IFSEC 2008: EPA Reports Back
Richard Scott reports from his (increasingly heavy) laptop at the Birmingham NEC, venue for the 2008 IFSEC Show:
Hello from Birmingham!
The half hour it took to be allocated a car parking space was the first indication that this year’s IFSEC show was going to be busy. And walking into the exhibition itself did not disappoint. Often the sheer size of the NEC can swallow up vast crowds and give the illusion of a poor turn out, but not this time.
I first headed to the area devoted to CCTV equipment, following on from the recent news stories regarding its effectiveness. It was impressive to witness the advances in this area, in particular the methods of data storage. Key to this are the formats in which the video is recorded, and one of the latest formats being used in surveillance is the JPEG2000 which allows superior compression with a reduction in blocking, making images far clearer. One product I saw to use this was the Mitsubishi DX-TL4509E, which has been used by clients such as Abbey.
The IFSEC halls were well populated by big names such as Panasonic, LG, Siemens and Norbain (who had a group of Lycra-clad girls swiping badges for the chance to win a speedboat), but as is always the case there were some equally interesting products on the smaller stands. One of those was Strasbourg-based RSI Video Technologies who were marketing their Videofied system as a tool to combat copper theft. It is a battery powered, wireless video system that is motion activated and can send a 10-second video capture to a monitoring station. This is an ideal set up for areas that hold large amounts of cable as these tend to be in places without power and are difficult to monitor constantly in person.
The Safety & Health Expo also had much to offer for people within the electrical industry, particularly with regard to advanced workwear designed to reduce slips, falls and abrasions. One stand to catch my eye was JAFCO’s who were displaying a range of insulated tools specifically made for street lighting installation work. They seemed very well made and could obviously be of benefit to anyone working around live cables.
All in all a fantastic show and well worth anyone heading over to Birmingham before it finishes on Thursday.