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Observations From the Exhibit Floor at ISC West

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Observations From the Exhibit Floor at ISC West

By Byron Whetstone, American Direct President

A few weeks ago, I stepped off a plane in Vegas and joined my colleagues and thousands of other security industry professionals at ISC West. Our recently acquired total security integration product, AccessNsite, exhibited at the show along with 1,071 other companies and brands. As I have said before, the security channel environment is changing rapidly, and American Direct is moving aggressively to evolve with it. The AccessNsite booth is just one example of how we are doing that.

Evidenced by what I saw at the show, the industry is being changed by innovation and the technology being brought to bear is impressive.

With that in mind, I give you a few of my observations from the show floor.

  • Consolidation (and Darwinism) is alive and well in the security industry. Redundancy is a reality in this industry, and it appears consolidation is starting to take care of it.
  • Hardware manufacturers have a long way to go in making their lock set truly functional AND aesthetically pleasing.
  • Everyone at the show is talking about what happens at and around the door opening, but no one is selling the actual door (except, of course, American Direct).
  • There is an immense opportunity for American Direct to partner with commercial integrators to provide totally integrated security solutions in every corner of the country. We have articulated for some time that, in our view, the commercial integration business and the contract hardware distribution business are on a collision course in the marketplace and that growing competition between the two channels is inevitable. We have collapsed this locally competitive landscape and created the only national service offering for mechanical and electronic offerings. The next step that we are exploring is potential partnerships with commercial integrators.

As I walked the show floor, it became strikingly apparent that the trajectory in which we are headed at American Direct is indeed innovative. We can confidently say that American Direct is a totally integrated security solutions provider and the only company equipped to wholly design, build and manage everything happening at the door opening. It appears that no other company in the marketplace has this integrated suite of services.

From what I saw at ISC West, and with the continued support from our partners, my confidence is bolstered in the direction we are headed. We have been hard at work expanding our footprint and we are confident that our position as the leading contract hardware distributor, hardware wholesaler, commercial integrator, and after-market service provider is helping us build the only company that meets the required multichannel distribution service levels of a changing marketplace.