There was a time not so long ago that ISC East was considered a small, regional show not as relevant to the bulk of the security and public safety industry. It hasn’t lost its regional flavor; but with three co-located events covering some of the hottest topics in the industry (ISC East, Unmanned Security Expo and Infosecurity North America); both attendance and exhibitor space up; and even more educational content than before, it’s safe to say ISC East is not only “catching its stride,” but quickly becoming a not-to-be-missed event in the fall tradeshow lineup.

ISC East eNews spoke with Will Wise, group vice president, security portfolio for Reed Exhibitions about some of the most exciting changes and trends he is seeing at the show this year.

ISC East eNews: What has changed about ISC East from last year to this year?

Wise: This year we have really scaled it up by co-locating for the first time with the Infosecurity North America event. Our Reed London team runs Infosecurity events across the globe with their flagship event in London every June, and we are happy to have them bring the North American version to co-locate with ISC East in New York City. It is not only a good roster of IT and information security exhibitors, but it also brings a lot of good content as well. It will help further the whole spectrum of comprehensive security. Another significant addition is last year we had some content on drones and unmanned security but this year we have a full co-location of the Unmanned Security Expo event and have two full days of classrooms covering drones, robots, all the regulations and more. It is bringing some really cool new companies to the event as well. All told, versus 2017, there will be more than double the amount of drones, drone-detection and robotics exhibitors, and our focus on security and public safety is important for this segment of the industry — which is due to experience rapid growth over the next five years.  

We have also really seen strong exhibiting companies growth this year, with the ISC East expo floor 20 percent bigger and the number of exhibitors has gone from 240 last year to over 300 this year. There is more content, more solutions and these elements are upping the stature of the event. Five years ago, the show was struggling with traffic and scale but the last three years have seen it gaining strong momentum and catching its stride. A lot of the new exhibitors are paying attention to the resurgence of the East event. In fact we’ll have more than 70 new companies taking part this year.

ISC East eNews: How is ISC East different than its ISC West counterpart and what can attendees here expect to get out of this show?

Wise: We don’t bill it as a cookie-cutter version of ISC West. It is more geared to the Eastern region security and public safety professionals and those who really value engagement in the East Coast area. The NYC market and overall eastern region is a big market attraction for both new exhibitors, as well as for companies that have a regular presence at ISC West and now realize that ISC East taps into a totally different, incremental audience — during a key time of the year, Q4.

More specific to this ISC East 2018 event, the fact that we have a lot more exhibitors, and even more diversity of solutions than before means attendees will be able to get reinforcement on product categories they are already comfortable with, but also get challenged to learn about new topics — whether from the education sessions, more exhibitors or the co-located shows. There is a lot of benefit to interacting not only with like-minded physical security and public safety colleagues and peers, but also with the IT professionals that are coming.

ISC East eNews: What are some of the new technology and industry trends you see reflected at this show?

Wise: Smart cities, the way IT is changing video surveillance markets, robotics and cyber, as well as some of the ongoing security needs to ensure public safety. To help prepare our content we conducted an internal survey six to eight months ago with integrators, installers and dealers. We asked them, “For the next three years what do you see as the top growth areas for your business?” Number one was IoT and connected security, second was video, third was access control, fourth was artificial intelligence and tied for fifth were perimeter security and drones and ground robots. It is a very interesting mix of traditional and emerging technology and that is reflected by what you see here on the show floor and in our educational sessions.

ISC East eNews: What are you most excited to see this year and what comes next?

Wise: I am most excited about building on the momentum from last year. We got really good reviews from exhibitors and attendees last year and we are taking it to a whole other level this year. Our ISC Security Events brand is about comprehensive security for a safer, connected world. ISC East has been building and growing to answer that in earnest, and between the number of sessions and the diversity of the exhibitors, we will really achieve that promise this year. The present and future is bright for ISC East and we are committed to providing great solutions and education for this community.