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The greening of Hi-Tech Security

I do not think there could be anybody who has not read about how print magazines are facing the end of their lives in the face of the onslaught of the Internet and new cool technologies like tablet computers. And if you read the statistics in the US where broadband is readily available at reasonable prices, the print publication model we are all so used to is under threat from the more accessible and flexible Web model.

The catch is, the Web model is far cheaper to run and advertise on, but it is also far cheaper for fly-by-nights to start up a Web publication overnight and for it to vanish just as fast (the publishing world’s version of the Bakkie Brigade). Producing good content does not just happen and readers are quick to notice and click away when the quality of your offering declines.

The recent acquisition of the Huffington Post by AOL, a company that is apparently creating a content farm of sorts which it hopes will make it money, is another example of threats to print media from online sources. It is cheap to click on a link from one of these content manufacturers, but again, the question of quality is raised.

The reason for this column is not to discuss the online/print debate, but to highlight the growing opportunities in the online world. Although tiny in comparison to some international sites, Hi-Tech Security Solutions has been driving its Website and online solutions for over a decade – with more to come.

An example of this is our first Webinar for 2011, which will focus on thermal cameras and their uses in business today. It is on 6 April if you are interested.

Looking back, however, Hi-Tech Security Solutions has been online since June 1999. Our first issue hit the Internet in June 1999 and since then we have published a total of 7688 Web pages – excluding this issue.

Included in our online archives are 5376 news and product-related articles, 1224 columns by various people and 1088 feature articles. Looking at our ratings between January 2005 and February 2011, we have had over 2 million page views in that time, with people reading on average just over two articles (2,22 to be precise) on each visit.

And the rate of publication is increasing exponentially. Lookout for a mobile site later this year as well.

And our site is fully searchable, as is our Business Directory, the only annually updated record of who’s who and who does what in the Africa security market.

Of course, while we try to meet our readers’ requirements in terms of ease of access and flexibility, we may be missing something. So, please feel free to let us know what you think of our site and how we can make staying on top of the latest local and international security news easier and convenient for you. E-mail me at [email protected] with any comments or tweet us on ‘@HiTechSecurity_’.

Andrew Seldon, editor

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