It must be the classic question for those of us operating as trade journalists get at these tradeshows: "So, what's the best thing you've seen?" Well, that depends on who our audience would be, but let's take a tour of some solutions spotted around the ISC West show floor that make a lot of sense:

Honeywell Total Connect remote access offering seems like a big draw, especially with the option of creating a new RMR stream for dealers. The system can connect system users via the web or mobile devices to get alerts and control information on alarm systems and their video systems. Allowing security offerings to touch the lives of customers is what this Honeywell offering is all about. I should mention that Honeywell is also doing a "three months free" type of program to see if Total Connect will take off. Honeywell's Ralph Maniscalco says that move "let's the dealer establish RMR" for this service offering; apparently the market is still taking shape for this Total Connect solution.

I mentioned Honeywell's Total Connect as notable because it's taking dealer businesses in new directions, but we equally love when companies rethink previous or existing products to nail a long-overlooked need. The Honeywell 6160EX is a slimline keypad control panel for alarm systems; rather than the wider units found in most homes and businesses, this unit is specifically narrow so that it can fit between door casing and window casing when the space is limited. The style came out of Europe where such narrow spaces are common in building designs, but also finding obvious applicability in the U.S. as well.

We covered Privaris when they first entered the space, but a lot has changed for this company, which can be found in the HID Connect booth as well as their own independent location on the tradeshow. The crew at Privaris gave SIW an update, and the news is that company has released two new biometric fobs. If you haven't heard of them, this is the company that offers a key fob with fingerprint scanner that can emulate a smart card. A year ago, there was just the Plus ID 60. Since then, they've introduced the Plus ID 75, which adds Bluetooth connectivity (rather than the USB-connection model of the "60", plus an integrated RSA one-time password. It makes a strong offering for desktop and network access control. Also out from Privaris is the Plus ID 90 which offers a technology similar to the Plus ID 60, but with long-range applicability (up to 100 meters), making a solution highly applicable for vehicle parking.