A POSITIVE OUTLOOK
Despite concerns about the recession this year’s Intersec, held in January at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre, proved that it was still business as usual at the region’s leading security event
Intersec 2009 was a Litmus test for many people in the security business to see whether the impact global recession was starting to be felt in the Middle East. Thankfully, although initially it might have seemed that there was slightly less traffic at the show, the organisers, Messe Frankfurt, were pleased to report that visitor numbers were in fact up again this year by 20%, to over 17,000 over the three day event.
Show manager, Angela Schierholz, confirmed that the show had in fact exceeded all expectations. “This year we had 710 exhibitors from 50 countries and had added an extra hall to accommodate the increased number.”
Exhibitors on the whole were happy with the numbers at the show, indicating that the market in the region is not yet cutting back. UK company Groundhawk, who specialise in bespoke security for military and other security applications, had an excellent show. “The first two days we did not stop for sevens hours, meeting and making strong contacts,” says managing director, Sean Roberston. A lot of visitors to the stand, he said, were interested in the company’s Mantra under vehicle inspection system. He added that the upshot of all this interest was that the company has now had to cancel a planned exhibition in the US so that it can fulfil its promises to the Middle East market.
Access control specialists SALTO Systems were equally pleased with the quality of visitors and business leads gained from exhibiting. “We were very busy during the show,” says Victor Hage, SALTO Systems MEA regional manager.”Although some markets have contracted a little due to the global slowdown, there is still a lot of infrastructure development going on in the region and existing projects are being completed. There is a growing demand for high quality modern security systems, especially access control, and we found there were more high quality people in attendance this year than at previous Intersec shows, including more consultants and more clients with concrete on-going projects,” added Hage.
Milestone Systems, which was demonstrating its latest video analytics framework, XProtect Analytics 2.0 at the show, also had a positive three-days.
“Intersec 2009 was an exciting and very prosperous event for Milestone,” says territory manager Peter Biltsted. “We had plenty of activity and fruitful meetings at our stand from which we expect to close a good deal of business. Partners came from all over the region - both systems integrators and end customers, as well as manufacturing partners. Interesting new software integration partners are also signing up to work with the powerful open platform available for our IP video management software.”
This year, Intersec 2009 was held under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, who officially inaugurated the event. After the ceremonial ribbon cutting he took a tour of the exhibition stands and was warmly welcomed by Michael Von Zitzewitz, chairman of the Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt and the German ambassador to the UAE H.E. Ambassador Klaus-Peter Brandes at the German pavilion. He also stopped by the Dubai Police pavilion which was holding regular demonstrations by its K-9 Training Department. Dogs from the K-9 unit demonstrated how they detect explosive devices and illegal drugs while the tracking dogs illustrated the techniques involved in tracking and attacking suspects and criminals.
Major Abdul Salam Mohammad Al Shamsi of the K-9 Training Department of Dubai Police said that they train the dogs when they are one and a half years of age. Depending on the abilities of a dog, the training could last from four to six months. In total they have 82 dogs based at Dubai Police each with a dedicated handler.
The fire and rescue halls at the exhibition had some of the most dramatic exhibits. At the Abu Dhabi booth they displayed some specially designed fire fighting vehicles for tackling difficult to reach areas. These included a mini fire truck, complete with foam and powder fire fighting equipment that had been adapted from a motorbike. It will soon be put into operation at Dubai International Airport. The equipment was conceived and designed by the Civil Defence in Abu Dhabi and built with the help of NAFFCO.
Conference sessions
A total of 65 international security experts and officials from the security and safety industry and police departments from around the world spoke and delivered presentations on a diverse range of subjects from homeland security and policing, commercial and information security, safety and health and fire and rescue during the three-day conference programme during Intersec.
One of the most compelling presentations was from Brigadier Dr Mohammed Ahmed bin Fahad, Director General of Dubai Police Academy. He said that international policy makers will be focussing their efforts on countering organised crime in the 21st century as such activity has had a major role to play in the current economic crisis. He said: “The proceeds of organised crime internationally are increasing and filling the coffers of criminals who as a result are able to buy political power by corrupting politicians around the world. The vast sums of revenue from crime laundered by criminal gangs in international financial markets have contributed in a big way to the current credit crisis.”
He said that the UN now defines organised crime as a “systematic structure of three or more people working temporarily to commit one or more serious crimes for profit.” He said it is one of the biggest threats to democracy when criminals sabotage elections by bribing the electorate and corrupting administrators and government officials. He called for international cooperation and the implementation of UN agreements designed to combat organised crime. He also called for Arab countries to unite, work together, coordinate and cooperate in battling both organised crime and the credit crunch. ■
HEALTH AND SAFETY
‘Get the Best’ campaign
The world’s leading professional health and safety body is encouraging employers in the UAE to make sure they get the best people to keep their workers safe.
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), which held a special health and safety conference at Intersec, is working closely with governments, including authorities in the UAE, to drive forward the safety agenda. The IOSH ‘Get the Best’ campaign calls for business leaders and employers to recognise the value of occupational safety and health professionals.
IOSH believes that health and safety is such a vital part of business that it needs to be managed by experts, qualified and experienced to give the right advice. Their message to employers is that if you want the best results you need to get the best people.
Nattasha Freeman, IOSH president said: “This is our third conference at Intersec, which underlines the importance and interest that the UAE has in promoting competence and sharing best practice. IOSH, defined by the ILO as a non governmental organisation, aims to be the thought leader in the arena of occupational health and safety and therefore support this initiative wholeheartedly.
Ahmed Al Manhali, IOSH Middle East Branch chairman said: “We live in an area that is blessed with natural resources and is progressing at a great speed in all economic and industrial sectors. The tasks ahead are very challenging and we will only be successful if we can harness the energy of all IOSH members in the Middle East to assist in achieving our goals.”
For more information visit: www.iosh-middleeast.com (opens a new window)
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