The security week: Sabrewatch guilty verdict, and the storage future

Oh, hello. It’s I4S Weekly Digest time – squashing the security news highlights into a compact, streamlined package for easy consumption. Delicious!

This week we’ve been observing the SIA’s case against guarding company Sabrewatch, which resulted in a guilty verdict. Sentencing takes place later today, and we’ll let you know the result when that’s in. Meanwhile, IPSA chief Justin ‘P’ Bentley says the SIA has missed a trick in not taking action against Sabrewatch’s clients.

A new report released by IMS Research asks whether IP Storage Area Networks are the future for IP surveillance. Possibly they are!

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Questions: Do you need a security job? Do you want to employs someone to do a security job? If the answer to either of these questions is ‘yes’ or ‘maybe’ or ‘perhaps’, then you should visit Jobs For Security. It’s a security jobs site. Jobs!

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Also in the news is SmartWater, being given out free in one London borough; RedWeb, being used to track bicycles; and Ian Turner tells us about voice authentication technology. Informative!

This week’s Song About Security comes courtesy of chirpy popsters Radiohead. Their pre- and post-millennial paranoia is totally justified, man!

Don’t forget to get your entries in for the 2010 IFSEC Security Industry Awards. If you win one you will be lauded as a godlike figure amongst your peers, and your enemies will be jealous and lose sleep etc. Enter! The deadline is soon.

Cheers,

Anthony Hildebrand

www.info4security.com, www.ifsec.co.uk

Added value and strident views

Genuinely fast-paced security news snippets for you today. Get a load of ’em!

Here’s SMT Online editor Brian Sims with his latest SMT Online Editor’s View – taking aim at Immigration Minister Phil Woolas, an update from RUSI, and paying tribute to colleague Alan Hyder. Check it.

Gary Fletcher-Moore from Samsung Techwin is talking about installer purchasing decisions. Wise.

And don’t forget to get involved with intercoms – at least, that’s the advice from Commend UK. Also: there’s some IPSA praise; and a number 12 ranking for Hikvision.

Great.

www.info4security.com, www.ifsec.co.uk

The security week: Going Indian, ACS action, and a view from the US

It’s been a positively effervescent week here at I4S, with small bubbles of metaphorical news gas popping all over the joint. Kind of.

We celebrated the official launch of I4S India, the thrilling new channel that is a vital resource for anyone interested in the state of security in India – and the opportunities it provides. Launchtastic!

Mick Lee stirred up some emotions with his tale of experiences at the Approved Contractor Scheme front line. People responded. Perhaps you’d like to, also? Then IPSA’s Justin ‘P’ Bentley added his voice to something of a growing chorus with concerns about the state of the SIA.

New regular contributor John Honovich kicked off his IP view from the US column with stories and links to the latest happenings on the technological front across the pond. Have a nice day!

Also this week, Security Installer editor Alan Hyder strapped on his opinion pack and ignited the analysis jets with the flaming torch of clear-headed observation, jetting off towards the mixed metaphor horizon in his SI Editor’s View. Something like that, anyway.

This week’s Song About Security comes from The Reverend Horton Heat. It’s pretty good!

While you’re visiting I4S, you should shuffle your eyes across to the right hand side of the page, and the unique ‘Industry Focus‘ feature. This is the all-singing, all-dancing ‘related content’ whatchamacallit that allows companies to provide additional information about their products and services which is relevant to the editorial content that you’re reading. It was invented by some kind of crazy genius or something! So I am reliably informed. Have a click or three, anyway. Go on. It’ll be fun.

Speaking of fun, our Job of the Week on security jobs website Jobs for Security is for a Security Systems Administrator at the University of Bristol. It’s an absolute corker!

Once you’re calmed down, seriously consider attending the IFSEC Conference 2009. It will involve the true heavyweights of the industry wrestling with the big issues of the day – and emerging triumphant. Yeah!!

Express your feelings with www.info4security.com and www.ifsec.co.uk.

Introducing I4S India – and attacking the SIA

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you the newest member of the info4security family – I4S India.

That’s right, it’s an exciting new development – a spiffing new channel on I4S, edited by dedicated and charming Bangalore-based Verghese V Joseph. Read my introductory piece – then send him all of your lovely India-centric news.

Also today, Justin ‘P’ Bentley, chief executive of IPSA, has come out swinging against the SIA in the wake of its Delivery Review. Youch! In the same neck of the woods, thematically, is Mick Lee’s take on the flaws of the SIA’s Approved Contractor Scheme. It’s already generating discussion – have your say and leave a comment on the article.

In technology news, OmniPerception is working with BAE Systems to improve facial recognition technology for CCTV systems. Lovely.

And this story, set in Fleetwood, includes a picture of a delightful-looking group of young men.

Don’t forget to conference: Securing Educational Establishments and the IFSEC Conference 2009 are your best bets. For sure.

And once more into the breach/websites: www.info4security.com, www.ifsec.co.uk.

Alliances and doom mongering criticism

When two organisations exchange glances a cross a crowded room, somewhere in the highly charged atmosphere lies the possibility that just maybe, if the stars are aligned and everything works the way it does in the movies, a high-level Memorandum of Understanding might end up getting signed. It sounds like a crazy, romantic dream, right? Well, that’s exactly what happened between the FSA and IPSA. We’ve got the lowdown on this meeting of memberships.

Security Installer editor Alan Hyder is sick to the back teeth of the so-called ‘mainstream media’ putting the security industry, and all of us as individuals, at risk of being hurled into financial oblivion (I believe this is the suitable lexicon for discussing potential recession) by focusing only on the negative. In his SI Editor’s View today he is a staunch advocate of the power of positive thinking – and you could be too, for this low, low monthly fee. Not really. You can read it for free. Bargain!

If you’re anything like me, you’re often tempted to call 999 in certain non-emergency situations, such as when you see your neighbour glance suspiciously towards your wheelie bin, or when certain television personalities incite you to anger. However, these are not only non-emergency situations, they are stupidly trivial situations, so you should never speak to anyone in the emergency services about them – even if you are married to a policeman. Instead, if you live in London and have a genuinely important non-emergency situation, you can call the Metropolitan Police Service’s brand new number.

Over on the IP Video Market site, John Honovich has written a very interesting forecast for the IP video sector for 2009. It’s well worth a read.

And if you’d like to see the photos from the 2008 Security Excellence Awards in convenient slideshow format, pop on over to our special Gallery page. Fancy!