If you are expecting me to report on IFSEC then sorry, I will do it properly next month. I will tell you what I thought, did London work? What stood out from the crowd, who was there. Talking of crowd, one thing I can tell you about is the Secure Logiq, perhaps not a name to speak when you have an ice cube in your mouth. They’re Croydon-based and were formed in 2011 by managing director, Hamish Johnson, and technical director, Aleksander Uzunov. They were showing their high definition (HD) surveillance servers after they re-launched in February. Robin Hughes, their sales director, you may remember was at Avigilon for six years, their first ever salesman, in fact he was saying, and yes, I am coming to the point about crowds. Secure Logiq launched a crowd-funding initiative at the show, with the aim of raising £450,000, looking to installers and end users. Those that invest can get special ‘owner’ pricing on all purchases. We’ll have to see how they did, but if you made it I hope you had a great time. I know that both editor Mark Rowe and I didn’t have a minute free. So if we did miss you, then I can only say sorry (again!) about that as it was not intentional.
However don’t forget to visit our event in Manchester, we are brining Security Twenty 14 to the Hilton Hotel in Deansgate on the July 8, in fact we have a networking dinner on the night before, the Monday, July 7, if you want to attend then you had better let me know. We have some 50 exhibitors lined up for you, and some great speakers also; Tony Porter, the Surveillance Camera Commissioner, who will talk about his priorities in his new role, Richard Stones from ACPO, who will give us an update on business crime, Peter Houlis from 2020 Visions Systems, who is going to talk about “The business of Security is Changing. so should you?, Bill Butler from the SIA on the next steps for them, and Don Brown from Salford Council will share with us Project Gulf, an initiative to tackle Organized Crime. So do come along; you can register here – https://professionalsecurity.co.uk/security-twenty14-register/
Movers
So we start this month’s gossip proper with Clive Talbot at the Crawley installer Vindex Systems. Seems he has taken on two new guys as senior managers. Andy Herridge has joined as the Strategic Accounts Director; he’s been in the industry for a number of years. I seem to recall he was at distributor Norbain way back, and recently spent six years with another installer, Case Security. Also Miles Flint joins from the Buckinghamshire installer Frontline Security Solutions, as Customer Service Director.
IDIS have appointed Anna Wlodarczyk as Internal Sales Executive. Anna’ll be responsible for business development and strategic account management, and her role covers sales administration to support the direct sales team in the UK and Middle East.
Wavestore appointed Tim Denby as Analytics Account Manager, a newly created role. Tim will assist his sales team to spread word of the company’s analytical products to consultants, installers and systems integrators. He was Marketing and Sales Director of a footfall and people counting company, Axiomatic Technology. Seems that the company is busy setting up partnerships with many other companies, such as the likes of Norbain, Pro-Vision and more recently Canon. This would appear to be a company to watch as they keep popping into the news.
Iain Cumner has become Sector Lead for Finance and Commercial at the Nottingham-based installers Quadrant Security Group (QSG). With 25 years’ experience in the security industry, Iain began as an engineer before moving into a commercial role in 1999; most recently holding positions at Direct Security Integration and Frontline Security.
Iain said: “QSG has a strong reputation of delivering sophisticated security systems for large-scale projects – and I’ve joined the company at a time when we’re seeing huge opportunities to grow our financial and commercial sector portfolio.” Talking of Quadrant, where did Phil Doyle go? I will find out for you and report back.
Sad news
Now some sad news, Bob Tyler has died. Bob was the Managing Director of Chubb Alarms in the late 1970s when I was there. I never had a lot to do with him as I was just an apprentice engineer in those days but I do remember him as being a very nice guy that was approachable and always had the time for you, wherever you sat in the pecking order. He served as Chairman of the BSIA Security Systems Section from 1981 to 1983. Mike Cahalane was a member of his committee dealing with the most significant time of change in the security industry in the 1980s; IFSEC becoming a showpiece of the British security industry, the coming in of ISO 9000, and regulation via NACOSS. He was a great raconteur and his meetings were regaled with magnificent tales, full of humour, wit, and without malice. He will be sadly missed and our thoughts go to his friends and family.
Charity cycle ride
Simon Imbert sent me this plea: with many others, he’s doing the Prudential London-Surrey 100 mile cycle ride this summer. Rather than just do it for the fun of it (?!) he is riding in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind (an investment in the future?!). Would you consider sponsoring his ride via the JustGiving website – click on the following link it should take you to: https://www.justgiving.com/Simon-Imbert. Come on, get behind Simon and help him raise loads of cash for the guide dogs.
And finally
For those of you that know Wes Harper, his son Rees was born on March 28 weighing in at 6lbs 9oz. Adriane and Wes went through a tough patch to get little Rees into the world however here he is. I understand that Wes is already reading Rees bedtime stories of CCTV and sales strategies.
