See Firetide at IT Roadmap Event in San Francisco, Nov 3

Next week we will be exhibiting at our first enterprise IT proper event in a few years: IT Roadmap in San Francisco, Nov 3. We used to go to Interop in Las Vegas, but due to our focus on physical security, we’ve not been there for quite a while.

WLAN, point-to-point, mesh in IT manager’s arsenal

This time around, we have much more than mesh – an end-to-end enterprise wireless infrastructure to support indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi, inter-building connectivity, LAN extension, video surveillance, access control, mass notification, etc. Our product portfolio has expanded as well: in addition to infrastructure mesh to provide a “fat pipe” to the client devices (Wi-Fi access points, IP cameras, access control readers), we now offer point-to-point wireless Ethernet bridges (both MIMO and non-MIMO), 802.11 access points (indoor and outdoor) and a WLAN controller appliance.

Wireless-enabled enterprise: mesh, bridges, WLAN

How can IT manage the bandwidth surge from mobile multimedia applications?

Why do enterprises need this combo approach, rather than bridging Wi-Fi access points to extend the network’s reach? With the growth of multimedia applications (media streaming, videoconferencing, online meetings), coupled with the deluge of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets with Web access and video chatting over Wi-Fi, enterprise IT managers are struggling to increase and manage network capacity to meet soaring demand. The first part of the solution is realizing that the enterprise is no longer solely about the carpeted space but indoor and outdoor combined. Therefore, the technology solution will not come from indoor-oriented WLAN vendors. Consider adding real-time multimedia business applications or video surveillance to the campus network? Wi-Fi access infrastructure will be no match to the load of high-bandwidth, latency-sensitive streams.

See Firetide at IT Roadmap

What required is a combined wireless infrastructure mesh and WLAN solution that can scale and support ever increasing high-performance voice, video and data applications. See it for yourself at IT Roadmap event in San Francisco, November 3, booth 300! We will tweet from the seminar; follow #ITroadmap hash tag on Nov 3.

See also:

• “Firetide Inside” NETGEAR WLAN Offerings Reviewed In PC Mag
• Mesh Provider Jumps into 802.11n Wireless LAN Fray
• MIMO Wireless Bridge Joins Firetide’s Point-to-point Portfolio

Ksenia Coffman – Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

(Short) Orlando Walking Tour, Video Mesh Edition: Lake Eola

It’s been either luck – or ubiquitous nature of Firetide wireless mesh in municipal settings – but the last four venues I visited for Firetide events all had wireless mesh installs. That helps quite a bit in trade show settings: at IACP 2009 in Denver “there’s Firetide mesh downtown and at the airport,”  at ASIS 2010 “check out the downtown Dallas system”, at Chicago seminar “the city has hundreds of cameras on wireless mesh.”

Same was the case in Orlando, where Orlando PD has been using Firetide mesh since 2006. Since we were in Orlando for IACP 2010, my marketing colleague and I took a short break from the convention, and headed over to Downtown Orlando to document some of the installation sites. We started with Lake Eola Park – the newest deployment as part of the growing city and county surveillance system. As a side note, Orlando has a lot of city fiber, installed by the traffic department. Major thoroughfares all have access to fiber, so, similar to Chicago, wireless mesh fills the ‘fiber gap.’

Lake Eola is a city park, situated in the downtown area between Rosalind Ave (west), Central Blvd (south), N Eola Dr (east), and Robinson St (north). The first photo is of a head-end location off Rosalind Ave, close to the Walt Disney Amphitheater. You will see a dual-radio 7000 series mesh node, but in a 6000-equivalent configuration (non-MIMO), as evidenced by a single antenna cable per radio.

Lake Eola head-end mesh node (click to enlarge)

The head-end mesh node is connected to city fiber, which backhauls video to the OPD’s monitoring center. This mesh node, with its two antennas – one per radio, aggregate the wireless video traffic from camera/mesh node locations around the lake. All Lake Eola mesh nodes are dual radio, and possibly deployed in a linear loop configuration, with some redundant links, judging by antenna positions.

The next location on the south shore of the lake included a camera, so the mesh node is inside the black box. The park cameras and enclosures are painted black, I assume to match the color of the light poles. All cameras are PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) domes.

Lakeside camera location, 'Firetide-inside' (click to enlarge)

The east section of the park houses a playground, and we spotted two more cameras/mesh node locations.  The cameras are really unobtrusive; I walked right past this cameras without noticing it:

Park entrance camera location, Lake Eola (click to enlarge)

I was able to catch this camera location only thanks to the familiar diamond shape of the antenna:

Lake Eola camera hidden in the trees (click to enlarge)

It was over 90 degrees, too hot to walk around in trade show garb (Firetide black). At this point we decided to call it a day, cranked up the ac in the car and headed back to the convention center.

Hope you enjoyed the tour. Lake Eola is a very nice area – check it out if you are in Orlando; perhaps some time in winter, when it’s not so hot!

Lake Eola

For more information on other city-wide video mesh deployments mentioned in this post, see:

• Chicago Walking Tour, Wireless Video Surveillance Edition
• Chicago Walking Tour, Video Mesh Edition, Part 2
• Dallas Police Department Tour at ASIS 2010
• “The Cameras Work”: Denver on Its Wireless Video Surveillance System

By: Ksenia Coffman – Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

See How Video Mesh Helps Law Enforcement at IACP 2010

The conference season must be upon us, since right after ASIS 2010 in Dallas we are headed to IACP (International Association of Chiefs of Police) 2010 in Orlando, October 24 – 26, 2010.

IACP’s host city no stranger to Firetide’s mesh

Firetide mesh node captured in a local news report on video system in Orlando

Many of the nations’ municipalities are using Firetide technology for wireless video surveillance including Orlando, the host city for this year’s IACP conference. The Orlando Police Department has used Firetide’s wireless mesh for several years, including during the 2008 Presidential election to provide video surveillance at an Obama/Clinton campaign rally in Orlando that drew a crowd of 60,000 people. The system evolved from a tactical, portable application, such as for special events or SWAT operations, to a fixed “city center surveillance” deployment. For a recent update on the system, see Muni Wireless Video Surveillance at Work in Orlando.

I hope to spend some time in downtown Orlando tracking down surveillance locations, so that I’ll have material for a “walking tour” similar to the Chicago tour from this summer (see Part 1 and Part 2 of Chicago).

Representatives from Orlando PD will present a session on Sunday 1 to 3 pm on “Innovative Policing with Camera Technology from A to Z,” as part of the law enforcement technology track at IACP. I plan to attend the session: it will be interesting to see how OPD presents the system to an audience of their peers. If you are attending IACP, here’s the link to all sessions in the Technology Track.

Integrated video mesh demo

For IACP, we are partnering with Axis Communications and Milestone Systems for an integrated demo to showcase real-time video mesh, capable of supporting multiple streams of HD video.  The solution addresses challenges in providing real-time, forensic-quality video for city center surveillance, hostage/barricade situations, special events security, monitoring crime-prone neighborhoods, emergency preparedness and homeland security. Deployed in a matter of hours, the system is a real-world example of what public safety agencies can achieve in the field with the right combination of IP technologies, delivering evidence-grade video for officer safety, identification and investigation.

Video mesh demo at IACP 2010 (click to enlarge)

Our in-booth live demonstration (booth 2825) will feature wireless capture, distribution and playback of high-resolution video over wireless. Real-time video from Axis high-definition network cameras will be streamed over Firetide wireless infrastructure mesh network. The video will be captured and displayed using the open-platform Milestone video management system, including remote viewing via Wi-Fi enabled PDAs.

Social media at #IACP2010

This year IACP 2010 has an official Twitter hash tag: #IACP2010, which is a big step up from last year when IACP’s Twitter account (@IACPOfficial) did not promote one. There was an unofficial one – #IACP – which also picked up tweets from a gathering of International Association of Culinary Professionals.

IACP staffers will tweet and blog from the conference this year. See the recap of their social media plans: Special Events at IACP 2010. So that’s quite a leap from last year, where I don’t think IACP used social media around the conference much.

If you are on twitter, follow @firetide and @kseniacoffman for updates from Orlando. Follow #IACP2010 hash tag for all tweets from the conference.

For the recap from ASIS 2010 in Dallas, see:

• Dallas Police Department Tour at ASIS 2010
• ASIS 2010 Impressions: ASIS Accolades; Social Media at #ASIS10
• ASIS 2010 Recap, Part 2: New Products, Many Meetings
• Social Media For Crisis Communications, Presented at ASIS 2010

By: Ksenia Coffman – Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

ASIS 2010 Recap, Part 2: New Products, Many Meetings

ASIS show is a great venue to meet users of your technology, and hear first hand about their challenges, projects and feedback. Our booth traffic was equally split between integrators and end users. The integrated video solution (Firetide IVS-100) always draws attention. Our point-to-point MIMO bridges were well received; new 802.11n dual-radio access points were on display as well. Here’s an action shot from the booth:

ASIS 2010 Firetide booth (click to enlarge)

New Firetide products

At ASIS, we announced new functionality on our HotPort 7000 mesh, to deliver a single-platform infrastructure mesh for a variety of fixed and mobile applications. For example, customers can use 900 MHz links for non-line-of-sight communications and line-of-sight (2.4, 4.9 and 5 GHz) MIMO mesh for highest-capacity backhaul, then add mobility later on. In fact, about 95% of Firetide projects involve an infrastructure mobility application, if not today, then in the near future.

• Transportation networks for real-time video, voice and data: Firetide Mobility Controller is an all-inclusive, high-capacity solution for advanced wireless infrastructure mobility. With the mobility controller functionality, Ethernet-enabled devices such as IP video cameras, Wi-Fi access points, RFID readers, and laptops can maintain network connectivity while traveling at high speeds across multiple Firetide mesh networks. Large-scale projects for Seoul Subway and Mumbai Metro are already being deployed with Firetide mobility technology for mobile, real-time video.

• Non-line-of-sight mesh for utility and Smart Grid networks: HotPort 7000-900 infrastructure mesh operates in a 900 MHz spectrum to enable high bandwidth applications in challenging environments. It addresses the need for non-line-of-sight applications in Firetide’s core public safety, transportation and industrial markets as well as utilities. Municipal and private utilities have communications and physical security requirements that are often challenging to address. Interconnecting multiple sites at wire-like speeds is a daunting proposition for many, when fiber or leased lines are too costly or impractical.

“Our business is exclusively with utility customers who face challenging conditions in their projects, including remote facilities, vegetation, obstructions, and limited mounting and power options. Most of our Firetide projects include a combination of 900 MHz links for non-line-of-sight or partially obstructed locations and line-of-sight links at 5 GHz or 4.9 GHz, all the way to MIMO links for high-capacity backhaul at 100 Mbps throughput. With the range of capabilities that Firetide delivers, we can provide a solution that meets our customers’ needs, rather than having to limit network coverage or throughput due to environmental conditions. A single HotPort 7000 platform also simplifies specification, design and deployment.” Ken VandeVeer, sales manager at Sage Designs Inc.

Many meeting

The show was filled with meetings.  We even managed to swing a press breakfast (obviously, not on a scale of the big guys, but nonetheless.)

We met, as we typically do, with IMS Research; it was a pleasure to meet Niall Jenkins who authored the report “The Americas Market for Wireless Infrastructure Used in Video Surveillance – 2010 Edition.” (For more information on the report’s findings, see: Firetide Lands at #1 Spot in Video Mesh in the Americas). I asked Niall if there was interest in the wireless report, i.e. if it was worth their while having produced it. He said it definitely was: there was a lot of uptake on the report. We also discussed the integrator training dilemma – security integrators often expect free training, while wireless manufacturers prefer to charge for it, leaning towards an IT model. Firetide charges for its 3 day certification training, but the attendees receive a 10-node mesh management software license, which retails for roughly what the training investment is. We do offer free online training (1-hr interactive course), so people just wanting an introduction can take that.

In other notable meetings, we had a good chat with an editor of an IT reseller magazine, their first-time visiting the show. The editor shared with us that their reseller channel is moving into the physical security space, and the editorial coverage needs to reflect that.

In general, talk of IT and security channel and project convergence has come up quite a few times at the show. The move to IP was also evidenced by Axis Communications taking one of the top three sponsorship spots, which was typically occupied, I’m told, by an analog camera vendor. Way to go, network video!

Is technology the future of security?

On a final note: I was not going to be negative towards ASIS or the conference, since its great venue for us… But, here goes: those who attended the Awards Luncheon, did you notice the ASIS chairman’s curious comment: “Today, there’s too much technology in security, and not enough attention to the human element.” With the trade show floor filled with all kinds of technology, security guards being replaced with video surveillance cameras, etc, ASIS needs to embrace technology – it’s only a matter of time when security will be all about technology.

For more posts from ASIS in Dallas, see:

• Dallas Police Department Tour at #ASIS10
• Social Media For Crisis Communications, Presented at #ASIS10
• ASIS 2010 Impressions: ASIS Accolades; Social Media at #ASIS10

By: Ksenia Coffman – Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

ASIS 2010 Impressions: ASIS Accolades; Social Media at #ASIS10

ASIS 2010 was a good show for us, and judging by the overall sentiment from the conference attendees and the vendors alike, things are picking up. Our booth traffic was 50% up from a slow show in Anaheim. We were also strategically positioned on the way to the ASIS booth and the Accolades show case, so that helped out as well.

ASIS Accolades; “What’s new on the floor?” session

Highlight of the first day of the show for us was The ASIS Accolades awards luncheon, where our CEO accepted the award for Firetide IVS-100 MIMO in front of thousands of ASIS members. That same day, Firetide was also featured on the session “What’s New on the Floor” presented Ron Lander, CPP, CMAS of Ultrasafe Security Specialists.

In his session, Ron shed some light on the selection and judging process (You can listen to the entire presentation here: What’s New on the Floor – flv file, audio only.)

Ron Lander on the selection and judging process:

“Every year exhibitors are invited to participate in the Accolades competition. This  year we had 72 companies who submitted new technologies, new ideas and new products. Some of them were just recently released; some were released in the last 11 months, which is part of our criteria. 24 members of the ASIS Physical Security Council are tasked to review the written marketing material and specifications; they narrowed it down to around 40. Then a handful of judges, including myself, sat down and determined the top ten. And let me tell you, this was a tough year, there’s a lot of new technology within security and video surveillance, as you will see.”

Ron Lander on Firetide:

“Public safety is another vertical in security technology where you need forensic-quality video. You can have a good camera, you can have a good DVR, but if you don’t have a good way to transmit the video, your quality’s still going to be poor.

Firetide’s seized the lead of the market with good products, and as a consultant I’ve worked with them on different projects, among those the cities of Redland and Lynwood, California. They get forensic quality video to their customers; the sort that the DA likes: you can get a conviction with it. I also know of cities on the East coast that will not allow you to build a liquor store without cameras specified to meet their video surveillance requirements. They want to be able to look into your cameras first, to see what’s going on in the store, if there’s a hostile situation at that location.

And if you go downtown, you can see Firetide’s technology in the city of Dallas. The system is in a mesh configuration where one unit is connected to other units.”

Firetide CEO Bo Larrson accepts the Accolades award (click to enlarge)

Firetide team with the Accolades award (click to enlarge)

Firetide IVS-100 MIMO - The Accolades award winner (click to enlarge)

Social Media at ASIS

On an interesting note, Ron Lander asked the audience about whether or not they participated in social media, and highlighted the #ASIS hash tag. I also saw ASIS signs throughout the convention center promoting the hash tag. @ASIS2010 account did a good job promoting the twitter stream and the blog, but it was mostly manufacturers and the media who were tweeting from ASIS. Still, there were 165 twitter accounts that used the hash tag; you can access the list here: http://tweepml.org/ASIS-2010-Tweeps/

Social media, in my opinion, is a great add-on to any conference. I got a couple of comments on my picture-tweets from the Dallas PD tour thanking me, since they could not attend on Monday or flights were delayed. Brent Dirks live-tweeted many sessions, so you could follow the hash tag and virtually be in many places at once.

Tuesday was also the day of the Social Networking and Your Professional Development session, where I presented, alongside with Steve Surfaro and Shawn Flaugher. You can access the presentation and notes from the session here: Social Media For Crisis Communications, Presented at #ASIS10.

The audio from the session was recorded, and you can access it on ASIS web site, along with select other sessions from ASIS (wish slides were available as well, I’m getting audio only): ASIS Sessions Video.

For more posts from ASIS in Dallas, see:

• Dallas Police Department Tour at #ASIS10
• Social Media For Crisis Communications, Presented at #ASIS10
• ASIS 2010 Recap, Part 2: New Products, Many Meetings
• #ASIS10 Giveaway: Firetide Devil Duckie Is Retiring!

By: Ksenia Coffman – Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Dallas Police Department Tour at ASIS 2010

Dallas turned out to be a great location for this year’s ASIS 2010 Conferences, in part because City of Dallas is a long-term user of Firetide technology for their municipal video surveillance system. The project started in 2006, and the first cameras (about 40) went in early 2007. Now the City of Dallas project is up to 152 cameras and 165 mesh nodes, in Downtown, Uptown, Jefferson Boulevard, and Jubilee Park neighborhood.

ASIS organized the tour, as they typically do, as part of Monday’s pre-conference programming. There were 50 participants, as we boarded the bus at the Dallas Convention Center.

Downtown Dallas bus tour, muni surveillance edition

The tour consisted of multiple segments, with the first leg being the bus tour of the downtown. John Watson, Chairman of Bearcom (the integrator on the project) narrated the bus tour, giving us the background and the history of the project. The system is 100% wireless using Firetide infrastructure mesh for street level connectivity and BridgeWave point-to-point links to backhaul various parts of the network to City Hall, and from City Hall to the Police Department building a few miles away.

We drove through the Central Business District and the Arts District, eventually coming to the City Hall. I snapped some pictures while on the bus:

Dallas PD city surveillance camera, 'Firetide-inside' (click to enlarge)

Dallas PD city surveillance camera at Main St (click to enlarge)

City surveillance camera at a park near construction

Dallas PD Mobile Command Center

The next stop of the tour was the Dallas PD Mobile Command Center (MCC), which was parked at City Hall. The MCC is also equipped with Firetide mesh nodes, enabling mesh connectivity to the MCC, if it’s within reach of any of the fixed mesh nodes. You can the mesh nodes peaking from the top of the MCC:

DPD Mobile Command Center equipped with Firetide mesh (click to Enlarge)

We got a brief presentation on the project at the side of the MCC (it’s equipped with a flat screen monitor). You can view the presentation below (pretty compelling statitistics on calls for service and arrests directly relating to the cameras, plus overall crime reduction statistics for the past three years):

http://www.slideshare.net/firetideinc/dallas-muni-video-surveillance-tour-asis-2010

911 Center, Police Dispatch and Camera Unit

City Hall houses 911 Center, the Police Dispatch, and the Camera Unit, where the city’s cameras are being monitored. We were give a talk in each of these areas, which were all very interesting so I was glad we did not focus just on the cameras. 911 Center takes 2 million calls a year, with 650,000 being passed onto the Police Dispatch.The 911 Center manager shared with us how the center operates, what types of calls they have, and how 911 call takers handle the sometimes harrowing aspects of their jobs.

The Camera Unit was the main “goal” of the tour so we spent a good deal of time in the unit, which is a newly opened room with 8 workstations. Retired or light duty police officers monitor video 24X7. The calls for service that I mentioned earlier either originate from the camera operators when they spot something suspicious, or when they are asked to view something on camera by the dispatch.

The camera operators played a few clips for us from the past incidents captured on camera, from robberies to car break-ins and even a traffic accident that resulted in a fatality. (I thought that the last one was a bit over the top, but nothing probably phases the operators). We also saw how they zoom in in real-time onto license plates hundreds of yards away, with no lag or hesitation from the camera. That was impressive, considering the network is all-wireless. OnSSI Ocularis client was on display – very snazzy!

Shots of the camera room:

Dallas PD Camera Unit (click to enlarge)

DPD Camera Unit (click to enlarge)

This was a whirl-wind week in Dallas, but I was glad I took the time to participate in the tour. More recaps from ASIS 2010 are coming up!

Any questions about the tour? Feel free to ask.

For more posts on ASIS 2010, see:

• ASIS 2010 Impressions: ASIS Accolades; Social Media at #ASIS10
• ASIS 2010 Recap, Part 2: New Products, Many Meetings
• Social Media For Crisis Communications, Presented at #ASIS10
• #ASIS10 Giveaway: Firetide Devil Duckie Is Retiring!

By: Ksenia Coffman – Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Wireless Mesh for OSP, Presented at OSP Expo

As luck would have it, ASIS 2010 is happening at the same time as OSP Expo. Firetide’s Mike Intag, RCDD is presenting there on wireless mesh for OSP environments, focusing on mesh applications for outside plant deployments.

The presentation provides essential information and how-tos:

• Wireless options and their differentiators in OSP environments
• Considerations for high-performance wireless networks
• Mesh applications, design approaches and best practices

The applications covered include:

• Wireless-enabled campus environments: mesh as backbone for video, Wi-Fi, mass notification, etc.
• Industrial security: video, access control, threat detection
• LAN extension for essential business operations in outdoor settings
• Smart Grid and utility WAN: from non-line-of-sight at 900 MHz to high-capacity backhaul using MIMO technology
• Wi-Fi hotspots, plus using mesh as leased line replacement to provide internet service to the hotspot
• Cellular base station interconnect for rapid expansion of coverage areas

To Mesh or Not to Mesh for OSP?

http://www.slideshare.net/firetideinc/mesh-ospexpofiretide

For more posts on mesh network design, see:

• Network Design Considerations for Wireless Video Surveillance
• When Wireless Video Mesh is Not ‘True’ Mesh (But Better)
• To Mesh or Not To Mesh for Wireless Security and Surveillance

By: Ksenia Coffman – Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Social Media For Crisis Communications, Presented at ASIS 2010

It was interesting to be at a physical security conference, but presenting on social media. As a brief background, we at Firetide started our social media efforts about a year ago around ASIS 2009, in part thanks to my co-presenters Shawn Flaugher (@shawnf on Twitter) and Steve Surfaro (@stevesurf), both physical security pros.) But I found out that in physical security space, we were the early adopters and are now considered social media experts!

I focused my part of the presentation on the business side of things, specifically deploying social media for crisis communications. Using three examples of recent events (PG&E’s social media communications in the aftermath of San Bruno Fire, “TSA took my son” incident, and University of Texas Austin active shooter response), I illustrate how to use social media to respond to emergencies, to address criticism and to supplement mass notification systems.

For any business, it’s important to be prepared for a crisis, and social media must be part of you crisis communication plans. Plus, it’s one of the ways to justify spending time and effort on social media, if the higher-ups don’t see the benefits (yet).

View the presentation on SlideShare:

http://www.slideshare.net/firetideinc/social-media-for-crisis-communications-asis10

(Hope you were following my tweets on Monday and Tue from the ASIS 2010 conference and the Dallas PD tour. Follow #ASIS10 hash tag for tweets from Dallas!)

For more posts on ASIS 2010, see:

• ASIS 2010 Impressions: ASIS Accolades; Social Media at #ASIS10
• Dallas Police Department Tour at #ASIS10
• #ASIS10 Giveaway: Firetide Devil Duckie Is Retiring!

For more posts on social media for business, see:

• Practical Social Measurement for B2B: #B2Bchat Recap
• Primer on Twitter Chats
• Corporate Twitter for B2B Part 1: Getting Started
• Corporate Twitter for B2B Part 2: 12 Types of Compelling Content for Your Feed

By: Ksenia Coffman – Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Popular Posts: Chicago Video Mesh; Network Design; Grey’s Anatomy

For this Friday post, I’ve compiled some of the most popular blog entries from the past 9 months of Mesh Without Wires. Enjoy!

Chicago video mesh

Chicago Walking Tour series has been very popular, and is also one of my favorite on the blog. It gives the readers, who may not come up and close to video installations, an opportunity to see the equipment in its “natural surroundings” and to see how various elements of the system integrate with each other.

• Chicago Walking Tour, Wireless Video Surveillance Edition, Part 1: Magnificent Mile, River North, Riverwalk and Theater District
• Chicago Walking Tour, Video Mesh Edition, Part 2: Millennium Park and vicinity

Wireless mesh network design

The next three posts focus on best practices of mesh design – they are very popular judging by search traffic. Some of these posts came about as a response to blog commenters, so many thanks to those who engage with me on this blog.

• Network Design Considerations for Wireless Video Surveillance
• When Wireless Video Mesh is Not ‘True’ Mesh (But Better)
• To Mesh or Not To Mesh for Wireless Security and Surveillance

Grey’s Anatomy finale

Amazingly, 5 months after the Grey’s Anatomy “Active Shooter” finale aired, I’m still getting hits to the post below. People apparently continue to be baffled by the ABC’s version of police/SWAT and hospital security response to the incident, judging by search terms people use to arrive to the blog, such as “grey’s anatomy worst security” and “seattle grace ineffective lockdown.”

• Grey’s Anatomy Finale Defies Reality and Physical Security Industry

Catch my posts from next week’s ASIS 2010 in Dallas, and from the ASIS Dallas PD tour. If you are on twitter, follow @firetide and @kseniacoffman for updates from the show. Official Twitter hash tag is #ASIS10.

By: Ksenia Coffman – Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

#ASIS10 Giveaway: Firetide Devil Duckie Is Retiring!

The "infamous" Firetide devil duckie

Well, technically we retired the “infamous” (as some people used to say) devil duckies a few years ago. At every trade show we’d give out several thousands of them. At Interop 2005 it was mentioned as the most memorable give-away. But the company grew up, and the devil duckie was deemed not serious enough.

We recently came across the last two boxes, so we will be handing them out at the ASIS 2010 show in Dallas. When they are gone, they are gone! Be sure to get yours at our booth 3824. Stop by early if you want to get one; they may not last long.

If you are on twitter, follow @firetide and @kseniacoffman for updates from the show. Official Twitter hash tag is #ASIS10. I will also be attending the ASIS tour of the Dallas Police Department wireless surveillance system and monitoring center (Monday October 10), so look for my updates on that as well.

Dallas has been using Firetide since 2007 for their municipal video mesh system, and that was one of the deployments that put Firetide on the map for public safety video surveillance. So it will be very rewarding to see the system live.

See also:

• Before ASIS, See How Dallas Uses Wireless Video Surveillance

By: Ksenia Coffman – Connect with me on Twitter or LinkedIn.