Who's Watching? Anyone Out There?

Last year's theme at ISC West was Internet protocol, which is still very present when making booth visits, at least on Day 1. However, a new theme has emerged this year, and that is surveillance.

Of course surveillance has been of primary concern for many years, especially since 9/11. But for some reason at ISC West, many products have been centered around this topic, specifically in the area of what to do with the data gathered from cameras, IP and otherwise.

So what's the deal, and what's it mean to electrical contractors? The manufacturers of these products seem to consider you all a viable market, so, to me, that means that you must be doing some monitoring or at least working with your end-user customers to develop surveillance systems and negotiating some of the monitoring aspects. Drop me a line and let me know: ak@necanet.org.