March 2006
Features
By Alan J. Lipton, Yvonne Cager
THE widespread deployment of video surveillance is a potent weapon against terrorists, old-fashioned thieves, intruders and vandals. But it also confronts the security industry with unprecedented challenges. The new reality that overwhelms conventional human-centric solutions is the huge volume of video data.
By Col. Timothy D. Ringgold
THE role and responsibility of today's emergency responders keeps getting more complicated. Terrorism has changed the landscape for emergency responders forever, as have natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast last August.
By Keith Avery
LAURENS Electric is a member-owned rural electric cooperative in upstate South Carolina. Founded in 1939, the co-op provides service to more than 50,000 residential, commercial and industrial consumers in Laurens, Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Abbeville, Newberry and Union counties.
By Karina Sanchez
BACK in January, NBC televised one of the most-watched awards shows in the United States: the 63rd Annual Golden Globes Awards. The three-hour show attracted more than 18.7 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research figures. That number is up 2 million from last year, and the ratings just keep growing.
By Peter Moss
EMERGENCY communication at work has traditionally been limited to informing employees of emergencies such as a fire. Fire detection devices linked to fire bells and public address systems will detect a fire and instruct occupants as to the correct action to take.
By Michael O'Keeffe
LOCKOUT/TAGOUT or "red tagging" (also known as clearance tagging) is the critical procedure followed to ensure that equipment at the Fayette Power Project's three coal-fired generating units near La Grange, Texas, are safely shut down and energy sources isolated to prevent accidental release of stored energy, making it safe for their maintenance staff to begin working on equipment.
By Del V. Salvi
MANDOLIN Brothers Ltd. of Staten Island, N.Y., has been memorialized in music by Joni Mitchell, written about in prestigious industry and consumer publications, praised by Sir Paul McCartney of Beatles' fame and frequented by the who's who in the international music industry.
By Joe Davis, CPP
MOST retailers are acutely aware of the impact employee theft has on their business. According to the University of Florida 2004 National Retail Security Survey, 47 percent of all shrink is attributed to employee theft.
By Steven Sprague
THE precarious state of online security, data protection and identity protection for business, government and consumers is the material of daily news headlines -- from lost and stolen laptops and backup tapes to unsophisticated consumer Internet phishing identity theft.
By Paul Brisgone
WHEN homeland security issues are raised, more often than not the discussion begins with airport security. With millions of passengers -- many arriving from or departing to foreign destinations -- and tons of baggage and cargo passing through our commercial airports each day, maintaining security is a daunting challenge.
Transit and shipment systems crisscross the country above and below Americans at hurried rates, moving millions of passengers and tons of freight each day. Above us, the active airways, often represented by blinking dots on a radar screen, nourish the nation's commerce and travel. Yet, this same frantic flow makes the country's circulatory system difficult to secure and, thus, attractive to attackers.
By David Goffinet
AS an end user, it's important to understand the market as a whole and the individual product you're purchasing. Warranties are just one area that must be clarified. The more educated you as a consumer are, the more successful you'll be at your job.
By Beverly Vigue, AHC/CDC
FOR its new Medical Arts & Research Building, the University of Connecticut standardized on a security system by using a simplified approach that combines after-hours electronic perimeter access control with interior mechanical locking. By effectively managing the access to the building itself, a less-complicated keying system that still provides the desired level of security can be used inside.
By Jeff Brummett
SPEAKING with security dealers and systems integrators across the country, it is interesting to hear them talk about the state of our industry as it relates to video surveillance. Most are excited and express a high degree of optimism about the opportunities they see on the horizon.
Departments
By Security Products Staff
VIDEO surveillance can be interpreted as security intelligence made simple -- at least that's the way executives at Integral Technologies Inc. make it sound. The company specializes in understanding digital video as the framework for the creation of digital CCTV recording systems. Along with the framework of digital CCTV, the company's standalone DigitalSENTRY software represents a realistic application of IP technology and is a software solution that provides a bridge on the cutting-edge of the IP technology revolution. We spoke with Matt Kushner, Integral president and CEO, about the growing digital surveillance market and his company's role in it.
By Michelle Bowles
YOU'LL be seeing a totally brand-new concept this year at ISC West, and you won't want to miss it. In fact, by taking part, you just might be a witness to history in the making.
By John Krumme
OVER the past couple of years, security professionals have had to learn to work in a very different world -- one that includes professionals from the IT department. Rapid changes in technology have brought about a convergence of physical security and IT security that would have been difficult to imagine a decade ago.
By Leslie Stevens
IT takes a lot of business savvy and determination for a company to remain successful after almost 80 years. But HuntingtonTV, a retail and integration firm located in Massachusetts, has done just that. The company has evolved over the years from a small tire and battery store to a booming home integration firm. What's its secret to success? A personal focus on the customer, says Larry Shulman, who currently runs HuntingtonTV.
By Ralph C Jensen
BACK in the day, there were two things my schoolmates and I were taught about emergency preparedness in the school setting: where to find the bomb shelter and what to do in case of a fire. I am old enough to know about the Cold War and bomb shelters, though they lost their intrigue by third grade.