June 2006


Features

Something to Talk About

By Miriam Weber

THE challenge begins when your new product does not perform as promised or when senior management is caught in a scandal, or even when you blew your P&L estimates -- revenues are down and expenses are up.


Raising the Grade

By Catherine L. York

THE Jessica Lunsford Act -- named for the nine-year old who was murdered by a construction worker at her school -- sent school districts throughout Florida scrambling to implement fingerprinting and screening systems to comply with the law.


Everybody Screen!

By Ron Lashier

NO one has to tell a security professional about the growing importance of background screening. More than 80 percent of large U.S. organizations now perform some kind of criminal background check on potential new hires, and more and more companies are checking employment history, education, driving records, credit history, sex offender registries, restricted parties lists and more.


Joined at the Hip

By Jerry Cordasco, Jeff Brummett


A Lesson on Wireless

By Brian McCarthy, Ryan Webb

ESTABLISHED in 1844 and designated a University Center of the State University of New York in 1962, the University of Albany's broad mission of excellence in undergraduate and graduate education, research and public service engages 17,000 diverse students in nine schools and colleges across three campuses.


A Farewell to Unsecured Access

By Wayne Truax

THE U.S. Coast Guard is a military, multi-mission, maritime service within the Department of Homeland Security and one of the nation's five armed services. Its core roles are to protect the public, the environment and U.S. economic and security interests in any maritime region, including international waters and America's coasts, ports and inland waterways. This places the Coast Guard headquarters on the front lines of national security.


Wi-Fi Speaks Out

By Mance Harmon

THE rate of convergence of information technology and physical security continues to accelerate. One point of this convergence has largely been communications networking technology. Many physical security networks have moved from proprietary protocols to open standard Ethernet and TCP/IP.


Too Hot to Handle

By Katie McCarthy

NUCLEAR waste carries a lot of weight within the world. In fact, by 2015, 77,000 pounds of it will be stored within the Yucca Mountain dump in Nevada. Since the dawn of the nuclear age, waste has been a major concern, not only for environmental and health reasons, but also as a dangerous weapon in the hands of terrorists.


Case Study: American Video Equipment


A Human Intervention

By Brian McCarthy

THE landscape of information security continues to be dynamic. New threats emerge daily in the forms of new viruses, worms, phishing, pharming, social engineering and identity theft.


Departments

Homeland Security Insider

By Col. Timothy D. Ringgold

THE Department of Homeland Security is a tempting and intimidating target for entrepreneurs looking to drum up new business. To get your foot in the door, consider the department's Mentor-Protégé program.


Ask The Expert

By Jim Coleman

ASIS, ISC West, ISC East and GovSec -- these are just a few of the annual trade shows aimed specifically at the security industry. There are countless other security-related conferences and seminars.


Editor's Note

By Ralph C Jensen

EVERY month we're pleased to print various business and industry news to announce the launch of a new product, or to announce an industry partnership or transaction. This month, we have a little news of our own.


Industry Perspective

By Security Products Staff

SOFTWARE is quickly becoming an integral part of the security industry. Just in case you haven't heard it before, there is a convergence taking place between IT security and the physical security. Symantec Global Security Consulting experts have been in the business for decades.


Industry Insight

By Dr. Bob Banerjee

WHEN you reflect upon the past few decades of the security industry, it's apparent that technology has played a significant role in the development of products and in the advancements within the industry. There has been a growing trend to increase the level of sophistication within security systems -- to move away from disparate components that do not work in tandem with other security equipment and, therefore, are unable to provide a more cohesive security system.


The Last Word

By Brent Dirks

OVER the past years, many new security technologies have been introduced to improve public safety and security, including higher-resolution cameras, sophisticated DVRs, intelligent video software, biometrics and a whole host of other solutions.


Industry@Work

By Karina Sanchez

THE NBFAA shook things up a little at the recent ISC West show. All of a sudden, there was a controversy going on. What was it about? The association proposed a name change. The National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association looked to change its name to the Electronic Life Safety and Systems Association.