The security week: Profiles, images, and Scottish ninjas

Howdy.

I come to you today in slightly jetlagged state, having been in Japan for the world premiere of Panasonic’s SmartHD concept and product range. I know, poor me. A full report on that will follow next week, but for now, let’s have a bit of a gander at this week’s highlights, shall we? OK, go.

As usual, intrepid SMT Online editor Brian Sims has been busy. He brought us his regular SMT Online Editor’s View column, which this time around focused on the Scottish Business Crime Centre’s parliamentary reception in Edinburgh, and the effective partnerships in security in that part of the world.

Brian also delivered an in-depth, two-part profile of Securitas MD Geoff Zeidler – part one is here, and part two here – as well as a video item from Cougar Monitoring, which has something to do with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Intrigued? Click here and find out more.

Our regular IP and networking advice column, The Networker, from Phil Doyle of Axis, returned with a focus on image quality, and the difference between HD and megapixel.

The BSIA has published a guide to help employers understand their responsibilities towards lone workers; Peter French looks at salaries in 2010; and Magenta Security is doing its bit to help train its employees.

Rapiscan has sold some of its body scanners to be used at Nigerian airports. No word yet on whether there are concerns about potential nudiness.

One of our regular features is Songs About Security, where we show a music video for a song that has some kind of vague, tenuous link to the security business. This week, hand-selected by new I4S colleague Amy Rowe, is Mark Knopfler’s harrowing tale of his time as a gritty gumshoe: Private Investigations.

And in the same spirit, over on our I4S India channel, there’s a story about Topsgrup providing ‘customised pre-marital investigation services.’ Classy.

Not really connected to anything in particular, here’s a video of a puppy attempting to sleep on some stairs. Enjoy.

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

Hello Luton, hello Twickenham

People often get the word ‘highfalutin’ wrong, assuming it’s actually ‘high for Luton’ – something to do with the airport there, perhaps. I’m fairly certain it has nothing to do with any kind of drug-fuelled celebration of the town’s existence.

Today on I4S we’re saying ‘Hi to Luton’ in a story about some CCTV that is in the centre of the town. Heck, why not read it and find out more?

Despite the fact that Twickenham does not appear in any kind of common linguistic mix-up scenario, we’ve still deigned to allocate it some space in the security news-sphere. Rugby is popular there, apparently, and now people are being prevented from stealing replica jerseys and the like.

A few deals: ADI has signed on to be the European distributor for Canadian firm Digimerge; and the FSA has signed new training agreements with Tavcom and the FPA.

And while we’re talking deals, a really good one is for the modules that make up the IFSEC Conference 2009. This means you can pay for individual sessions on topics of interest to you. It’s totally modular, dudes!

Come on! www.info4security.com and www.ifsec.co.uk. Oh yeah!!

The security week: Exclusive Dickinson interview – and installer auction site

Aloha, security news fans. It’s been a cold week full of interesting, newsy things in a security vein – so let’s skip these preliminaries and get down to it, shall we?

First up is SMT Online editor Brian Sims‘ exclusive and in-depth interview with former BSIA chief David Dickinson. They delve into regulation, the ACS, training, rebranding and One Member, One Vote. It’s a heck of a ride.

We also had the tale of a website dedicated to selling excess security kit from wholesalers and distributors direct to installers. It was so fresh, we were the first ones to cover it. Well done us, eh? Thanks.

BT Redcare announced that they were limiting price rises to a maximum of 10 per cent. And if that’s not exciting enough for you, Brian Sims burst back into the news analysis fray with his first SMT Online Editor’s View of 2009.

And there was an interesting piece in which one company suggested that a trend was emerging for CCTV installations at high street lettings and estate agents. Are they unpopular or something?

Of course, it wouldn’t be Friday (quite literally – Friday would not exist) without your favourite weekly security music video feature, Songs About Security. Who gets the treatment this week? Why, it’s hairy Britpoppers Supergrass. It is!

Another thing that happens every week is the Job of the Week from delightful and charming security jobs website Jobs for Security. This week it’s a particularly exciting role, which makes me think of Grissom and the ginger bloke from NYPD Blue and Gary Sinise from those space movies. That’s right: the job is for a Forensic Investigator. It’s CSI-tastic!

Back to School. It’s not just a Rodney Dangerfield classic, it’s a reminder that we should all consider thinking back to school, and how important security of schools and other educational establishments is, and how vital it is that we attend the conference Securing Educational Establishments. It’s what Rodney would have wanted.

Now your appetite’s been whetted, hunker down on the main course at www.info4security.com and www.ifsec.co.uk. Delicious!

Layoffs, contrasts, and a goat (for some reason)

A couple of different responses to the economic maelstrom we find ourselves in today. At DVR pioneer Dedicated Micros, they’ve decided to cut employee numbers across EMEA operations. Chairman Nigel Petrie says it’s to do with revised growth expectations and “a particular reticence in the UK security sector’s supply chain”.

Meanwhile, over at Kings Security in West Yorkshire, they’re going ahead with plans to open a new £3m headquarters and alarm receiving centre. The complex is officially launched next week.

There are contrasts in the CCTV camera world as well, with Sony launching a couple of new analogue models, while IndigoVision presents a new H.264 dome to the market.

And SMT Online editor Brian Sims brings us details of a new management and leadership course from Response Security Training – while the British Parking Association demands a “parking summit“. Make sure your hand brakes are on! (Because of the ‘summit’. What’s happening here is that I am pretending that ‘summit’ refers to the peak of a mountain or hill, when in actual fact in this case it is referring to a meeting of some kind. Humour!)

One of the things that really gets my goat is building penetration. He can’t stand it! To remedy this awful situation I have registered said goat as an attendee at interesting and useful conference Impenetrable Buildings and Perimeters. If you are there and see a goat with a name tag that says ‘Steven’, make sure you say hi. He’ll appreciate that.

Siemens wind power and a training partnership

Today we celebrate the power of wind, with the news that Siemens has provided a wind turbine firm with a comprehensive integrated security system. That’s one way to secure the future of the environment! Seriously, it will help.

Partnerships are wonderful, life enriching experiences, particularly if they do not end in a long, messy, bitter, drawn out divorce that alienates not just the parties involved, but their family and close associates. One new partnership that looks to have a far more positive future than the one outlined in the sentence before is that of Shield Guarding Company and WSG Associates, who are doing some training qualification things together. Nice!

Do you often wish that your IP CCTV offered more ROI? Well, a report on a system installed by AC (Axis Communications) suggests TTMVWBTC (that this might very well be the case). Read for yourself and assess. Why not?

You may well be aware of the Weird Work section of the Jobs for Security website that I have been banging on about recently. You will be as pleased as I am, then, that I have received an actual contribution! Thanks, Gerry. You’re a star.

Do you know how I quite often mention the interesting and informative conference Impenetrable Buildings and Perimeters? I do it exactly like this. It’s in Birmingham!

Also, get your website visiting thang on at info4security.com and ifsec.co.uk. Yowsa!

Training training training

We’ve gone skills and training crazy today on the internet’s favourite and most charming security website, info4security.com. Why? Because that’s what’s happening. That’s why.

First up is the actually the first article in a series of interesting reports and presentations direct from the 2008 Skills for Security conference. Today, Guy Mathias looks at whether training really has improved. What are his conclusions? You’ll need to go ahead and read the article to find out. It’s quite easy to do so!

Before today I was unaware that I was not an accredited person. That seems sad. But it’s not really. An Accredited Person is actually someone that the Association of Chief Police Officers allows to do certain things – and now there’s a fast track course for licensed officers to achieve this status. ACPO!

There’s also some detail about SEA winner Scyron being taken under the wing of software behemoth Microsoft in a mutually beneficial deal. That’s nice.

Don’t forget that the Next Generation CCTV conference is happening today, so we’ll have some interesting – nay, thrilling! – bits and pieces of news and opinion from that particular event up on the site soon.

It’s your right to visit these here world wide websites: info4security, and IFSEC. Right!

The security week: Mosquitoes, advice, and Nirvana

A quotation: I was walking down the street with my friend and he said: “I hear music.” As though there’s any other way to take it in. I said: “You’re not special. That’s how I receive it too. I tried to taste it, but it did not work.”

That’s from sadly deceased excellent American comedian Mitch Hedberg, and I mention it today because the folks behind the contentious Mosquito system – a machine that generates irritating noise in a frequency range supposedly only heard by people under 25, and marketed to owners of small shops and the like – have been publicising a new report that says the Mosquito doesn’t harm your hearing. If you can hear it. They’ve also got a less contentious musical model.

In tribute to these stories about Mosquitoes, this week’s Song About Security is Love Buzz by well-known musical group Nirvana. Grungy!

I’m a big fan of advice and information. But I only like interesting, expert advice, not just any old geezer from the street coming up to me and telling me about complex security installation matters. That’s why I read articles like this one, by Julie Hartley of ADI-Gardiner. She is part of The Advice Squad, an expert team of I4S experts offering advice in an expert fashion. Advice!

Elsewhere, Security Installer editor Alan Hyder has fired off another opinion-volley in his SI Editor’s View; we go golfing mad (Fore! Hahahaha etc) with a report on security arrangements for the 2010 Ryder Cup; and the SIA has gone ahead and asked the industry to do some consulting on training requirements. It’s like a news deluge. But pleasant!

Our Job of the Week is a real doozy – a chance to be a risk and project support executive for the Olympic Delivery Authority. Not only that, but you’d get to work at London’s Canary Wharf. Sport and high finance and security! It’s a three-way romance made in heaven.

Do you like conferences with powerful, impressive names? Yes? Then you will just love Impenetrable Buildings and Perimeters, which has the single most powerful name of any conference in the history of events and networking opportunities.

Thanks!

Lake monsters and Beckhams

It’s been my ambition to feature a story about a giant sea monster on I4S for some time now, and today, thanks to Alan Hyder, we’ve come as close as we probably ever will. Okay, it’s in a lake, and looks vaguely like something disturbingly biological, but it’s a MONSTER. Hooray!

I’ve also been under pressure from David and Victoria Beckham to include a story about them on our site for as long as I can remember, and no matter how many times I’ve told them ‘no’, they’ve continued to bug me. So I finally acquiesced. Luckily it had something to do with security.

In the jetsetting world of airports, there’s a security training deadline rapidly approaching. One training provider has come up with an online solution.

Back in the day, Pepsi was the choice of a new generation. But today, Next Generation CCTV is a great and interesting conference you should go to. You really should!

Avoiding unemployment – and IFSEC India

Every day now we’re assailed by news and forecasts of imminent economic gloom. It’s pretty depressing, frankly. And it always surprises me how we seem to talk ourselves into it. But one Yorkshire training firm is attempting to lure people into the security industry by painting it as, effectively, ‘recession-proof’. What do you think?

Any readers in the Indian subcontinent – or anyone who plans to be out there in October – should sign up for free registration to IFSEC India and Firex India, the only international exhibitions and conferences to truly cover this booming area. Registration gets you into both events. It’s well worth your while!

In the thriving intelligent video sector, one industry report suggests that the frontrunner is Israel-based ioimage, with 37.7 per cent of the market. But if they’re doing that well, why can’t they afford to use capital letters?

Getting and keeping a job is a really worthwhile thing to do. But sometimes you need website to tell you what jobs are available. And if you’re interested in the security industry, that website is www.jobsforsecurity.com. There’s also careers advice!

Don’t forget that the 2008 Security Excellence Awards are coming up fast. Book your table now to ensure you have somewhere to sit and a surface to rest your meal and wine glass on while you are there.