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Adam Bannister is a contributor to IFSEC Global, having been in the role of Editor from 2014 through to November 2019. Adam also had stints as a journalist at cybersecurity publication, The Daily Swig, and as Managing Editor at Dynamis Online Media Group.
Below are two highlights videos – from days one and two – and a round-up from the 2016 edition of Europe’s biggest annual security trade show. Check out the best photos here.
A keynote address from Kate Adie, a mock ‘smart home’ and the Drone Zone were three standout highlights from IFSEC International 2016. Across three days Europe’s biggest security exhibition welcomed more than 40,000 visitors to ExCeL London for its 43rd edition.
Hundreds of exhibitors in all manner of security technologies – from video surveillance and access control to network infrastructure and barriers/gates – showcased cutting-edge security innovations.
The event formed part of the Protection & Management series alongside sister shows FIREX International, Safety & Health Expo, Facilities Show and Service Management Expo.
There were also numerous seminars and workshops across five educational theatres.
This year’s show featured for the first time an interactive Home Automation House with smart products integrated and demoed – through a Control4 system – from Lilin, Nest, Qmotion, 2N Telecommunications and Texecom.
US home automation innovator Control4 built the exhibit and its technology formed the backbone that supported smart lighting, smart security and an integrated cinema/audio system.
Visitors – and footfall through the house was strong throughout the show – could see how the systems connected seamlessly to create a living environment optimised for security, comfort, leisure and convenience.
Drone Zone
The Home Automation House wasn’t IFSEC’s only brand-new feature. Sponsored by Dedrone, the Drone Zone featured live (airborne) demonstrations from drone developers Dedrone, Drone Defence, Sony, Tamron, Hitachi and Yuneec. Drones have applications in perimeter surveillance, intruder alerts, mobile CCTV, emergency communications networks, facilities surveillance, criminal tool prosecution, fire-scene investigations and drone detection.
There were countless product launches at IFSEC with Canon Europe, for instance, introducing eight 2MP network cameras. Unveiled for the first time at ExCeL London the range included an outdoor 360⁰ endless panning model with 30x optical zoom and fast autofocus, and two fixed box ‘bullet’ models with 20x optical zoom, a first for Canon.
Visitors to IFSEC were also the first to see the latest mobile workforce solutions apps from Maxxess. AmbitPulse and eFusion have been developed for enhanced management of workforce processes, from security to employee engagement.
Another new app, this time developed by Lodg:IC, allows facilities managers and contractors to minimise lapses in security on site, such as when guards fail to check designated areas or installed security equipment during a site tour. Siklu launched a 60GHz radio with interference-free connectivity. The EtherHaul-500 operates in 60GHz, making it ideal for upgrading from congested 5GHz networks.
Suprema showcased the latest iteration of its biometric access control solution, BioEntry. An outdoor fingerprint scanning device BioEntry W2 blends industry-leading technologies and innovations. It boasts rugged IP67/IK08 housing and a matching performance of 150,000 matches per second, live fingerprint detection technology and dual-band multi RFID reading technology that is compatible with HID multiCLASS.
Perimeter Security Zone
The 2016 edition also saw 1,000m of floorspace dedicated to perimeter security, a market projected to grow to $20,250.6m in global value by 2020 amid a growing terror threat. Exhibitors included Geoquip, Frontier Pitts, BPT, Squire and EasyGates, with products on display including barriers, fencing and gate automation.
Engineers of Tomorrow
Apprentices from Telcam Security Systems, SES Alarms of Yeovil and Banham triumphed in the heats during the Engineers of Tomorrow competition. Over three days 64 apprentice engineers pitted their skills against one another in a security installation competition. Launched 18 years ago by Skills For Security (then the Security Industry Training Organisation) as the IFSEC Apprentice Challenge the Engineers of Tomorrow competition gave rise to the 100 in 100 initiative six years ago. Now called Apprentices for Fire and Security this initiative targets the placement of 100 security apprentices in 100 days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV5cJ0qnxPQ
Speakers
A packed keynote theatre – located in Safety & Health Expo – heard Kate Adie OBE reveal her no-nonsense strategies for dealing with risk, danger and conflict on day two. Colonel Tim Collins OBE and James Cracknell OBE were the other keynote speakers. Kate Adie, who reported from some of the world’s worst war zones during 15 years as the BBC’s chief news correspondent, revealed how she had never planned to be a journalist or received any formal training – admitting that when she first started out the worst she had seen was “a brawl outside the dockyard in Portsmouth”.
In IFSEC’s theatres, meanwhile, delegates heard that major changes in retail are having a profound effect on the role of loss prevention. Professor Martin Gill of Perpetuity Research said affordable retail space was becoming harder to find. “Retailers are moving into different territories and some of those are dodgy territories crime-wise,” he said.
“So they are having to protect more stores in dodgy territories.” Asked about the retail sector’s biggest security challenges there was one dominant answer: police withdrawing from the High Street. Prof Gill added: “The ability to rely on the police to respond to retailer requests seemed dependent on the area and knowing the right people.”
Despite technological advances there was no substitute for having enough appropriately trained staff. “Everything flows back to good staff and training,” said Gill. “The problem is there are a lot of part-time staff, young staff, a lot of staff turnover. There are a lot of people on low pay. So meaningfully engaging them is a real issue for the retail managers.”
Shaun Murphy, head of security at Clipfine Group, said shrinkage is emphasised by stores moving from the high street into shopping centres and then relying on them for their security. “Also, retailers going online means they are cutting back on stores and therefore employing fewer security guards.”
“Surveillance standards were not mandatory. There had to be a strategic approach to it and I am currently working with the British Standards Institute to try to work out a rationale to make these things more relevant.” Porter has already moved the issue forward by introducing a self-assessment tool.
“Effectively it is something you can download from a website. It’s an interactive PDF document. If you run surveillance you can actually assess your system against that tool. “The police use it, local authorities use it and they swear by it. About 73% of local authorities have now used it which means they can demonstrate compliance. It is where the tide is moving.”
Sitting on a panel discussing the future of security Jim McHale, managing director of smart buildings research specialist Memoori, said: “End user companies are procurement professionals at the end of the day who are only looking at price. They are not often looking at value and quality.
“That obsession with price will in the long term increase risk. It’s a real challenge which we are trying to do something about. Giving suppliers a tool kit to challenge that price obsession will ultimately benefit the consumer.”
But David Clark, head of security for the Francis Crick Institute, argued that end users were better informed about products than they used to be. “The end user has a market-driven desire to get better value out of the equipment,” he told the audience. “It’s not necessarily a price crunch that is the issue – it is a desire to get more value.”
He also pointed to growing demand from organisations for better educated and informed security directors who can balance the IT and physical elements. “That traditional ex-military, ex-police person that we used to see is not dying out but you need to be much more rounded,” added Clark, a former military man himself.
On the issue of access control panellist Paul Adams – director of technologies for the KABA group– said “our customers want to get the benefits of access control on the move. This is taking off in the hotel sector where the hotel sends an access control key to a mobile phone.
“This has great benefit to us the manufacturer and the hotel itself. What they are trying to do is drive you to book via their website or via an app where they are not paying a booking fee. Customer benefit is when they turn up to the hotel they don’t have to join a big queue.
“You just go the app and get the room key downloaded. For that service, customers are prepared to pay a service fee.”
Jakob Duch, vice president of international sales at Allied Telesis, noted the growing convergence of disparate systems onto a single network. “We are already seeing hospitals where the network is fully converged,” he said during a panel session on security and efficiency in smart buildings.
“Health and safety systems, WiFi for patients, CCTV and billing systems are all combined on a single infrastructure and this is going to extend to building management systems sooner or later.”
Meanwhile, Jon Carter, UK head of business development for the connected home at Deutsche Telekom, conceded that the European smart home market remains small, with growth having flatlined for the last decade. But he predicted that the Internet of Things (IoT), set to see 500 connected devices per household by 2022 according to research firm Gartner, will finally kick-start growth spearheaded by consumer demand for managed security services.
“If you think the value is around proprietary technology, control of PIRs, motion sensors and networks, think again,” said Carter. “That will all go to third parties, it will be standardised and the lowest cost manufacturer will take all the value.”
Monitored security services have 26% penetration in the US, but it is the telcos and specialist online service providers who have cleaned up. But Carter suggested that Amazon were well placed to dominate the connected home.
“There is not an industry player that can even start to replicate the same level of innovation [as Amazon],” said Carter. “It can capture more and more data as connected products feed back to the core data warehouse through Echo to better understand the customer’s needs and offer products which are relevant to them.”
Discussing security in crowded places, Scott Weiner, managing consultant at security services supplier Atkins, cited poor communication as the industry’s biggest failing. “Everybody assumes that emails get read and verbal communication passes through but out of almost all of the risks that we look at, communications is often the area at fault,” he said.
“Things aren’t understood. Communication to low-level employers and visitors is often at fault. They don’t know what they are supposed to do.”
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IFSEC 2016: Video Highlights and Round-Up from Europe’s Biggest Security Trade ShowHighlights videos, pictures and a round-up of the highlights from IFSEC 2016, Europe’s biggest annual security trade show.
Adam Bannister
IFSEC Insider | Security and Fire News and Resources
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