So were you there? Did you manage to attend our fantastic Security TWENTY 16 event which was the last one for this year? At the Park Inn Heathrow, we had 72 exhibitors, a fantastic line up of speakers! And we had a fantastic number of people in attendance. For me there were a number of memorable moments over the event which as you know is three events in one: first, the night before, a charity dinner where we raised a fantastic £2,200 for the charity St Thomas’ Wegener’s Trust.
Wegener’s Granulomatosis (GPA or Granulomatosis with polyangiitis) is a very rare condition which sadly takes people’s lives. It was nominated by John Guest from Eligo as his father in law recently died from the condition. The picture shows myself presenting the cheque to Prof David d’Cruz, consultant rheumatologist at St Thomas’ Hospital. Steve Marshall from Norbain described the event as “fantastic”, a word that he seems to use quite a bit but was unaware he did! Can you believe! Anyway he challenged me to use it at least six times in my gossip this month, so Steve note I have used it six times already. “Fantastic.”
The exhibition was very busy all the time as was the conference, one of the unique things about our events is that we try to vary the speakers and the subjects so the visitor does not have to sit through all the presentations and can spend time visiting the exhibitors. I saw a number of exhibitors in full demo modes of course and some taking a number of inquiries which of course is why they do it. I spoke to a number of end users and installers as they were leaving who told me that the day had been worthwhile as they had seen or learnt something they were unaware of before. I also saw or heard some things that amused me and you know I am easily amused. Geoff Gritton going into the ladies toilet for example! Note to you Geoff look where you’re going, not at your phone! I heard LeAnn from UBM-IFSEC say to Gareth Williams at Oprema: “Come on then get it out and show me.” Draw your own conclusions as to what she was referring to but answers on a post card!? That’s it for ST for this year; however we will be back with ST17 next year where we will be visiting five locations this time, Nottingham, Dublin, Harrogate, Glasgow and returning to Heathrow. Hope to see you at least at one of these.
So to the gossip and there is a lot so not to miss anyone out let’s be brief:
You may know that Sony have done a deal with Bosch to sell their products! They say that the two companies have joined forces in the field of video. They say that with Sony’s superior image and Bosch’s expertise they will be a force to be reckoned with. All Sony’s video security customers will be served and supported by Bosch with the exception of Japan.
Vanderbilt announced the completion of its purchase of Access Control Technology (ACT) Ltd. They told me: “The integration of ACT’s product line into Vanderbilt’s core offering brings significant depth to the company’s access control and video surveillance while also bringing a new cloud-based solution to the portfolio.”
To people. Andy Coles has returned from his long summer break where he spent some of his time in the US and is working for HIKVision as key account manager. You will all know that Andy worked for Norbain for some 17 years before joining Frontline Security Solutions where he served for four years. However not many of you will know that Andy once worked for NatWest Bank.
Phil Ridgeon is now Business Development Manager at NetVu Ltd and Dedicated Micros after having done 10 years with Vigilant who seem to have closed down all UK operations!
I also hear that Steve Dobby (The Dobster) is leaving HIKVision to join Geoquip. Actually I have a video of Steve doing karaoke! In a hotel in China.
Joe White from Canon has become a private consultant working for himself called NJJ Consultants. I asked him what NJJ stood for and he said it was his wife who came up with the name, stands for No Job Joe. Thanks for sharing Joe.
Rob Anderson has left Razberi (I understand they too have closed down UK operations?), as you may have heard but did you know he has joined Panasonic as Southern Project Manager, also responsible for Ireland! See you in Dublin then Rob. And Carole Fry has been promoted to Operations Director at Redvision.
For charity:
TV’s Dragon’s Den Duncan Bannatyne and Andy Croston from Videcon spent a week in Ghana on Operation Smile. That’s a non-profit children’s medical body whose surgeons carried out 144 cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries to patients who couldn’t otherwise access this surgery. This year, Operation Smile has carried out over 20,000 free surgeries to people of all ages living with a cleft condition. The charity has also provided free health check-ups, feeding sessions and speech therapy to thousands of patients.
Sad news:
Martin Cottle from Hanwha has lost his battle against the big “C” sadly. Martin who I understand was in his early 50s was one of the industry’s true gentleman and will be sadly missed by a lot of us. I knew Martin for many years when he was at Hitachi and in fact often recall sitting on a sunbed in Cyprus talking to Martin at the time Samsung Electronics emerged with Samsung Techwin; he was worried about the merger and needed a chat which I was happy to have with him. Being away or not. My prayers and thought go to his family friends and colleagues he leaves behind. Sadly gone but not forgotten.
So nothing else remains but to wish you all a (fantastic) Christmas and a happy new year. Thanks to each and every one of you for your support, your news, your gossip and for reading it. I hope Santa brings you everything you want and more. See you in the new year!
