Way Out West

By Megan Weadock · April 4, 2008

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Today, the floor of ISC West was positively buzzing as even more attendees crammed into the Sands Expo Center halls. It was difficult to even move from one booth to another. And, as expected, those companies that won Security Industry Association New Product Showcase awards on Wednesday were swamped with people checking out their wares.

The showcase’s winning products included the NoblePeak Vision TriWave camera, which was named Best of NPS Innovation; GE Security’s SmartCommand; VideoIQ’s iCVR; Pivot3’s High-definition storage; and Proximex’s Surveillint 3.0. Brivo Systems’ OnSite SE won two awards: Judge’s Choice for Commercial and Integrated Software, Products and Systems. The full list of winners and award categories is available at www.siaonline.org.

Meanwhile, another aspect of the show, ISC West Education, also was drawing huge crowds. One of the more popular classes was a panel discussion called “Get the Latest Line on Wireless Access Control.” Representatives from Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies discussed the benefits and uses of wireless, as opposed to traditional, hard-wired installations.

Andy Geremia, product manager for Ingersoll Rand, pointed out that the main benefit comes when wireless can go where wired installations cannot.

“We’ve all probably walked away from a job because it required too much wiring or we wished we could implement some wireless,” he said.

Wireless installations also require much less set-up time in many cases. For example, a traditional installation that could take six to eight hours per door could be completed wirelessly in less than an hour per door.

Nathan Burkhardt, principal of Opening Technologies Inc., a provider of door, hardware, life safety and security solutions based in Concord, Calif., discussed the wireless access control system his company installed at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill. In this case, the client needed a cost-effective solution that would be flexible enough for unexpected building requirements and future expansion.

Burkhardt and his team installed a wireless system to provide access control to 22 doors. Two years later, the school needed to expand the project to include even more openings.

“We were able to expand it pretty seamlessly,” he said.


About the author

Megan Weadock
Megan Weadock is managing editor of Security Products magazine.


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