Security Dreamer

Out with PSIM, in with IM - so says NICE

I feel like a proud Papa.  NICE acquired Orsus, one of the hot new players in the PSIM (physical security information management) space.  Why do I feel so happy?  Because a major vendor in the security business demonstrates a savvy far beyond its competitors - the savvy that I've been talking about since I first introduced PSIM on this blog back in 2006.  PSIM is simply the physical security version of the larger, more important business issue: IM - Information Management.  By acquiring Orsus and creating a new strategy around its entire portfolio, Nice is the first major security vendor to become a full fledged Information Management vendor. 

Nice is now a business solutions provider, while its competitors remain security solutions providers.

So what?  The implications are huge.  Now, discussions that begin with security, segue easily into discussions about business information - business intelligence.  After all, the stuff of security (video streams, alarms, intrusion events, etc) are all simply data.  When that data is organized, analyzed and correlated with other data, it becomes information - information, which may be used to inform business decisions.

The PSIM vendors (Orsus, Proximex, VidSys, CNL, Vialogy and others) have done a great job making this point and educating us on the business value of security data.  Nice now can put this intelligence engine at the center of its portfolio and turn every security conversation into one that deeply concerns the senior executives.  Nevertheless, the independent PSIM vendors I just mentioned will also benefit from the Nice move.  They will become acquisition targets of Nice's fast-follower competitors, and they will enjoy the greater buzz and legitimacy Nice's investment causes around PSIM.

The deep pockets and global reach of Nice are the differentiators, though.  Nice can afford to bid on and support Information Management projects worldwide, while the smaller, independent PSIM software companies rely on a variety of partners to get implemented.

Nice is doing the right thing, but it won't be a cake walk.  The company still has to execute on this transformation and train its sales channel and its customers that security is not the point. This will be tough, since so many people think of security and surveillance when they think of Nice. 

I have faith in Nice, though.  Any company visionary enough to build a portfolio of business intelligence solutions within the security milieu is clever enough to reinvent itself from a marketing view, too.

Is security just about making nothing happen?

In one of his first blog posts on the just-launched "Cyberia" site, famed industry analyst, Jonathan Penn, explores the Value of Security with the question "Is the value of security really "making nothing happen?" 

That's a question I've tackled before, too.  Welcome to the blogosphere, Jonathan.

DreamerGear Review of Milestone's Video Management plus Video Analytics

Milestone XProtect Analytics and XProtect Corporate

What We Loved:  Integration & Support for many different cameras

What We Didn't:  Poor reporting and incident management tools

Price:  Starts at $7990 plus purchase of 3rd party analytics

Overall Score:  3.5 out of possible 5

 

Overview

Milestone Systems is the video management company with the fastest growing brand recognition.  I rarely hear an integrator or end user talk about surveillance video management without Milestone being mentioned. The company’s XProtect Analytics is enjoying the same buzz largely because of the effective marketing and press exposure to the system. For me, it was Milestone that put the concept of video management merged with analytics management on the map.  So of course I had high expectations when I evaluated the product.

 

For the full Review Summary:  Download DreamerGear Milestone XProtect

 

Related Product Reviews

Aimetis Symphony Enterprise Edition 6.2

Verint Nextiva 6.0

Video: How I Evaluated Three Video Analytics Management Platforms

Your software demos stink – here’s how to fix them so you sell more

Have you ever seen a bad software demonstration?  I do all the time.  It is so unfortunate that excellent products with important business value might not be purchased simply because the demo went south.  I recommend all sales people, dealers, integrators, manufacturers, and marketing folks attend this webinar this week led by Peter Cohan.

This Thursday, September 17, Noon Eastern. Online.

“Do The Last Thing First” – that’s the recipe for a great demo! You’ll learn how to put the “Wow!” into your demos and make them effective, crisp, and compelling – to engage and capture audiences within the first six minutes of a demonstration meeting.

Many demonstrations focus on teaching customers “how” to use a software product – product training, in fact – and neglect communicating “what” the software enables the customer to achieve with regards to the customer’s business goals and objectives. This results in bored audiences, uncompelling demos, key people leaving and inconclusive meetings, in the short term, and lost or delayed business overall.

There are two key areas of importance in software demonstrations:

1. Gaining an understanding the customer’s business issues and objectives
2. Crisp, compelling delivery of the content

This webinar addresses both items head-on. We’ll share how to ensure that you have captured the information you need before you create or show your demonstrations. Most importantly, we’ll help you organize the content of your demos to ensure that you address your customer’s key business issues within the first few minutes of a demonstration – and generate a “Wow!” response from your customers that engages and compels their attention throughout the demo.

The results are crisp, highly effective demonstrations that satisfy VP’s and senior management, champions, users and all other players.

Who should attend?

CEO; Heads of Sales, Marketing, and Presales; Sales, Marketing and Pre-sales Staff

The cost is $295.  But don’t pay it.  Instead, become a member of CompTIA for $250 and the webinar fee will be waved – Plus, you’ll enjoy dozens of extra benefits from the #1 trade association for technology companies and service providers.  Sign up for a Site Membership  It’s a great deal and definitely SecurityDreamer approved.

Click here if you are already a CompTIA member and want to register for the webinar for free. 

Steve speaking in the Pacific Northwest this month

I'm speaking at a morning workshop in Portland, Seattle and Vancouver in a couple weeks.  I'd like to invite my SecurityDreamer readers to attend. 

The free event is designed to promote discussion on a very important issue facing all of us in the the security industry, namely standards and integration.  As new technologies are developed to better meet the needs of our customers, how can we risk deploying them without straightforward integration? 

Please join me for this discussion. And please do tell your friends. Details are here.

ADI wastes my time at ISC West and recedes into the dark and smelly Dog House

Sorry it took me so long to post this.  I had..er, technical difficulties.  This short video shows some of the best and most creative ways to waste money and alienate customers at a trade show.  Congratulations, ADI for making into the SecurityDreamer Dog House.

One of the really good exhibits at ISC

There was so much to like about the ISC West show this year.  More breathing room on the show floor, shorter taxi lines, and an overall higher quality attendance than I've noticed in recent years.  I saw more end users than I think I've seen in the past, and the other folks - integrators, consultants, investors - were really the top tier.  My theory is that with the tight economy, travel budgets for the "regular folks" were restricted, so only the folks who had active and pressing business to perform came.  As a result, the quality of business I witnessed made this a successful show.

I was only able to spend a limited time at the show this year.  So many of you were able to come to Margaritaville on Tuesday night that for awhile it was shoulder to shoulder.  That was fun.  Excellent New Zealand wine supplied by the good folks at Gallagher, and yummy food. 

The show floor was satisfying, especially for those of you who received my SecurityDreamer Travel Guide to ISC West 2009.  Laid out sort of like a Lonely Planet travel guide, the little booklet helped folks to find the best and avoid the worst on the show floor.

One of the best exhibits I witnessed was so simple in its layout and so effectively manned by its personnel, that I'm awarding ACTi's exhibit the SecurityDreamer Best of Show.  Watch this short video about the ACTi booth.

IBM will buy Sun and have even more depth in security

If IBM buys Sun Microsystems, as the New York Times reports, the resulting portfolio of security-related technologies will be staggering.  Sun's identity and access management in particular will complement IBM's Tivoli products.  In addition the server and storage combination will make the new IBM video surveillance architecture unbelieveably flexible and broad.

Anyone wanna place a wager on how long it will take to see some exciting new solutions for security based on this merger?

Finishing up the SecurityDreamer Travel Guide to the ISC show floor

Vendors are already screaming, crying and gnashing teeth. 

See all ya'll in Vegas.

So now I'm wondering if IBM is the one to watch

Computers, software and networking have overhauled the technologies, sales channels and trade shows of the physical security industry in recent years.  Many, including me, have assumed that large and small IT vendors would capitalize on this shift to high tech.  After all, we are speaking their language.  So far, however, we have not seen a disruptive shift in technology and marketing - more like a dawning or awakening - nothing too dramatic.  Some big IT players may still offer that new path to value (as Ron Worman of the Sage Group would say).  IBM hasn't stumbled in awhile.  Maybe they are building up that head of steam we've been waiting for.