What will be the big news at ISC West 2022?

I anticipate a lot of excitement around the ISC West show this year and I know we are all looking forward to seeing old acquaintances and meeting people we have worked with over the past few years face-to-face – an absolute necessity in the security industry. On the show floor, I anticipate seeing an uptick of innovative use cases for video analytics on display. While the security industry might be well-versed in utilising video analytics for safety and security applications, the expansion of this technology into more mainstream, business intelligence use cases has accelerated over the last two years and will be on full display at this year’s show.

Edge analytics are attracting a lot of attention, as higher power processors and more memory in cameras and sensors enable a more accurate analysis of the scene. Enhanced flow analysis and object movement tracking are just two of the features that have benefited from these computing advances. People counting and dwell analysis in retail are critical data components, and enhancements to these features have been well-received by the retail markets. Additionally, expect to see expanded offerings as manufacturers seek to provide more of a ‘one-stop’ buying experience, by extending their product sets to include access control, intrusion detection, and advanced environmental sensors. This activity has blurred the line between traditionally CCTV-oriented manufacturers and others who have focused on intrusion and access.

At ISC West 2022, we’ll see AI on the edge everywhere. When AI first started being discussed in the security industry a few years ago, it was clearly a specialty item. As technology progressed, premium lines of cameras evolved with some AI features, but they remained segmented from traditional camera offerings. Today, we have the broadest expansion yet, where AI is commonplace on standard camera lines like Hanwha Techwin’s popular Wisenet X series. AI is only as good as the training data fed into it and the quality of the pixels presented to it. On the technology adoption curve, the reliability and accuracy of analytics is driving market demand to a point where AI-based cameras are about to jump the chasm into mainstream adoption if they have not already. Soon, we can expect to see some level of AI-based technology being offered on all cameras, even low-cost lines.

While there has been much cloud talk in recent years, we are entering a new era where customers no longer have to choose between cloud or on-premises solutions. A new generation of edge-computing devices is about to enter the market. They are designed to allow customers to focus on business needs and desired outcomes without being caught in the false dichotomy of cloud versus on-premises. These solutions will enable organisations to modernise their security infrastructure without replacing equipment they have already invested in. They will create a bridge between legacy equipment and the Cloud, allowing the gradual migration of security systems to a hybrid cloud architecture without disrupting operations. For larger, multi-site operations, these plug-and-play hybrid solutions will instantly bring all sites together and make deployment and maintenance easier than ever. These new appliances will help organisations modernise their existing installations and extend the useful life of their legacy equipment.

We are looking forward to attending and sharing our solutions with the U.S. market at ISC West this year, and while there is a lot of buzz around it, some of this detracts from the core purpose of the event. I have no doubt there will be a lot of discussion around whether the footfall is up or down on the 2021 and pre-pandemic figures. There will also be lots of debate about whether masks should be worn or not, and what other measures need to be in place to keep people safe. However, beyond the logistics and recent history of the event, I really hope we will be seeing evidence that the uptake of mobile credentials for access control is starting to take hold and that more manufacturers are opening their systems to a plug-and-play world. Like all the major security sector events, ISC West is all about the latest technology and trends, and we should all be concentrating on that, rather than dwelling too much on the pandemic disruptions around the event itself.

For 2022, I am expected to see the following topics highlighted at ISC West. While these are not new topics for 2022, I expect their level of importance has notably increased.

• Interoperability – Limited labour and restricted budgets heighten the value of solutions that can extend the value of customer’s ecosystems.
• Virtual Collaboration – Multiuser accessibility and coordination of information has raised from beneficial to business essential as employees and clients standardise on working remotely.
• Efficiency – Doing more, with less, is as vital as ever. Labour, time, material, and funding can all be aided by services and solutions in our industry.

The amount of information security practitioners must contend with daily is a significant challenge. I expect many individuals at ISC West to be discussing how we as an industry can work collaboratively to create integrated and unified solutions that can help capture, analyse, and locate the data that is most important to end users in critical environments. When it comes to audio solutions, there is a significant push for organisations to adopt unified communication platforms. Unified communication outlines an integrated way of sending and receiving messages in a straightforward, two-way manner and delivers valuable insight to help ensure the protection of people, buildings, and assets. Stakeholders can achieve a high level of efficiency and cost savings by networking multiple audio, video and IoT systems together. Overall, we are excited to have the opportunity to be back at ISC West and be a part of this conversation.

I expect to see a reinvigorated industry with stakeholders most excited about the growth opportunities on the horizon and the innovations that will propel us into the next evolution of this market. We are seeing dealers open their eyes to how they can evolve their businesses to prepare for the future of the industry, and that includes re-evaluating how they offer services and build recurring monthly revenue (RMR). Technology advancements in video monitoring are propelling these changes because they enhance the user experience and open doors to new RMR streams. Mobile applications enable dealers to gain more insight into alarms at protected sites and new management and training tools give them stronger control over alarm handling. Video monitoring testing services also help reduce false alarms and improve communications with alarm agents. ISC West is an opportunity to help our dealers learn how these innovations will support their growth goals.