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A surprising Securex

Over the last couple of years there have been quite a few moans and groans about Securex, or IFSECSouth Africa Securex 2010 as it is now officially known. I am not sure what exactly was different, but the show this year was a hit with everyone.

It seems the right people came, asked the right questions and made the right contacts to make almost every exhibitor happy. In fact, the only complaint I heard when walking around asking various people how they found the show was that the afternoon session on the last day was rather quiet. Not too bad, I would say.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions was fortunate to be present at IFSEC UK this year, and I found a similar response from exhibitors there. Most said they would have liked to see more people attending, but the quality of the contacts and the leads they generated was good and they planned to be back. Maybe it is a sign of an upturn in the industry that is about to happen. It will be interesting to see how the show in Nigeria goes in February.

One thing that surprised me was the growing interest in remote monitoring. Our feature earlier this year on the subject was so well received that we had to run it over two issues. Then we found a few new players at the show that were also in the planning stages of launching remote services. The common denominator, reduce guarding costs by deploying technology intelligently.

This is an area we are going to see fireworks in in the coming year. Of course, you cannot take onsite guards out of the equation completely, but you can limit the number of personnel on the ground through the effective use of technology. Similarly, a camera on site and an operator far away will not have the same effect.

Errol Peace gets the nod

At the last South African Institute of Security luncheon, Terry Scallan stood down as chairman (as noted in the last issue) and Errol Peace was elected as the new chairman of the SAIS Board of Governors. Errol released a statement saying, “I certainly look forward to continuing the great work that has been done by our past chairmen, especially Terry, and I aim to continue cementing and promoting the excellent relationships that have been formed with our local institutions and publications as well as our international affiliates.

“One of my objectives is to host information sessions in our major centres throughout South Africa. Plans are already being made to pursue our involvement with IFSEC West Africa in Nigeria during February 2011.”

Our congratulations and best wishes to Errol. Far be it for Hi-Tech Security Solutions to comment, but Errol ends very well by making a commitment to ensuring there will be sufficient red wine at the SAIS lunches, which certainly bodes well for the health of the institute over the coming year.

You can be sure Hi-Tech Security Solutions will be attending said lunches, purely for medicinal purposes.

Andrew Seldon, editor

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