Tech Unraveled

ISC West is the biggest security industry trade show in the U.S., with over 30,000 security professionals attending and showcasing new products and technologies. This year, the show took place from March 28th to March 31st in Las Vegas, Nevada.

What were some of the key takeaways from ISC West, and what does security company Vistacom see as the value in attending?

On today’s episode of Tech Unraveled by Vistacom, host Lianna Russell is joined by Joshua Herring, Marketing Communications Specialist at Vistacom, and Robert Schlegal, Director of National Control Room Sales at Vistacom, to discuss their takes on the ISC West trade show, popular topics, and why it is a critical event for Vistacom and the pro AV industry.

Russell, Herring, and Schlegal also discussed…

1. Initial impressions of ISC West and why it is important to be part of similar shows

2. Common topics covered at Vistacom’s booth during ISC West

3. The integration of physical and cyber security

Herring stated, “We get caught up on educating ourselves behind a screen, or hopping on meetings and talking to people that way and introducing ourselves and educating ourselves on things over the internet. I think this show and the enthusiasm of people being there, you definitely get the sense that there is a lot of inherent value in attending these shows.”

Schlegel explained how some companies at ISC West have tackled the challenge of having overwhelming amounts of information and turning it into knowledge. “Axis rolled out—or they’ve been talking about—one of their new fusion cameras that basically is taking some of the advances from autonomous driving with radar and coupling that with analytics. So, now we have moved from not having information to starting to have knowledge.”

Joshua Herring is a strategic communications professional and content marketer who is Marketing Communications Specialist at Vistacom Inc. In the past, he has served in roles such as Account Executive at Compass, Ecommerce Product Editor at Saks Off 5th, and Marketing Communications Coordinator at MKP Technologies. He studied Writing for Film & Television at Emerson College and holds an Associate’s Degree in English/Liberal Arts from Northampton Community College as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Professional Writing, Culture & Media Studies, Digital Communication & New Media from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

Robert Schlagel is a certified ASIS International physical security professional with more than 10 years of experience in sales, engineering design, and program management. He is currently Director of National Control Room Sales at Vistacom and has been Area Sales Manager, Security Solutions, at Johnson Controls, Director of Sales and Marketing and Director of Engineering at CSi, amongst other past roles. Schlagel attended the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and DeSales University, where he earned a BS in Chemistry and Computer Science.

ISC West is the biggest security industry trade show in the U.S., with over 30,000 security professionals attending and showcasing new products and technologies. This year, the show took place from March 28th to March 31st in Las Vegas, Nevada.

What were some of the key takeaways from ISC West, and what does security company Vistacom see as the value in attending?

On today’s episode of Tech Unraveled by Vistacom, host Lianna Russell is joined by Joshua Herring, Marketing Communications Specialist at Vistacom, and Robert Schlegal, Director of National Control Room Sales at Vistacom, to discuss their takes on the ISC West trade show, popular topics, and why it is a critical event for Vistacom and the pro AV industry.

Russell, Herring, and Schlegal also discussed…

1. Initial impressions of ISC West and why it is important to be part of similar shows

2. Common topics covered at Vistacom’s booth during ISC West

3. The integration of physical and cyber security

Herring stated, “We get caught up on educating ourselves behind a screen, or hopping on meetings and talking to people that way and introducing ourselves and educating ourselves on things over the internet. I think this show and the enthusiasm of people being there, you definitely get the sense that there is a lot of inherent value in attending these shows.”

Schlegel explained how some companies at ISC West have tackled the challenge of having overwhelming amounts of information and turning it into knowledge. “Axis rolled out—or they’ve been talking about—one of their new fusion cameras that basically is taking some of the advances from autonomous driving with radar and coupling that with analytics. So, now we have moved from not having information to starting to have knowledge.”

Joshua Herring is a strategic communications professional and content marketer who is Marketing Communications Specialist at Vistacom Inc. In the past, he has served in roles such as Account Executive at Compass, Ecommerce Product Editor at Saks Off 5th, and Marketing Communications Coordinator at MKP Technologies. He studied Writing for Film & Television at Emerson College and holds an Associate’s Degree in English/Liberal Arts from Northampton Community College as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Professional Writing, Culture & Media Studies, Digital Communication & New Media from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

Robert Schlagel is a certified ASIS International physical security professional with more than 10 years of experience in sales, engineering design, and program management. He is currently Director of National Control Room Sales at Vistacom and has been Area Sales Manager, Security Solutions, at Johnson Controls, Director of Sales and Marketing and Director of Engineering at CSi, amongst other past roles. Schlagel attended the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and DeSales University, where he earned a BS in Chemistry and Computer Science.

Video conferencing has rapidly evolved in the last decade. Further increasing usage was the COVID-19 pandemic, which called for more conferencing needs as lockdowns limited in-person meetings and gatherings. It has and continues to be a massive part of the lives of everyday Americans, per Pew Research. As record numbers of people use video conferencing tools, improving functionality has become a priority for many companies.

As users and companies determine the necessary improvements needed for many video conferencing tools, it also raises the question that even as companies work to make changes from a collaboration perspective, other issues still need to be solved. What are these issues in particular?

On "Tech Unraveled," hosts Josh Herring and Lianna Russell interviewed Jordan Owens, the VP of Architecture at Pexip, and Justin Longo, the company's Channel Sales Manager. The four discussed the evolution of the video conferencing industry.

The four also discussed:

Common complaints from users about video conferencing tools and improving them

Security concerns and data breaches with the increased usage of video conferencing

The challenges in video conferencing technology and solutions

“What they don't solve directly is this idea of, ‘How do I allow a customer to migrate into this modern meeting solutions and yet still leverage the equity that they've already invested inside of other collaborative solutions,’” said Owens.

"One of the interesting things about Pexip, in general, is a lot of the times we like to steer conversations outside of just the conference room, and talk about, again, how people are using technology to augment their lives," said Longo.

Jordan Owens is the VP of Architecture at Pexip and attended Virginia Tech. Justin Longo is the company's Channel Sales Manager and has been working there since 2020. He attended Saginaw Valley State University.

Video conferencing has rapidly evolved in the last decade. Further increasing usage was the COVID-19 pandemic, which called for more conferencing needs as lockdowns limited in-person meetings and gatherings. It has and continues to be a massive part of the lives of everyday Americans, per Pew Research. As record numbers of people use video conferencing tools, improving functionality has become a priority for many companies.

As users and companies determine the necessary improvements needed for many video conferencing tools, it also raises the question that even as companies work to make changes from a collaboration perspective, other issues still need to be solved. What are these issues in particular?

On "Tech Unraveled," hosts Josh Herring and Lianna Russell interviewed Jordan Owens, the VP of Architecture at Pexip, and Justin Longo, the company's Channel Sales Manager. The four discussed the evolution of the video conferencing industry.

The four also discussed:

Common complaints from users about video conferencing tools and improving them

Security concerns and data breaches with the increased usage of video conferencing

The challenges in video conferencing technology and solutions

“What they don't solve directly is this idea of, ‘How do I allow a customer to migrate into this modern meeting solutions and yet still leverage the equity that they've already invested inside of other collaborative solutions,’” said Owens.

"One of the interesting things about Pexip, in general, is a lot of the times we like to steer conversations outside of just the conference room, and talk about, again, how people are using technology to augment their lives," said Longo.

Jordan Owens is the VP of Architecture at Pexip and attended Virginia Tech. Justin Longo is the company's Channel Sales Manager and has been working there since 2020. He attended Saginaw Valley State University.

Control room operators have a critical role in the utility and energy industries. They are responsible for everything from managing surveillance to command and control to traffic management and broadcasting distribution monitoring. With such a key role, what are some of the unique needs control room operators have when it comes to designing their workspaces?

On today’s episode of Tech Unraveled by Vistacom, Hosts Joshua Herring and Lianna Russell, are joined by Lee Pagnan, National Sales Manager of Utilities at Barco, and Shawn Brady, VP of Product Development at Winsted, to talk about control mission operator roles, how control centers need to be ergonomically designed, and technology trends in the control center industry.

Herring and Russell also discuss…

1. What control mission operators perform on a daily basis

2. Ergonomic resolutions for operation work centers and commonly overlooked design considerations

3. Examples of what operators look at from the viewable data perspective

Brady explained that there are two types of data—task data and viewable data—and operators want to see it all at once. However, this is not the most optimal solution, he explained, “We try to take stock and show the difference between the task data and the viewable data. And then we can say that all these things that are occurring, that are task data, we need to keep that on the desk. But maybe we have some of that viewable data that we can move off to a display wall…that way, it’s there for the room.”

Pagnan is seeing trends in increasing preparedness of control centers. “A great trend that we’re seeing in electric and utilities is standing up additional control center. So, COVID really brought to light some vulnerabilities previously not thought of. While most utilities were operating a primary and a backup control center, tertiary sites are now being implemented in the case there’s some type of outbreak in a primary or the backup center.”

Lee Pagnan is National Sales Manager of Utilities at Barco and previously served as Market Manager of Utilities at Barco. He has worked at Mitsubishi and AVI-SPL as in sales and market management roles. Pagnan earned a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside.

Shawn Brady is VP of Product Development at Winsted and was employed at Barco as a Business Development Manager of Utilities as well as a Senior Control Room Specialist in Utilities. Brady is a Certified Office Ergonomics Evaluator (COEE) and has completed more than 200 projects in the mission critical industry.

Control room operators have a critical role in the utility and energy industries. They are responsible for everything from managing surveillance to command and control to traffic management and broadcasting distribution monitoring. With such a key role, what are some of the unique needs control room operators have when it comes to designing their workspaces?

On today’s episode of Tech Unraveled by Vistacom, Hosts Joshua Herring and Lianna Russell, are joined by Lee Pagnan, National Sales Manager of Utilities at Barco, and Shawn Brady, VP of Product Development at Winsted, to talk about control mission operator roles, how control centers need to be ergonomically designed, and technology trends in the control center industry.

Herring and Russell also discuss…

1. What control mission operators perform on a daily basis

2. Ergonomic resolutions for operation work centers and commonly overlooked design considerations

3. Examples of what operators look at from the viewable data perspective

Brady explained that there are two types of data—task data and viewable data—and operators want to see it all at once. However, this is not the most optimal solution, he explained, “We try to take stock and show the difference between the task data and the viewable data. And then we can say that all these things that are occurring, that are task data, we need to keep that on the desk. But maybe we have some of that viewable data that we can move off to a display wall…that way, it’s there for the room.”

Pagnan is seeing trends in increasing preparedness of control centers. “A great trend that we’re seeing in electric and utilities is standing up additional control center. So, COVID really brought to light some vulnerabilities previously not thought of. While most utilities were operating a primary and a backup control center, tertiary sites are now being implemented in the case there’s some type of outbreak in a primary or the backup center.”

Lee Pagnan is National Sales Manager of Utilities at Barco and previously served as Market Manager of Utilities at Barco. He has worked at Mitsubishi and AVI-SPL as in sales and market management roles. Pagnan earned a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside.

Shawn Brady is VP of Product Development at Winsted and was employed at Barco as a Business Development Manager of Utilities as well as a Senior Control Room Specialist in Utilities. Brady is a Certified Office Ergonomics Evaluator (COEE) and has completed more than 200 projects in the mission critical industry.