Ifsec – Security Solutions and Network advantage has been running for 33 years and is widely regarded as Europe’s leading annual security event. Ifsec 2006 hosted over 700 of the world's leading security suppliers launching and demonstrating thousands of the latest products and services to the market when it took place from 8 to 11 May at the Birmingham NEC, UK.
The success of the event was evident with exhibitors keen to rebook their stands, resulting in almost 60% of next year's show being booked before the doors were closed on Ifsec 2006.
"The success of the event was clear for all to see, with exhibitors reporting a real buzz around all areas of the show," explains James Blue, event director. "An industry's health is often judged by the success of its main event and if Ifsec is anything to go by then the security industry is clearly going from strength to strength."
Ifsec is an event that constantly evolves to accurately reflect the developments in the security industry and in 2006 this included the introduction of new areas such as the Security Guarding Pavilion, Fire Solutions Area and International Media Village that ran alongside established areas including CCTV Village, Intruder Alarms Village, Security Solutions and Network Advantage.
Once again, the Ifsec Security Industry Awards were held during the evening of the first day of the show at Birmingham's Hilton Metropole Hotel. The evening saw a variety of companies recognised for their high standards of excellence in the security industry including Bosch, Siemens Building Technologies, Cieffe and Dedicated Micros.
There was a large South African contingent at the exhibition - both exhibiting and visiting. Turnstar's Mark Eardley was one of those. "Turnstar exhibited together with Ideco Group and our joint European distributors on a 7 m x 5 m stand, promoting turnstiles and biometric access systems. We had live systems running on five turnstiles all with Sagem readers, together with two take-on stations so that visitor fingerprints could be registered and then they use the live systems on the stand.
"Our aim was to reinforce our established presence in the UK and to showcase the fact that we now have two recently-appointed distributors for continental Europe plus our long standing distributor for the UK/Ireland. Turnstar also used Ifsec to launch its Tribune maximum-security turnstile into the European market.
"This product was also a finalist in the BSIA/Ifsec Security Innovations Awards in the category of best New Physical Security Product. We did not win, but we were ackowledged as a finalist at the awards presentation dinner and received a plaque congratulating us.
"The Tribune turnstile certainly generated a great deal of interest since this was the first time it had been seen outside Africa. Was displayed with Sagem Oma reader and got serious interest from both commercial and government end-users as well as from security and access control companies. Consequently, the unit is due to go on trial with certain government agencies.
"The general response from visitors to our stand was very positive about the quality and pricing of the full-height industrial turnstiles (Tribune and Titan), we found it very beneficial for people to be able to experience the product at first hand and to see for themselves the reasons why these units are so reliable and durable.
"On the flip side of this, we found that the finish on our reception area turnstiles proved to be wanting. We can address this by much more finely polishing our stainless steel. Thankfully a simple solution but one that needs to be put in place if we want these units to compete more effectively in Europe.
"Next year we will go bigger and better. A lot of effort and innovation went into the stand - massive light boxes revolving on top of the two full-height turnstiles and the biometric leopards were hugely successful in attracting visitors to the stand. In the words of the man from Alvarado: 'Ifsec should be paying you, as your booth was a huge hit and definitely will keep people talking and help their decision to come back next year'."
Impro Technologies exhibited with its UK distributor. "Ifsec has always been promoted as the largest international security trade show and draws people from the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Past years have been good with an even mix of local and international guests onto the stand. We get good brand exposure and, as is to be expected, we get to update users of our products as to the latest developments and releases," says Impro's Barry East.
"Marketing in general is an intangible expense and it is always hard to gauge the impact of a particular exercise and trade shows are no different. One good lead can justify the expense of the whole show but it might only amount to anything a year after the show. I think in terms of traffic volume it was disappointing, in particular the international guests. In reviewing it I can only assume that the trade is spoiled for choice, this year there is ISC East and West (USA), Intersec (Dubai), Ifsec (UK), ESSEN (Germany), not to mention the Far East and all the localised shows like SECUREX in each country. All the main manufacturers will be at the major international shows and their distributors will be at the localised ones. As a result I think that it is only natural to see a decline in the number of international guests, why should they travel to the UK when a show will be coming closer to them some time in the year? Obviously I understand this but it makes justifying the huge expense of an international trade show that much harder.
"Ifsec is always an awesome display of the might of the security industry. I think some 800 companies exhibit there annually and to have all your competitors under one roof where you are competing head to head it is always exciting (provided of course you have a competitive product). The mighty four (Assa Abloy, Tyco, Honeywell and GE) have continued their buyouts and the likes of Siemens and Bosch have joined in in order to offer an integrated solution. It has created an interesting change in the trades perception and preferred supply route. Some like a one stop shop, others do not like being limited to the components they can offer. No doubt the large multinationals will continue to buy up market share but we are waiting to see the response from the market place."
And when asked if he will be back next year, he replies, "It is the curse of the trade show. Once you have attended your precedent has been set and to not attend the following year leads to customers questioning the wellbeing of your company but more importantly leaves the opposition open to promote to potential customers without a rebuttal from us. We have been going to Ifsec for almost 10 years now and we will be there again next year."
Cynthia Lubbe of Sanyo visited the show, her views are: "Sanyo UK was exhibiting but I was just visiting. I was expecting to see a great many new products as far as hardware is concerned. It seems as though the product manufacturers are concentrating more on the software side of CCTV applications to enhance the hardware that is already available. I was a little disappointed as far as new products are concerned. The most I gained from the trip was to see how Sanyo UK approaches exhibitions and to establish as to how they conduct sales in the UK.
"The highlight of the trip was to see firsthand the new products that Sanyo is producing. I will probably go back next year as it is important to stay abreast of new developments."
Morris Maram of Emergency Reaction Services was another South African visitor. "The main purpose of my trip was to visit our suppliers, maintain our relationship with them and to see new product releases. I found the trip to be well worth the effort. Firstly, our ongoing relationships with suppliers is always improved with face-to-face contact. They get updates from us on the South African market and sometimes the new products are enhanced with features that are ideal for South Africa. My suppliers displayed great new products that we then displayed at Securex. I will be back again in 2007."
Grant Hazell and Matthew Irwin of Inhep Electronics also attended. Inhep did not exhibit directly, but did have its product on the stands of other OEM brands. "The trip is always worthwhile as is gives us the chance to touch base with various overseas clients of ours. There is no doubt that Ifsec it still the premier security show but it is evident that there is much of a 'same again' feel to the show. I put in a great deal of effort to see if there was much new and exciting on offer but apart from one or two products which we have a particular interest in I have to confess that the majority of companies had little new to show.
"However, I always find it beneficial to visit Ifsec as it is a good showcase of what is happening in the industry and so will visit again next year. The one thing I am convinced of is that there is still huge opportunity for South African manufacturing companies to supply product into Europe."
Ifsec 2007 will take place from 21 to 24 May at the NEC in Birmingham. For further information on Ifsec and its exhibitors, visit www.ifsec.co.uk
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