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ISC exceeds many expectations

ISC exceeds many expectations Co-location with InfoSecurity produces mixed results

NEW YORK--The conventional wisdom leading up to this year's ISC East show, held in the last week of October on the second floor of the Jacob Javits Convention Center here, seemed to indicate an increasingly irrelevant trade show, overshadowed by its Las Vegas sister show, ISC West. However, most exhibitors reported a better than expected experience. An informal poll taken by Security Systems News showed that vendors were happy with both traffic flow and business written, with a particularly crowded opening day, Oct. 24, of the two-day event. The same could not be said for InfoSecurity, a data security convention co-located with ISC East on the first floor of the Javits Center. The aisles were not well populated at any point during the two days and many exhibitors expressed frustration with the turnout. It could generally be said that while InfoSecurity attendees were seen milling about ISC East, few ISC East attendees traveled downstairs for the IT security event. A few companies took the opportunity to introduce themselves to the physical security market more formally. Seagate, the manufacturer of hard drives, had its SV35 on display, which can store as much as 500 gigabytes and is designed specifically for video surveillance, said segment marketing manager Mark Wojtasiak. "It tends to run cooler and consumes less power," than commercially available drives, he said, and it's designed for 24/7 operation, while most drives are only rated for eight hours a day, five days a week. He also touted his five-year warranty, a dedicated resource team for integrators building PC-based NVRs, and a partner program that's traditionally been for the IT channel. Another traditional IT company, Transition Networks, was introducing its media conversion hardware to the security surveillance market. With devices that convert IP and analog signals to fiber transmission, the company hopes to target systems that are getting "larger and larger, beyond the capacity of copper." Marketing manager Patrick Schaber also noted fiber's resistance to being tapped mid-cable. The company will be distributing its products through larger distributors like Anixter, TechData, Greybar, and CDW. Interestingly, Schaber felt the company would look to produce more analog-targeted products, as it feels sales will be 50/50 analog to digital even through 2010. Catcher Holdings, makers of durable field-ready PC tablets, also were looking to make friends with integrators, as they try to develop a reseller channel in physical security. Running Windows XP, their devices are much like laptops with a biometric sign-on, except are operated with a stylus instead of a keyboard and are virtually indestructible, surviving falls of four feet onto steel plates and operating underwater for as long as the battery holds out. With outward and inward facing cameras that take still pictures and video, the pieces seem well suited for security assessments like those required now of chemical facilities. Catcher is also targeting building inspectors and the insurance industry.

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