way).

I know I'll also be keeping my eye out for new technology developed to target shoplifting. Not much activity in that arena for some time, so with ORC back in the limelight maybe we'll see some new and exciting developments.