News
A merger that makes sense

SIA and ISC have joined together with Securing New Ground for 2011, bringing both events together to form Security Week in New York City Nov. 1-4.

Securing New Ground, Security 500, ISC Solutions and the Tri-Association Awards Dinner will, for the first time, be planned together.

Those in the industry who have tried to attend both let out a collective sigh of appreciation when the news was announced on Day 1 of ISC Solutions in New York. Just that day I had talked to a number of industry players who were somewhat lamenting the fact they had to turn around and come back to New York in five days to attend Securing New Ground.

It’s the perfect combination of material and people put into one week. And next year I believe it will benefit from the fact that the ASIS International show is returning to its usual spot on the calendar in mid-September.
 
ISC Solutions was renamed in 2010 to focus on more end user applications and vertical markets.

For those who haven’t attended before, Securing New Ground is a great two days of content that showcases the top executives in the industry who discuss, often in a panel format with a moderator, where the latest trends in monitoring and RMR are heading and what technologies and companies are getting the most attention. Over the years SNG has brought the hottest names in the industry together to talk about how they are changing the business.

For example, this year a session called The New Faces of Profits and Monitoring featured the chief operating officer from APX Alarm, the president of Alarm.com and the president of Connect America and Medical Alert Monitoring Association. I wasn’t able to attend this year, but that was one session I really regret missing out on.

And the annual Gamechangers panel this year features Mark Jarman, president of Inovonics Wireless Corp. who I had the pleasure of meeting at ASIS in Dallas as well as Jay Hauhn VP and CTO of ADT’s commercial division.

The annual market forecast report generated on investment in the industry has become a sort of bible for the industry that many were keen to get their hands on. Initially produced by Jeff Kessler and his team when he was with Lehman Bros., this year a panel of three including Kessler, who has been with Imperial Capital the past few years, as well as Morgan Keegan & Co. and Capital Source gave their Wall Street Perspectives.

The conference has also traditionally been a hot spot for deal making.

“Security Week will provide valuable content related to all aspects of the security industry,” said Richard Chace, CEO of the Security Industry Association (SIA), the sole sponsor of ISC Solutions, and the new owner of Securing New Ground, a partner in Security 500 and a co-presenter of the Tri-Association Awards Dinner.

“Investors, manufacturers, distributors, end-users and others will find the information and networking opportunities that they need at these events,” Chace said at ISC Solutions last month.

Security Week will begin on Tuesday, Nov. 1, and Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the Roosevelt Hotel with Securing New Ground, a conference that brings together executives, investors and users of security technology.

On Thursday, Nov. 3, and Friday, Nov. 4, ISC Solutions will take place at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

The new model for ISC Solutions — one that focuses on security applications and making meaningful connections between manufacturers and end-users — was tested this year. I sat in on a few sessions — one in particular on campus security was not well attended. Proof perhaps that either a) there needed to be a better push on the content to end users, or, perhaps the fact ASIS Dallas had just wrapped Oct. 15, followed then by Security Canada Central Oct. 20-21.

On the Thursday night, the Tri-Association Awards Dinner, an event held to honour those who have made outstanding contributions to the security industry, will be held at The Lighthouse on Chelsea Pier 61.

It only makes sense to improve the value proposition to attendees. ISC Solutions may not have been enough anymore.