SecuTech Asia 2009 Conference Report

While not very well known in the US and Europe, SecuTech is a suprisingly interesting and strong security industry conference. This year's SecuTech attracted over 700 exhibitors and 20,000 attendees which is fairly close to ISC West's numbers. Moreover, the show floor was frequently packed.

Held in Taipei, SecuTech is certainly a strong regional Asian show. Of greater importance to a global audience, almost all of the component and OEM manufacturers exhibit at the conference (including the only one of its kind component subconference). This provides access to information and products that are often unavailable at other conferences. For instance, I am leaning a lot more about the inner workings of the camera business and meeting many interesting companies that I never would have done outside of this conference.

SecuTech is also heavily focused on video surveillance with perhaps 50% or more of the exhibitors offering video surveillance. To that end, there may be more video surveillance vendors exhibiting at this conference than ISC West or ASIS.

I think SecuTech is valuable for any US or European looking to OEM products, find low cost product offerings or better assess video surveillance hardware (cameras, DVRs, etc.). Also, with the continued growth in the video surveillance market in Asia, SecuTech is likely to become a more important show to reach out to Asian buyers/dealers.

Consistent with recent trends, megapixel cameras and hybrid DVRs were the key offerings at the conference, with dozens of manufacturers offering these products.

For US and Europeans, SecuTech certainly does not replace the big Western shows. For instance, most of the key US and European companies do not exhibit at SecuTech (or do so only through their local distributors). However, SecuTech does provide significant value for the serious video surveillance business person.