Mark Rowe looks back on IFSEC 2009 at the NEC. All human life was there:
A pipe smoker, among all those smoking cigarettes in the open air area. Where else but the international fire and security exhibition could Dean la-Vey, director of Secure Yacht, be along with the head of security for the Prime Minister’s Office in Finland?!<br><br>While the grumbles about IFSEC are legion and the same every year – the show is quiet on the first day, Monday, and last day Thursday; and busy on the two days in between – this year’s was different, given the recession that came quite suddenly since May 2008’s show. There was as ever an element of people wanting to sound positive and not admit to any commercial weakness, both in terms of how well they did at the show and how their business is. Some manufacturers did speak of sales growth, typically in CCTV to do with Internet Protocol (though growth not as much as had been forecast). One CCTV manufacturer did raise the point that growth thus far may be due to contracts agreed last year before the recession and budget cuts; so the question will be; how will the order books look in six and 12 months? And as one exhibitor said: ‘The only people with any money are the government.’ From a glance at the badges of people at the show, the likes of people from Redditch and South Ferriby councils were there, but the question is; how much money do they have to spend?<br><br>Tavcom draw<br><br>The winner of up to £1535 of Tavcom Training in a draw of business cards on the last day of IFSEC, as picked by Professional Security editor Mark Rowe, was Italian security adviser Cuttica Andrea.<br><br>The sights<br><br>Among the sights: the orange ice cream van that made up most of the CCTV Direct stand. There were the usual presentations by sales people on stands of kit that did not work as it was supposed to. IFSEC is above all an excuse to gather, to show you are still around, rather than necessarily do any business there and then. Some of the thousands there: Chris Newman of Conway Security Products: Paul Hucker and Glenn Waterfall; Nigel Chambers of De La Rue; a posse from BAA the airport operators, such as Cliff Chambers, project manager, Danny Long, security project manager; and the green-jacketed installers Touchstone Electronics Ltd. Some people from Associated British Foods, such as regional security manager Alex Hall; CCTV consultant Derek Maltby; head of security at the University of Bristol Jerry Woods, among those at the Security Institute stand.
