Editorial

One exhibitor, seeing the mile high pile of literature we picked up, wondered how we were going to get it all back to the office seeing as how we went up by push bike (well ok, by train). I told him we were doing a David Cameron and having them sent back in a van behind us! Since then we've been ploughing through all this material and have spotted stacks of equipment that didn't get any big fanfares or launch events at IFSEC but will definitely interest readers, and you'll find them throughout this edition.

As usual, there was so much launched at the show that we'll be featuring these goodies over the next few editions. There's only one magazine where you won't miss anything of interest and that's this one, so keep reading. Amazingly, and without any conferring from exhibitors, IFSEC always manages to throw up a few themes that are repeated on every second stand. I suppose in a relatively small industry where all the manufacturers know each other there's bound to be a lot of communal thinking and replicated R&D. Last year everyone was talking about (1) the imminent Euro alarm standards, (2) integrating everything, (3) making equipment extra simple to install and use. So what were those repeated themes this year? Turn to page 37 to find out.

Baxall, celebrating its 30th birthday, had an eyecatching display board of cameras over the years and later, back at base, I got to looking through some old editions of Installer from the late eighties (yeah I know, sad man). I was struck by how little CCTV coverage there was then. In a 50-odd page edition there were only two pages of ads for CCTV kit, the vast majority of content covering intruder alarms. How different to today's market. Some go-ahead installers were considering whether or not to enter this brave new world of surveillance ... And then, just as we go to press, I receive a report saying intruder alarms are likely to decline by 12 per cent in a five year forecast up to 2010 (more on this next month). It's obvious to any installer that the intruder sector has declined but its even more obvious that a lot of companies are doing well at the expense of those smaller guys who doggedly stick to intruder only.

While CCTV and access control are expecting good growth into the next decade, the obvious lesson is that installers cannot afford to keep their eggs in one basket, or even in a couple. Proprietors know they must diversify to prosper or just survive. Another market report (see page 14) contrasts those that are doing well and those who are likely to have to cut jobs to stay in business. We all know those companies that are prospering. You can read about them in the news pages of this edition and every month, diversifying into fire, domestic CCTV, IP, auto gates, ANPR etc etc. Last month we reported on a firm doing great new business in domestic intruder, so the profit is there for those with an open mind and imagination.