Security consultants Dale Murray and Douglas Adams looked quizzically Tuesday at an elaborate display of computers and camera equipment that control surveillance systems as large as the ones used at the Pentagon and as small as the ones in place at a simple two-story office building. Murray and Adams, who work for Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., clicked and probed for about 20 minutes. They said they were looking for updated systems for clients such as the federal Department of Energy and Department of Defense. "There's always a new cycle starting. You know in 10 years you'll have to put more money into it," Adams said.
The pair are among more than 18,000 security experts in New Orleans this week for the annual convention of ASIS International, formerly the American Society of Industrial Security. Everything from digital surveillance equipment to armored cars was on display in the conference exhibit area Tuesday at the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center [...]
The hot topic was homeland security. Groups such as the ASIS Information Technology Security Council were talking about what businesses need to do to prepare for a terrorist attack [...] "A lot of companies like banks, airports and even day cares not only like to watch their customers, they're using the equipment to watch their employees as well," said Todd England, a regional sales manager for Honeywell who was at the convention selling security cameras [...]
(Written by Crystal Bolner and published in the 17 September 2003 issue of New Orleans.)
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