SECURITY Show
2010 is about two and a half times as big as the typical security expo in
Australia. It was interesting that most the exhibitors were Japanese companies
with just a sprinkle of Taiwanese and Korean names to be seen. This fairly
accurately reflects the tight domestic market in Japan. Despite the fact it was
held in 2 loosely divided halls, the show was buzzing nicely.
A neat thing
about this show in Tokyo was the racket on the stands. There was lots of music
and audio presentations. Many didn’t seem to be running to a schedule – they
just went on and on. And the staff manning the stands were wonderfully proactive
and polite.
One of the great
things about walking a show is getting a feel for trends based on the number of
times you see particular technologies on the stands of major players. It’s also
great to see new stuff that has been spoken about finally make its way onto the
market. Nor does it take much time to get a feel for the overall direction of a
show from the point of dramatic new releases.
There were a good
number of small stands at this show, which belied the idea of Japan being a
market of major established electronics players like Panasonic, Hitachi, Sanyo,
Mitsubishi and the rest. The smaller players mostly seemed to be dealing in IP
but there were a neat items of hardware on display as well, including tiny PTZ
housings, an integrated stack hat with video and audio, and plenty more.
Not surprisingly,
surveillance was the dominant product suite. There were lashings of IP HD cameras
at Security Show 2010 and wherever you turned there was another proprietary security
management solution. It was a sight that raised the spectacle of caffeinated
code freaks the world over torturously integrating the devices of every
security electronics manufacturer on the planet into yet another big proprietary
SMS product. It’s integration, Jim, but not as we know it.
There was a
noticeable lack of analog cameras from major makers, and I think that was an
interesting development at this point of the hybrid market. Have the big guys
turned their backs on analog too soon? Time will give the answer. In the
meantime, let’s walk the exhibition floor.
Who had what
So here we are at
Security 2010. It’s crowded, it’s busy, it’s noisy, there are a lot of
amplified voices, a lot of presentations on stands, it’s a scene dominated by lots
of men in suits, same as the security industry everywhere.
Panasonic has the
biggest stand – it’s a monster and is completely mobbed all afternoon. The
major release is Panasonic’s trick new SmartHD Ipro gear. The stand is massive and
because this is Japan, all the staff have lab coats on. Panasonic is showing a
lot of other good gear on its stand, including recorders and management
software.
Nearby, ioimage is
displaying video detection gear – the solution is a called TotalTrack and its
apparent ability to detect movement in a dimly lit scene at great distance is
astonishing to say the least. Around the corner I run into the biggest PTZ head
and housing I’ve ever seen – it’s huge. The manufacturer Makami also displayed long
range IR pan/heads and integrated lighting. Not surprisingly there was
proprietary management software to handle all this – the SuperGuard XP
management system.
Another major
exhibitor was CBC which had GANZ gear, networking video recording systems and a
requisite software management solution. Also on this stand was the full range
of Axis cameras as well as Computar lenses.
Moving on I came
to Nisso Electronics. On this stand was a Motorola UTP/Coax adapter. The way
this works is that an adapter is placed at each end of a coax run to allow
existing coax to support networked solutions.
As the afternoon
went on I find a number of other products at the show looking to leverage
existing coaxial cable, either by shifting power and video over coax, or by converting
signals on either end of run. It’s good transitional thinking.
Doing a 360 I see
network products everywhere – not just surveillance kit but access control,
too. There are some interesting access products displays to be seen and more biometric
readers than you usually find at a show – most the access companies are showing
them on their stands. Has John Parselle’s revolution finally arrived?
Across the
corridor, megapixel manufacturer Brickcom is displaying its range. Selling
specifically megapixel cameras that are PSIA and ONVIF approved, the Brickcom
gear looked good and had quality specifications. Brickcom was also showing people
counting solutions, and a network video recorder with 16 channels, together with
management software.
Nearby is All
Nippon Security Systems. They too, have a central management system software to
go with a range of equipment and services and further along Toa have cameras
and video management software supporting analog and IP cameras. Next door JVC
have the Value J lineup of cameras. They have a 650-line analog camera range –
nice looking cameras, these, covering fixed and dome units.
Tamron also has a
big stand and they were showing a range of megapixel lenses – nice looking
lenses – excellent lenses. In the same part of the hall was Selco, which was
showing cameras and high quality 4, 8 and 16-input DVRs among other things. Selco’s
promo line was “The security link to the cosmos”.
NTT and Jcom were
two of a number of telecommunications companies at Security Show 2010. Alongside
them, Vision Access is promoting video on a cloud computing – it’s MVAAS with
MPLS. It’s the first time I’ve seen such a thing at a security show and it’s
exciting. Not finding an English brochure or speaker on the stand was a shame.
MVAAS has a future in our industry.
Something that
was a surprise was the number of DVRs at Security Show 2010. If you think the
DVR is dead, think again. It’s turned into a hybrid, 16-input, RAID-based NAS
that can be accessed across a network that costs peanuts. Even if the world
goes IP, the DVR will go on.
On the VioStore stand
there are network video storage units with the range including 40-channel,
20-channel and 10-channels. Elsewhere there is a camera capable of looking
through smoke, the KPD5001, and Samsung is showing off an IP camera range
including the SMP38N and SMP3750N. There’s also a software management system
called Neteye Viewer.
I’m a fair way
into the show now and it’s bigger than it looks. Everywhere there are DVRs, HD
cameras and megapixel cameras. On the Dynacolour stand is a range of full HD
cameras and they’re also carrying megapixel lenses. Mitsubishi has a huge stand
with loads of gear. DVRs, cameras and of course, network management
software.
It would not be
Japan without quirks. Among the DVRs on one stand was a pocket DVR with
integrated viewer. Another manufacturer was showing a utility helmet
incorporating a camera, light, microphone, wireless transmitter and video/audio
recorder.
Conclusion
What was on
display at Security Show 2010 represented incremental improvements on what we
are familiar with already. It’s fair to say that Security Show 2010 indicates
the year ahead will be one of consolidation, with new releases on display advancing
existing technologies. The market continues its swing to networked solutions
but with no end to proprietary silos in sight.
“There were lashings
of HD and megapixel cameras and wherever you turned there was another
proprietary security management solution”
