Another productive edition of Secutech wrapped up in Taipei earlier this month, with visitors praising the fair for the quality of its exhibitors and for its product variety. Together with four concurrent events, the fair hosted 335 exhibitors of security, mobility, smart building, info security and fire safety products at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre from 8 – 10 May 2019.
Thanks to the expansion of the IoT sector, the possibilities to integrate security products with processes such as building management have grown. With this in mind, the 2019 edition of Secutech was organised to be much more than a business platform for security products. In fact, two of the fair’s four concurrent events, “Mobility” and “SMABIoT”, not only presented buyers with security solutions, but they also offered products such as smart building and fleet management systems.
Ms Regina Tsai, the Deputy General Manager of Messe Frankfurt New Era, spoke at the conclusion of the fair about the positive reaction to the fair’s product variety: “We are delighted to have welcomed 19,956 trade visitors through the doors over the past three days, including system integrators, consultants and distributors from Asia and beyond. The feedback has been encouraging, with visitors commending the fair for offering the complete chain of products across different sectors: from total surveillance and access control systems to security subsystems all the way down to individual components such as camera lenses.”

As a platform for international buyers to connect with Taiwan’s advanced solution providers, Secutech is recognised by the Taiwanese Government as a positive force for the local security industry.
In remarks at the opening ceremony of the most recent edition, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen said that the fair helped to promote Taiwanese innovations to the world: “I am pleased to join you all at this security industry event, to learn how AI and IoT technologies can be used in daily life for disaster prevention. By gathering industry stakeholders from across Southeast Asia to discuss the development of smart applications and products, the fair supports our New Southbound Policy and provides an opportunity to showcase the innovative and robust side of Taiwan to the world.”
She continued: “Through the joint efforts of the government and the industry, the IoT sector reached a value of over one trillion NTD last year. Meanwhile the security industry has opened up value-added markets and recorded more than 60 billion NTD in export value.”

New technologies will continue to drive cross sector opportunities
Thirteen themed zones and pavilions were spread across 20,215 sqm of exhibition space at the fair, providing sourcing opportunities for AI software, cloud services, access control systems, IoT security and much more.
One of many discussion points between exhibitors and visitors at the fair was the topic of convergence. Mr Tony Luce, the Director of Sales, Marketing, and Business Development for Network Optix (Nx) spoke about how new online technologies are narrowing the gaps between sectors and creating more business opportunities: “Traditionally, security surveillance technology has been proprietary, but because of the expansion of cloud services and web based platforms over the last five years, we are seeing a lot more interoperability. There are now more opportunities to integrate, and integrations are faster and easier to do. A lot of convergence is taking place because the line between a retail analytics product and a security product, for example, is completely blurred. You can use the same technology to accomplish two different goals.”
Talking about the benefits of exhibiting at Secutech, he said: “We have been coming to the fair for a few years now. We come back because it’s a good place to engage with partners and inform the market about new solutions. Taiwan drives a lot of hardware solutions and OEM opportunities. The quality of visitors that come here tend to be a little bit higher from an engineering perspective, allowing us to have higher level conversations.”
At the concurrent Mobility event, Mr Joseph Huang, a Sales Manager at Vecow, shared similar sentiments about the effectiveness of the show: “We are a local company and this is our first time exhibiting at the concurrent Mobility event. The fair gives us the opportunity to meet with relevant international buyers and system integrators. We can share our new product information with potential clients at the fair and hold business discussions to find co-operation opportunities.”

Buyers commend product variety
With its four concurrent events, the fair offered visitors plenty of cross-over sourcing and integration opportunities. From surveillance cameras, access control systems, and police equipment, to GPS tracking systems, on-board cameras and firefighting gear, visitors had a broad berth of products to source at the fair.
“I am here at the fair because I can find a full range of components, software solutions, and integration opportunities for both home automation and security,” said Mr Michael Bell, the President and CEO of Japanese company Inter-Tel, who traveled to the fair to attend the concurrent SMABIoT event. “We provide telecommunication and senior services solutions to local residents and businesses. Taiwanese companies have very high R&D capabilities and good quality control.”
Echoing Mr Bell’s positive sentiments, Mr Amon Bazongo, co-founder and CEO of Rwandan company Yanfoma, said: “My company provides IT services and we have customers that have asked us to do system integration with access control systems. I have met with several Taiwanese companies, including one that have invited me to their office after the fair. These types of interactions help to build trust.”

Fringe programme educates the market on AI and IoT trends for security, building, transportation and disaster management
Aside from networking and sourcing opportunities, visitors to the fair also had the chance to educate themselves on new market trends through the fair’s three-day fringe programme.
Each concurrent event hosted its own series of forums and seminars, with topics ranging from BIoT innovations and future IoT transportation trends, to the uses of AI for security and disaster management.
Mr Joel Liu, the Vice President of HomeScenario was both an exhibitor at the fair and a speaker at the Smart Living Solutions Forum. After his presentation, he said that there is a lot of promise for AIoT to be implemented in Asia’s smart building sector: “Asia is still a growing smart building market compared to Europe and the USA, so there is a lot of potential for growth. My talk dealt with how smart building solutions can be built using AIoT and security subsystems. AIoT has become a buzzword in recent years, with many different ways of using the technology. The response from the audience has been very encouraging.”
While much excitement at the fair surrounded the new application possibilities for AI and the IoT, these were not the only technologies being discussed at the seminars and forums. Mr Vince Kuo, a speaker at the Asia Pacific Cold Chain Logistics Seminar explained that RFID technology can also be used across different vertical markets: “In the past, our company, GIGA-TMS, used RFID technology specifically for security purposes, however the technology can be used in many different ways, so we also started using it for the purpose of monitoring and tracking in cold-chain logistics.”

Nearly 100 innovative technological solutions offered higher confidence to business customers for physical and digital security

In the course of three days, from 6 to 9 March, in Inter Expo Center, the 26th edition of the international exhibition SECURITY EXPO presented solutions for higher security through the use of biometric data. Once again, the exhibition turned into a platform for establishing contacts, sharing ideas, presenting new products and technologies. In addition, the shows which ran in parallel with SECURITY EXPO, ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION WEEK and WATER TECH EXPO made it possible to establish more beneficial business contacts in sectors of public significance. From 6 to 9 March, over 7,200 professionals visited the three exhibitions.

SECURITY EXPO is held under the patronage of the Ministry of Interior, through General Directorate “Fire Safety and Protection of Population” and Directorate “Communication and Information Systems,” the Ministry of Defence, through the Defence Institute “Professor Tsvetan Lazarov” and Sofia Municipality, through Directorate “Emergency Relief and Prevention.”

The leaders in the field of video surveillance have for several years offered the possibility to use a fingerprint and face recognition for access control. This year, technologies have shown even greater advances and provide the opportunity for visual communication between parties. An even bigger part of the business has started using such innovative technologies, people from SECTRON shared. For yet another year, they showed improved video surveillance solutions and systems in their high-tech demo truck.

Visitors viewed cameras for face and image recognition in hard-to-access areas, next-generation cameras without blind spots and higher capacity for video analysis. Leading companies, such as Andi L and TEKRA, also presented working and successful video surveillance systems. This is how the Bulgarian public learned more about the advantages of solutions by world leading brands like BOSCH, HKVISION, SONY.

From the presentation by SECTRON, customers learnt more about new products in the field of fire alarms, alarm systems, evacuation and voice notification systems, rapid fire suppression systems. Visitors also witnessed the premiere of the cargo electric vehicle ALKE. The innovative fire extinguishing module Shumcar from Auto Engineering is an option already preferred by many of the Bulgarian forestries.

We now sign with our mobile phone
New biometric-based technologies offer higher security and are evidence of the exceptional progress of the business. This is happening not only in the field of physical guards and security, but also in digital cybersecurity. This is what became clear during the second conference on secure and digital payments SECURITY OF DIGITAL PAYMENTS on 6 March, organized by Inter Expo Center. A modern and secure system for electronic identification through a mobile phone was presented at the conference, the system’s creator, professor Georgi Dimitrov shared. It allows overall digital transformation and an option for remote electronic signature. The system was declared a champion in digital transformation by EC, an example of a breakthrough solution in the field of digitalization in the investment development report at the World Economic Forum in Davos. This revolutionary change will soon be one of the products offered by BORICA. We will be able to pay using fingerprint and face recognition, Radoslav Dimitrov, director of “Cards and Terminals” at Borica, announced. Biological features become passwords.
The conference was also attended by the world leader in software solutions for fraud prevention, OneSpan. The company has won the trust of more than half of the top 100 financial institutions in the world like HSBC, Deutsche Bank, US Bank, MUFG, Mizuho. Other innovative Bulgarian companies also presented successful systems and approaches for preventing financial misuse.

We now pay using a fingerprint and face scanning
The FinTech industry is rapidly developing. The Paysera FinTech company, which started out as an intermediary for cheap inter-currency transfers, is now gathering speed to become a working online bank. In 2018 only, customers have made payments for over 540 million leva, and the company has saved its clients more than 2 million leva from fees and commission fees. In contrast to many other banks, it uses a multi-factor identification system.

Mobile payments are still something new for the Bulgarian market, but they will be growing in number. Participants saw live the creators of the most innovative FinTech companies, Paynetics and Phyre, Valeri Valchev and Konstantin Dzhelebov demonstrating a payment being made and received in just a few seconds over two phones.
The banking system in Bulgaria is opening up and should offer its client a secure and convenient customer experience. However, at present there only a few banks which open their systems for new market players.

The goal is to make payments not using a card, but the customer’s account, regardless of the bank he is with, commented Vladimir Ikonomov, chair of the Bulgarian Association of the Certified Fraud Examiners, part of the international organization ACFE.

The share of digital channels is yet to grow, and Bulgaria is one of the countries with serious potential in this field. At the same time, online fraud in EU has increased by 27% in the past 3 years. This year, a growth of 8% is expected.

Do not pay ransom in cryptocurrency, experts advise
Fraud is most often done during real-time transactions. On 7 March, demonstrations of real hacker attacks were presented by experts from the Information Security Cluster and the Bulgarian Association of Certified Ethical Hackers. Weaknesses lie in the confidence of every business hat this cannot happen to it, in using one and the same password. What is the solution?

The use of secure applications and several levels of recognition, or two or three-factor authentication is a must. It is extremely important to use outside companies to manage all available information and prevent attempts at information and monetary misuse.

More and more companies are losing millions because of malicious cryptoviruses. Do not pay a ransom and it is almost certain that you will have to forsake all your information, Rostislav Petrov, chair of the Bulgarian Association of Certified Ethical Hackers, commented.

ISE 2019 shows how technology and creativity deliver experience
The 16th Integrated Systems Europe, which ran at the RAI Amsterdam from 5-8 February, was the biggest, broadest-reaching and most exciting edition of the show ever – confirming it as the international destination of choice for AV professionals.

As well as hosting 15 halls containing the latest technologies and solutions for pro AV and systems integration, the show provided its widest-ranging professional development programme to date, extending its coverage of major vertical market sectors.

The largest ever ISE show floor – 56,100 net square metres – housed 1,301 exhibitors. Of these 225 (17%) were companies taking space at ISE for the first time. At the close of ISE 2019, 92% of the available floor space at ISE 2020 had already been sold.

The overall number of registered visitors to ISE 2019 was 81,268 – another record figure for the show. Of these, a remarkable 32% were attending ISE for the first time. Wednesday saw the largest ever one-day attendance figure for any show at the Amsterdam RAI, and the number of attendees on Friday passed 20,000 for the first time.

A key theme of the show was how AV technology enables creative imaginations to produce rich experiences. This was explored in both the Opening Address from master projection designer Bart Kresa, and the Closing Keynote given by Tupac Martir, creative director and co-founder of Satore Studio. They were part of a professional development programme involving 300 international thought leaders, subject experts and creative minds.

Mike Blackman, Integrated Systems Events Managing Director, commented: “As an exhibition, as an unbeatable source of education and professional development, and as a destination for a global industry to come together and do business – ISE 2019 has delivered. Our Opening Address, Closing Keynote, and our two projection mapping features were fantastic showcases for how event professionals and others can harness AV technology to better realise their creativity.”

The day after his Opening Address, the world premiere of Bart Kresa’s latest projection mapping sculpture, Sviatovid, took place at the RAI. Constantly changing, highly detailed imagery projected all around the 5m-high figure, synchronised with a dynamic soundtrack, made for a compelling and memorable AV experience.

In ISE 2019’s other projection mapping first, the façade of the soon-to-open nhow RAI Amsterdam hotel, just next to the exhibition centre, became a projection mapping canvas, with video shot that day at the show forming part of each evening’s display.

Presented under the slogan ‘Learn. Discover. Be Inspired’, ISE 2019’s professional development programme featured strong involvement from the show’s co-owners AVIXA and CEDIA, as well as conferences organised by vertical market specialists.

For the first time, the nearby Hotel Okura was used as an ISE venue, hosting five of the show’s ten conferences. New additions for 2019 included Hospitality Tech Summit by HTNG; Digital Cinema Summit, produced in conjunction with Digital Cinema Report; AGORA, for the sports venue market, produced by MONDO | STADIA; and visitor attraction and theme park specialist blooloop returned to ISE for a second year with its new attractionsTECH conference.

AVIXA hosted two of its ‘What’s Next’ conferences, both of which had sold out before the show opened. These two strategy and technology conferences focused on integrated AV experiences in higher education and in enterprise. The association also ran a series of free 20-minute FlashTrack education sessions on its stand.

CEDIA, which used ISE 2019 to begin its 30th anniversary celebration events, had a four-day professional development programme with over 36 different courses, covering pertinent subjects under the headings of Technical Skills, Emerging Trends, and Business Success. Additionally, its stand hosted free CEDIA Talks on topical industry issues each day of the show.

An innovation for ISE 2019 was the Main Stage theatre in Hall 8. This was the venue for high-level thought leadership presentations, best practice case studies and expert-led panel discussions, many of which were ‘standing-room only’. Content was provided by AVIXA, CEDIA, AV Magazine and ISE itself, and the presentations were live-streamed to the ISE website.

ISE’s beating heart is its show floor, and ISE 2019 exhibitors once again made the most of the opportunity to launch new products and showcase their latest solutions. Among the technology trends in evidence were 8K displays; smart building technology, including the Internet of Things; AI-equipped devices; the continued progression of conferencing and collaboration technology; 3D projection mapping; a wider-than-ever choice of curved, flexible, transparent and ever-smaller-pitch LED displays; and further developments in AV over IP and audio networking.

For AVIXA and CEDIA, the event offered the perfect opportunity to showcase their various initiatives for 2019 in the areas of professional development and industry representation.

Dave Labuskes, CTS, CAE, RCDD, Chief Executive Officer of AVIXA, commented: “Congratulations to everyone involved with ISE on another record year. But let’s not lose sight of the many connections – both personal and professional – that were made in 2019.

“AVIXA defines success as being a catalyst for the growth of the global AV market and a hub for the profession and its practitioners. We certainly saw those twin goals become reality in Amsterdam. All of the focused conferences throughout the week, including AVIXA’s sold-out ‘What’s Next’ conferences for higher education and enterprise technologists, and networking opportunities, such as those held for AVIXA’s Women’s Council and EMEA members, help bring people together in order to propel this industry forward. Our FlashTracks stage of training opportunities was buzzing, and special programmes, like ISE’s student programme for fostering workforce development, demonstrated some of the many ways the show continues to be a dynamic, critical gathering of industry professionals.

“As always, it is our privilege to work with the talented team at ISE, CEDIA and the RAI. The commercial value of a trade fair like ISE cannot be overestimated nor over-celebrated.”

Tabatha O’Connor, CEO of CEDIA, commented: “We’ve enjoyed an amazing ISE 2019! CEDIA chose this year’s show as the kick off point for our 30-year anniversary celebrations and what an awesome week it has been.

“Our professional development programme has exceeded expectations, with delegates from around the world taking advantage of the excellent and varied training opportunities on offer. A number of classes, including our new full-day Home Cinema Design Masterclass, even sold out – which was great. The free CEDIA Talks on our booth also proved popular and we were delighted to showcase CEDIA Award winning projects with support from integrators and industry brand members on the ISE Main Stage.

“Above all, ISE is a great place for the CEDIA global community to connect not just with the many exciting, new technologies on display but with their industry friends and peers as well. We met with many new and existing international members on the CEDIA booth, giving us the chance to share progress on our three-year strategic plan and talk about the many initiatives we have coming down the pipe. We also welcomed over 200 guests to the Heineken Brewery for our annual CEDIA Party and 30th birthday cake cutting – a fantastic evening enjoyed by all comers.

“The show has been a terrific success and we can’t wait for ISE 2020!”

ISE 2020 will be held at the RAI Amsterdam from 11-14 February 2020.

The intelligent cities industry is spreading into new locations and involving new developers and startups, innovations and fresh ideas. Less than 2 months remain before the start of Smart Cities Expo (16-18 April 2019, IEC, Sofia, Bulgaria, organizer: Via Expo). It will demonstrate solutions for sustainable, safe and future-oriented urban development in South-East Europe. By linking creative developers with the audience of the event: investors, distributors, representatives of the public sector and clients, it encourages new business partnerships – some of the exhibitors are looking for distributors. Visitors can also learn firsthand about product launches and make their business more resource efficient through new investment. They will be impressed by the capabilities of compact devices and high-performance systems that work in real-time, reduce power consumption, and help users make an informed decision.

Some highlights of the exhibitors’ presentations
• Intracom Telecom is a global telecommunication systems and solutions vendor operating for over 40 years in the market. The company innovates in the wireless access and transmission field, offers a competitive portfolio: electronic energy meters, services for smart lighting, parking, metering, eHealth, IoT, etc.
• During the last years home automation became a market niche that will expand in SE Europe and will provide more and more sophisticated solutions. For years Comicon has been manufacturing a range of own developed ZigBee-based devices for reliable and secure wireless transfer of standard analogue, discrete and serial signals. The company will show solutions based on LoRa, EnOcean, ZigBee technologies; as well as solutions for home and building automation.
• Smart home and business automation is a reality with the VAiOS brand – hardware and software products. The company system is divided into Lego-type modules, which allows to quickly upgrade the existing main product to a specific design customized according to customer needs. The company will introduce some of the most interesting projects: the only Smart Fitness in Bulgaria, an innovative web-based remote system for facility management that is currently being implemented in the Netherlands. Combining hardware and software, it provides easy control over the building and resource consumption.
• Green Embedded Systems will take part in the exhibition for the first time. It is developing solutions mainly in the area of smart grids, smart meters, industrial and home automation. The emphasis of its participation will be on the company’s latest development, which is a novelty on the global market. This is a 60A direct energy meter for home use, with built-in Wi-Fi and with the size of a standard fuse.
• iSentinel® will be presented for the first time on the Bulgarian market. It is a smart earthquake protection system and saves the user’s life by triggering an early warning alarm seconds to tens of seconds before the destructive shock wave arrives and protects the buildings.
• Innovambiente® is without a doubt Innova’s key service today. It is an innovative management system for municipal waste collection processes, from startup to collection monitoring. The Italian company will present at Smart Cities fleet management services aimed at logistics or transport companies. It has already implemented Public Transport solutions in Matera, with intelligent Totem Poles advising customers on real-time bus arrivals at the various stops throughout the city.
• National Cluster for Intelligent Transport and Energy Systems are expecting different visitors at the Smart Cities: companies form the Region, state and municipal structures that have problems and are looking for new innovative technologies to solve them

Free entrance for the Conference „Sofia Knowledge City Marketplace“, organized by Cluster Sofia Knowledge City
The event will be held on 17 April. Bulgarian and foreign speakers will present the following topics: management capacity building and strategies for development of Sofia as a knowledge city, educational establishments and projects, technological solutions, scientific applications for Sofia. The focus will be on Western Balkans, Southeast Europe and Turkey – there are similar problems and different good practices.

Join Smart Cities 2019
Smart solutions are being developed at an incredible pace and their rapid integration into practice is a serious challenge. So let’s be active participants in the transformation of our cities – join the event. ¬¬

Parallel events: Energy Efficiency & RES, Waste Management
www.viaexpo.com