The crowds at this year’s ISC West didn’t just seem bigger, they were bigger, according to the Security Industry Association. PHOTO BY TERRI HEDDEN

If you thought the aisles and booths at last week’s ISC West were a little more crowded than usual, you were right.

According to the Security Industry Association (SIA), which sponsored the show, ISC West 2014 saw record attendance of more than 26,000 security industry professionals during its April 2-4 run at the Sands Expo Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Add to that the more than 1,000 exhibitors and ISC West 2014 was the largest incarnation of the show since 2007 and the second-largest in its history.

Given these stats, it should come as no surprise that the three-day SIA Education@ISC program, held April 1-3, also set a record. Attendance for this year’s program, which consisted of more than 70 sessions, was up an estimated 33 percent over 2013, according to SIA.

The three-day program, April 1-3, addressed a wide range of topics, including two tracks dedicated to technologies that are creating smarter buildings and cities and to helping business enterprises learn to use hidden business intelligence to drive bottom-line improvements. For the first time, the education program included five workshops exclusively dedicated to improving sales in the security industry.

Not to be outdone, the SIA New Product Showcase (NPS) featured 105 entries (another record-setting number) entries from 88 companies. SV3 from Building Intelligence took the Best New Product Award and Australia-based dFENCE was named Judges’ Choice for its dFENCE mobile ballistic barrier product. Judges also presented awards to winners in 24 product and service categories and also singled out six additional entries as honorable mentions.

During the show, ISC Events announced the dates for ISC West 2015, which will take place April 15-17.