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Hi-Tech Security Solutions' makeover

Welcome to the June issue of Hi-Tech Security Solutions. We are rather excited about this month’s issue since, as you may notice, Hi-Tech Security Solutions has had a makeover. You will still find the best in security news, views and interviews from an editorial side, but we have had our production team listening to subliminal creativity messages all month in order to come up with a new look.

Suffice to say, we think they did a great job, so well done to Bev and her team. Who knew such a classy design could come out of Durban? Next they will want to host the Olympics.

In this issue you will also find our IFSEC SA preview. It is no surprise that our first new-look issue comes out just in time for IFSEC. The magazine will be on our stand at the show so if you need extra copies to frame you can pick one up there, and have a coffee while you are at it.

We will also be looking at security in the mining sector, the never-ending issue of skills and the lack thereof, and my new favourite word, integration.

I recently returned from IFSEC in the UK and it was a hectic, yet interesting show, again. While I will write a few words on the UK show for our next issue – for some reason they do not run the shows at times that coincide with Hi-Tech Security Solutions deadlines – but one of the biggest issues that struck me was integration. We have all heard about integration before, but almost every company I spoke to in Birmingham quickly got onto the topic of integration and how much work they are doing on it.

As can be expected, some of the larger companies feel that integration means integrating all the products in their stable so they play nicely together. When pushed they grudgingly admit they may actually work with third-party products as well. But the smaller companies, or those focused on a single product seem to have caught the integration bug and say they have a renewed focus on integrating with whoever the customer has in their infrastructure.

They seem to understand that it is not only about integrating cameras from different vendors, or different brands of biometric or card readers, but about the whole caboodle. Whether they were just saying what they wanted me to write remains to be seen, but I suspect proprietary manufacturers are in for a tough year.

There was also a bunch of management platforms on the show, which may have something to do with the integration focus. Sadly, our locally developed platforms were not there to show how they compete, but maybe we will see some interesting happenings at the local show. If you read last month’s issue you will already have seen some interesting happenings on that front, with more to come.

I hope you enjoy the new issue and format, feel free to send me any comments you may have. Or simply let someone on the Hi-Tech Security Solutions stand at IFSEC SA know while you are getting your coffee. Also, if you are doing anything interesting at IFSEC SA, let me know so I can make a point of visiting your stand. The address, as always, is [email protected].

Andrew Seldon

Editor

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