Nearly 100 exhibitors and 4,000 visitors gathered last September in Medellin, Colombia during the International E&S Security Fair. A meeting that continues to grow within the Andean region.
by Duván Chaverra Agudelo
Last September Medellín received for the second time one of the most important fairs in the Andean region in what has to do with the universe of security. There were more than one hundred exhibitors, national and international, who manufacture or distribute some of the most recognized brands in the industry.
SECURITY SALES could not miss this appointment and during the four days of the fair he toured each of the corridors of the Plaza Mayor Exhibitions, where we met some of the most recent and affordable technologies for the region.
Megapixel cameras, High Definition, thermal, based on technology via IP, as well as different analog solutions in CCTV predominated at the event. Similarly, systems such as fire and intrusion alarm panels, access and biometric controls, alarms, among others, continue to be at the forefront of technology.
We also note the interest of the large manufacturing brands to position themselves in Colombia, due to the continuous growth that this nation is presenting in its global economy, which is why it arouses the concern to meet the needs of many customers.
Companies like Samsung Techwin explain some of the reasons why they see Colombia as an opportunity to continue growing. "This country generates a turnover of around 70% of the share of the region in which we participate, which also includes Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador. We have increased participation due to the launch of products for sectors such as prisons, hospitals, shopping centers, among others, which are markets with a lot of movement," said Arturo Martínez, regional sales director of the Northern Cone of Latin America.
For their part, Axis spokesmen in the region believe that Colombia must still bet more on its infrastructure to progress in terms of security, especially in the city issue.
"The Colombian market has grown a lot compared to previous years, but if we measure it with other markets there is a delay; for example, Medellín is a city of 2,500,000 inhabitants, where there should be about 1,000 cameras, but they only have about 300. This indicates that the State's investment in urban security is almost zero. In addition, the products that are being acquired for this type of project are not only obsolete but of low quality. However, we think that as the country's infrastructure continues to grow, so will the industry," said Luis Alberto Delgado, Axis regional sales manager.
For her part, Natalia Argáez, marketing director of Sony, commented that "the fair is provided in this type of cities so that the level of attendance is quite important, not only from the local environment but from other cities and our main objective here was to show the brand. In Colombia, Sony is betting on the IP market, unfortunately in cities like Medellín and Cali the security levels have regressed and that, unfortunately, for us is an opportunity."
For Bolide, the fair yielded very positive results: "We have very good expectations for the future, we were visited by vertical markets and countries abroad. Colombia is one of the most important markets in the Americas and I estimate that here we will end the year with growth above 60%. So we want to give the message that we are committed to the Colombian market," said Alexandro Salinas, sales manager for Latin America.
A demanding audience
Another detail that impressed us about the International E&O Security Fair was the quality of the audience, since most of them, according to the exhibitors, were people with the right professional profile, who knew the industry and who made decisions for their respective companies.
For example, Daniel Banda, general manager of SoftGuard Technologies, commented that "Medellín has a very powerful security core, and we know that because a large part of our customers are here. They are very likely to invest and be pioneers, so we are not surprised by the level of the audience that attended."
Daniel was surprised by the progress of that city and the professionalism of the visitors: "It is a demanding market, which asks for very specific solutions, is very prepared from the technical point of view and always goes deep in investigating the possibilities of the product. The companies here usually have national reaches and it is striking that they set up very complex systems."
For his part, Juan Martínez, from Samsung, explained that another of the objectives of being at this fair is to make brand positioning: "There you invite your main customers and we have the opportunity to present our equipment and support our distribution channels. These events are very visited by end users, by integrating channels, by the competition; then being here is an act of presence that allows you to make known and show our products directly, "explained the executive.
The IP debate
However, Luis Alberto Delgado assures that companies also have a responsibility to educate end users so that they do not fall into costly mistakes during an installation or selection of products. "We want to show people that the IP solution is not unattainable, we want people to lose the fear of working with this and understand that these solutions serve every market."
Precisely, during the fair, ALAS organized a panel to talk about IP CCTV, which had as guests representatives of companies such as Luis Alberto Delgado, from Axis; Pedro Duarte, de Samsung Techwin; Antonio Perez, NVT; Alexander Salinas, of Bolide; Miguel Ángel Baquero, from Bosch, and Héctor Porras, from Sony.
There was talk of the urgent need to train integrators, distributors and end users on the implementation of this kind of technology, to advise and give added value. "One of the challenges in Latin America is to provide users and integrators with knowledge and commercial and technical training. If we as manufacturers care and give ourselves the task of training on the migration to IP with hybrid or 100% IP solutions, this activity will increase the demand for this technology, "said Alxandre Salinas, from Bolide.
The International E&O Security Fair will return in October 2012 to Bogotá, the capital city, while in Medellín a new edition has already been confirmed for 2013.
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