ISC West, the International Security Conference and Exposition, returns to the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev., March 23 through 26. Featuring a revamped educational program and more than 900 exhibitors, the show will provide attendees plenty of opportunities to learn about and experience many of the new technologies and techniques available to security dealers and systems integrators.

The conference portion opens Tuesday, March 23, and has been broken into six tracks, providing focused areas for dealers and integrators, central stations and IT/IP professionals, among other segments of the security industry. Featured courses include the new Signature Series, a collection of high-profile, hot-topic presentations; PSA-TEC@ISC, two technical sessions provided by PSA Security Network and PSA-TEC; and the IP Institute, two day-long sessions providing in-depth IP convergence training on complete integrated security solutions — video, access control, storage and more.

Part of the Signature Series is the State of the Industry presentation, a two-part session to be held Wednesday and open to all attendees and exhibitors. The first part, a roundtable discussion featuring key industry leaders, will analyze current and future industry trends and describe what they mean for the many demographics of the security industry. Sandy Jones, principle consultant of Sandra Jones and Company moderates. Speakers include Ed Bonifas, vice president of Aurora, Ill.-based Alarm Detection Systems Inc. and president of the CSAA; Bill Bozeman, president and CEO of PSA Security Network; Richard Chace, CEO and executive director of the Security Industry Association, and Lynn Mattice, chairman of the executive board of advisors for the Security Executive Council. The discussion begins at 9 a.m.

Part two of the session features SDM Publisher Mark McCourt presenting the 2010 Industry Forecast. An annual study published since 1981, the forecast gauges the health of security businesses, the outlook for sales and profits in the coming year, and the overall viability of the electronic security market. McCourt will discuss the results of the forecast and what they mean for security businesses, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Other featured courses include SIA Project Management, which will cover fundamental elements of sound project management, including project definition and planning, installation and field work, project documentation and financials; and Critical Incident Protocol (CIP): Community Facilitation Program.

The SIA New Product Showcase will be held at ISC West. While NPS entrants are featured in this issue on page 109, the entries will be judged during the show and the winners announced on March 24 at 3:00 p.m. in booth 11074. For information, visit www.iscwest.com.