20 Key Trends Emerge From ASIS 2014
The 60th Annual ASIS Int’l Seminar and Exhibits was a rousing success, with plenty of telling industry takeaways. Find out what they are.
ATLANTA ― The security industry is closing out the year on a high note. While official figures were not available at the time of this writing, it was apparent to anyone who regularly attends the event that the 60th Annual ASIS Int’l Seminar and Exhibits at Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center was an undeniable success. On the heels of recent lackluster ASIS shows in Philadelphia and Chicago, many leading up to this year’s event had speculated that Atlanta would prove no better. However, any frowns were turned upside-down as aisles were shoulder-to-shoulder with well in excess of 20,000 show-goers and many exhibit booths looked like Apple stores on the day of a new iPhone release. In the evenings, many of those folks had even broader smiles thanks to the wide assortment of social goings-on.
The ASIS show, once almost exclusively aimed at and attended by security end users (i.e. security directors/managers, facility managers, security personnel, CSOs), has transformed to encompass the breadth of the security spectrum that now makes it equally relevant for commercial security systems integrators, consultants and others allied to the field. With the majority of major news announcements and new security products and technologies launched at springtime’s ISC West in Las Vegas each year, the ASIS event is more about reinforcing those launches, previewing what’s around the corner for the coming year, strengthening business relationships and taking in some of the extensive training and education sessions for which ASIS is famous.
With that in mind, 20 predominant trends or themes stood out among the 650+ exhibiting vendors. Here, in no particular order, are those takeaways:
1. Technology partnerships ― Practically all the vendors, once all about propriety and playing everything close to the vest, are throwing their arms open to embrace collaborative product/system and branding opportunities. A prime example is BCDVideo’s servers coming preloaded with Genetec’s Security Center software.
2. Hardware-centric vendors adding software ― Looking to move beyond commoditized boxes and ways to make their products more relevant moving forward, many traditionally component-based suppliers are either creating their own integrated software, OEMing it from someone else or openly partnering with a specialist to expand feature sets. An example is Pivot3’s Virtual Security Console, designed to allow users to deliver secure security operations center capabilities at any time, in any location.
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About the Author
Scott Goldfine
Scott Goldfine is the marketing director for Elite Interactive Solutions. He is the former editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He can be reached at [email protected].
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