ISC West 2012 Wrap Up
The 44th Annual International Security Conference (ISC West 2012), held at the Sands Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV, from March 27 - March 30, attracted more than 24,000 international security professionals including installers, integrators, manufacturers of security products and security cabling contractors and designers. This year’s event opened with everybody buzzing about the security attendees who were enroute to the show on that infamous JetBlue flight from New York and who were credited for restricting the manic pilot as the flight was diverted to safety. But, even with national media descending upon the venue, the show went on and attendee focus quickly turned to the next newest advancements in security applications, particularly IP enabled products.
ISC West is the largest annual event hosted in the U.S. for the physical security industry. The sold-out exhibit show floor featured over 100,000 products from 900-plus manufacturers, including more than 170 first-time exhibitors bringing never-before-seen products and technologies to ISC.
Berk-Tek celebrated its fifth year as an exhibitor. Located in a 10x10 booth we featured a live demo of the unique OneReach Power over Ethernet (PoE) extender system. The OneReach system is an integrated power and data cable solution for extended distances, such as for security cameras or access points, beyond the 100 meters of conventional PoE solutions – up to 3,850 feet. Last year this product won an award in the New Product Showcase at ISC. This year security cabling designers, architects and installers visited the Berk-Tek booth to see the product’s evolving upgrades to 1 Gig and PoE Plus capabilities. As a result, Berk-Tek collected a number of qualified sales leads. The acclaimed ISC Premier Education Series, which featured 50 sessions (over three days), was organized by industry demographics – dealers/installers/integrators; central station owners; or end users who had a choice of tracks including physical security, I.T.-related issues or public safety. Designed by the ISC Educational Advisory Board in collaboration with the Security Industry Association (SIA), ISC Premier Education Series is the security industry’s broadest offering of education, developed by the industry designed to take today’s security professional to the next level. Carol Oliver, Berk-Tek’s marketing analyst (New Holland, PA) and BICSI’s Northeast Region Director, gave a panel presentation to more than 100 people on the upcoming Electronic Safety and Security (ESS) standard being developed by BICSI and ANSI for international use. This design standard focuses on cabling installation best practices. Expected to be ratified later this year, it identifies the direct attach connectivity at the device end for which Berk-Tek is the first cable manufacturer to recognize and warrant this solid-conductor plug termination method. In addition, the fiber/copper composite cable system (i.e. OneReach) will also become the defacto method of pushing PoE out to extended distances over structured cabling. Additional panel members with Carol Oliver who discussed other industry physical design standards included Steve Surfaro, channel manager and security industry liaison for Axis Communications, and Steve Van Till, president and CEO of Brivo Systems LLC and an SIA board member.
During the week, the Security 5K/Mission 500 Charity Run took place on the Las Vegas strip. The event raised more than $80,000 to benefit Mission 500, a charitable organization engaging security professionals to sponsor children in need through the World Vision, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the needs of children and communities in crisis. There were 370 runners including Berk-Tek’s Mike Connaughton, Fiber Optic Business Manager (Fuquay-Varina, NC) and Geoff Laycock, Fiber Connections, the manufacturer of the OneReach media converters.
