Monthly Archives: December 2010

The December 2010 Technology Issue of Security Sales & Integration magazine features a roundtable discussion entitled The Road So Far to Nonproprietary Systems with John Moss of S2 Security, Dan Moceri of Convergint, and Dave Underwood of Exacq.

John Moss starts off:

It has been more than a decade since the intertwined topics of open systems, standards and convergence entered the physical security industry debate. But what does it all mean and how much progress are we making?

As part of its annual Technology issue, SSI invited me to examine the state of flux that is convergence in our industry. In doing so, I recently moderated a discussion with Dave Underwood and Dan Moceri and asked them to provide some insight. Underwood is CEO of Indianapolis-based Exacq Technologies, a manufacturer of VMS solutions. Moceri brings the integrator’s perspective to the discussion. As CEO of Chicago-based Convergint Technologies, a national systems integrator, he is on the frontline of making systems interoperate in the new environment.

Do you agree that security manufacturers and their products have become more open?

Dave Underwood: I do believe this to be true. In many ways the physical security industry is mirroring the IT industry. The IT market and even the consumer computer market have been embracing open platforms and open standards for years now, contributing to their tremendous growth.

Today our customers and end users in the physical security industry want to build best-of-breed solutions just like they do in the IT market. End users want to choose the best hardware, the best components and even the best operating system for their installation and they expect it to all work together.

Dan Moceri: The trend is clearly toward more openness. Most new product platforms are open and much easier to integrate. There are, however, many legacy systems still installed today that do not have the same degree of openness and they become a challenge to integrate to third-party systems.

How do you think that the convergence of physical security with IT has impacted openness and innovation in physical security products, and what role have end users played versus system integrators?

Underwood: One thing we have seen is a new breed of integrators who not only understand IP surveillance video, but they are very network savvy as well. In addition, we’re now seeing more and more IT integrators jumping into the physical security industry as they see this as another solid offering for their customers.

A successful IT integrator already has a solid customer base that he or she sees on a regular basis to update software and systems or to provide regular maintenance. Now they have yet another service to offer these customers. The end result is that our integrators are getting smarter and have even more to offer to their customers — the end users.

Moceri: Many opportunities are now available to the traditional security integrator who embraces a solutions-based integration model. The physical security integrator can now provide high level software-based integration solutions that previously were provided by specialty IT integrators. This allows security integrators to capture a larger revenue stream from their customers.

The entire discussion is well worth reading. You can read the full article here.