Security "Grows-up" in '07

Is the security industry maturing right before our eyes? Maybe. Sure, security itself is as old as dirt, but as a private industry it did not truly begin to evolve until after World War II. The introduction of the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) was not even formed until 1956.

So how is it maturing in 2007? Well let’s analyze this past week’s ISC-West (International Security Conference) trade show in Las Vegas. The keynote was delivered by Guido Jouret, Chief Technology Officer of Cisco, and one of the highlight booths (at least for me) was none other than International Business Machines, commonly referred to as simply IBM. I dare say this is what the pundits might call CONVERGENCE. Are we finally seeing the big money IT firms take a stake in the Security industry?

Of course we are. The big money goes where big money can be made. Security, as a corporate industry, is now a player in B2B services. It has always been there, but with the events and technology development of the past 10 years, card access and CCTV monitoring has moved from a luxury to an absolute necessity. Throw in analytics, biometrics, and data-mining and it is a no-brainer to see IT take a vested interest in this evolving sector.

Thus, let’s ponder the technology on display at this year’s show.

Analytics, the term is as broad as employee-management. Every company with a camera and a digital recorder is touting their latest analytic package. This means the ability to “analyze” and to some extent interpret the digital data from video to illicit a response. Although it is not limited to video, as there are some progressive employee-management companies also using analytics to mine data from traffic patterns and access groupings, it is most commonly associated with the video side of security.

That being said, I was impressed with the ability of a couple of companies and their "analytic" development. One such company is Agent Vi (pronounced “Vee-I”) or Agent Video Intelligence. Formerly Aspectus, Agent Vi is the result of a calculated branding effort to stress true Video Intelligence without most of the price barriers associated with video analytics.

Of course, all of us in the industry should be cognizant of the movements made by Cisco since their acquisition of SyPixx in ’06. Their IP cameras have been designed with network security and bandwidth restraints in mind (see Security InfoWatch story).

Another video company that gets “it” when talking about convergence is IPVision (http://www.ipvisionsoftware.com/). This is a little company with some very big goals and unlimited potential. Look out for these guys and their top notch “edge” device management ability.

Finally, check out these other links for more info on this year's show.
www.SecurityDreamer.com
www.SecurityInfoWatch.com
www.ISCWest.com