ATLANTA — The 54th annual ASIS Int’l Seminar and Exhibits may be in the books but the show served as a gateway to the vast potential of the electronic security industry’s future.
Held Sept. 15-18 in Atlanta, several captivating trends were put on view. Among them: advance of IP camera capabilities; the introduction of access control onto the IP network; the escalating call for open protocols and architecture; serverless and other storage solutions; and the expansion and integration of managed services, namely access control and video. 
While the ASIS show has evolved the past several years from being primarily for end users to attracting and serving a much broader range of attendees, its central goal remains unequivocal: lessen risk through networking, education and technology.
Among the heavyweights displaying their latest wares were Bosch, Dedicated Micros, HID, Honeywell, Ingersoll-Rand and Samsung | GVI Security. The consensus among attendees and exhibitors on the (egregiously elongated) exhibit floor was that traffic was down noticeably from recent years. The turnout totaled about 21,000, according to the organizer.
The downturn from the 2007 event, estimated at 25,000, was surely due in part to skyrocketing travel expenses and economic woes that have befallen the country. But that didn’t mean those in attendance weren’t motivated security buyers or eager to educate themselves on the latest technologies — some of which can be viewed in the special ASIS show products round-up on page 64.
“We thought the actual number of attendees seemed down from last year based on aisle traffic, but the traffic in the Altronix exhibit was very good relative to both the quality of inquiries and the volume of requests we received for additional information,” Kirby Han, art director for Altronix Corp., tells SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION.
The 2009 installment of the ASIS show will hold sway in Anaheim, Calif., from Sept. 21-24.
