You may have heard by now and you can read on page 22 the announcement from UBM that IFSEC is moving. After all those years the show is moving out of the NEC and going to Excel in London, but there is more; it’s slimming to a three day show and moving to June. Now being one of a few people in the industry that has been around for 40 years I have seen IFSEC change and I remember when it moved out of Olympia and went to the NEC. That move was really forced on the owners at the time as Victor Green , who owned and ran the show, had not re-booked the venue when he sold the business, the new owners could not secure Olympia so moved it to the NEC and also moved it from a March event to a May event. To be fair the show struggled in its first year with many exhibitors not liking the move, but as you can see it didn’t take too long to get back on track.
A number of you emailed me and rang me last month to discuss the move, some for it and some against it, but what surprised me was that they were suggesting we start a show up in May at the NEC which means that they and maybe you were not aware that Clarion Events the organisers of the Counter Terror show have secured the NEC venue for May 13 to 16, 2014 to launch a new security show called Security Technology Live. A head to head challenge to IFSEC – can they pull it off? Will IFSEC be affected? Will you go to both shows or will you choose?
Why was I asked would we start a show? Maybe because we have launched a new event, Security TWENTY 13. It’s not a competitor to any major show like the two I just mentioned. This is going to be an event to inform the delegate all about the changes that are happening in the industry that they need to know about. We had the opportunity to recruit Liz Lloyd as she had been made redundant and was looking for a job. She has the experience at running events and we have been approached by many readers and advertisers to organise something for some years so hence we offered Liz a job to come and take care of it for us. So welcome Liz, a great new member to our team that has industry experience and relationships. For more see over the page. Or visit our website home page.
New starters
Were you aware that Paul Dodds has joined Aasset in Milton Keynes? Paul is going to lead the sales team. Earlier Paul worked with the French software company, ESI based in Cannes, and was at VCL and Honeywell. Paul has lot of commercial and management experience of the CCTV market having worked within the industry for almost 20 years in varying companies in CCTV and access control.
Moves in brief
Payne Security has appointed Janet Taylor as Business Development Manager for the transport smart card sector. She will report to Simon Jones, General Manager of Card Solutions and work with the card solutions sales team. Chris Whitting has joined Sony Professional Video as business development manager. Dealing with consultants as I understand.
Company gossip
Talking of Norbain, Norbain Benelux is changing its name into Smartwares Security. It will move to new premises in the Netherlands. The address of the Belgium office will stay the same. Sadly Conway CCTV have been forced into voluntary liquidation. Chris Newman told me: “An oh so common small business story of banks and manufacturing. After weighing things up we decided that with 2013 looking as bumpy as 2012 (and maybe 2011) that it was better to duck out our terms before things got sickly. The industry we leave is not the one we came into.” Will Chris leave us? I think not, knowing Chris as well as I do I am sure he will be bouncing back sooner than we expect. And the guys over at DVS have moved into some swanky new offices – see the picture. The place is equipped with a trade counter and demonstration room.
Two marathons
Seems the marathon season is coming up as two of you industry guys are taking in the challenge for charity reasons. Firstly Richard Parnell of Total Security Protection who told me: “Last summer we tragically lost one of our young engineers. Richard was only 27 and had worked for me for many years. He had been working on site all day and when he got home he went for a walk in the park with his fiancée (they were due to get married in September), when he had a heart attack and died. He was a young fit man and had no knowledge of the heart condition which killed him. At his funeral his family asked for charitable contribution to CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young). A few of his colleagues at work have agreed to run The London Marathon in April to raise funds for CRY and in memory of Richard.
Also Chris Antonio from Oaklands Capital is running it. Chris told me: “My legs should make it, just. The main reason is to raise some money for the charity Sense, who work tirelessly with blind and deaf children. Having three children of my own, that are fine and dandy, and since seeing how these blind and deaf children manage day to day, just laughing and playing, is overwhelmingly humbling. I figure, if for One day, it’s going to hurt my legs; it’s all worth it to assist just a tiny bit where I can for these children that have to manage Every day. Have a think, have a look at the just giving page, it would be really good if you could donate what you feel is right, any amount is fine. www.justgiving.co.uk/chris-antonio
