Security technologies in Russia through the eyes of foreign partners.

SECURITY PLUS RUSSIA. Moscow and Essen in a new exhibition project

In our report on visiting last year's Essen forum, we mentioned that preparations were already in full swing for holding a «same» exhibition in Moscow in October 2009. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the «Interpolitex» and «Security Russia» exhibitions are two different events taking place simultaneously. The only difference is that the guest registration center will be the same, but it will work for two different pavilions. The exhibitions will be radically different in focus and composition, but visitors will have the opportunity to visit both events.

Of particular interest is the motivation for the German side to participate in this project. Expanding to the East is a serious step, and behind this decision there was a sober calculation, market research and the collection of information from a wide variety of sources. At the time when the project was still being discussed, nothing foreshadowed either a banking crisis or a recession in the American economy. The Germans proceeded from the fair assumption that Russia was on the rise, and the security equipment market was in a privileged position. In order for the management of Messe Essen GmbH to be able to devote maximum attention to the project, the Moscow exhibition will be held every two years (on odd years), alternating with the Essen exhibition (on even years). We hope that the intentions of the parties and the general market situation will not change fundamentally, and the project will be implemented without significant losses. This project is really needed by the industry.

In the opinion of the editors, the existing set of Russian exhibitions on our topics needs a thorough shake-up. A clearly strong player is coming, and with it — a different level of organization, different priorities. Despite the fact that, according to our German colleagues, an increase in competition is «not expected», we are for competition, for fair competition. It is open rivalry, and not the practice of behind-the-scenes agreements, that should move our market forward. However, we will write about this in one of the next issues of our newspaper.

Here we publish a selection of materials from German sources, an official statement from the management of ZAO «Bizon», a Russian partner company of Messe Essen, and an interview with the German manager of the Security Russia project. The interview was conducted by our Security News employee Alexey Krivolapov. Why «ours»? What a funny coincidence — back at the Essen exhibition, one of our colleagues with a mysterious look handed us a small but elegantly laid out magazine — Security News! Upon closer inspection, the publication turned out to be a corporate one — and the meaning of the name, despite the coincidence down to the letter, is somewhat different: news from the Security division. Which, in fact, is engaged in holding the famous exhibition under the wing of the organizing company Messe Essen GmbH.

FIRST PERSON

Dear colleagues!

In October 2009, Moscow will host the International Exhibition of Security Technologies and Systems Security Russia. The event's organizers — Messe Essen GmbH and ZAO «Bizon» — will hold it on the territory of the All-Russian Exhibition Center in the new pavilion «Russia».

The Security Russia exhibition will be organized on the same site as the International Exhibition of Means of Ensuring National Security «Interpolitex», which will allow for a unification of efforts, as well as an expansion of the exposition and the audience of visitors.

We are confident that Security Russia will attract serious attention from professional circles in Russia that work in the field of security, both in the field of citizen and business security, and in the field of state security.

There will be many foreign companies among the participants of the Security Russia security equipment exhibition. This is due to the fact that the idea of ​​holding the event in Russia is supported by the organizers and founders of the International Security Essen Exhibition, among which are the largest European manufacturers working in the field of security.

Your participation in the exhibition will help you gain new experience and will provide an opportunity to demonstrate your capabilities in the production of security technology.

I invite you to take part in the International Exhibition of Security Technologies and Systems «Security Russia». For questions about participation, please contact the organizer — ZAO «Bizon».

Sincerely yours, General Director of ZAO «Bizon» Sergey Nikolaevich Marichev

SECURITY — now in Russia Take advantage of growth opportunities

Along with China, India and Brazil, Russia is one of the countries with the most dynamic market development indicators. The continuous growth of the Russian GDP, the investment boom and the ever-increasing demand for capital and consumer goods make Russia particularly attractive for the development of foreign corporations. According to the Federal Association of German Industries (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie, BDI), economic growth in Russia amounted to 7.8% in the first half of the year, and the same figures are expected for the second half of the year. The research data confirms that this country is one of the most attractive places for the implementation of innovations in all of Europe. Such growth rates are also very encouraging for suppliers of security and safety technologies.

The Russian security equipment market has shown above-average growth rates, with growth rates ranging from 10 to 35 percent over the past few years, depending on the specific type of product. The annual growth in the digital video surveillance segment between 2004 and 2008 was up to 100-150 percent.

In the long term, market demand growth is expected to be driven by Russia's efforts to modernize and diversify its economy. For example, the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, with an estimated investment capacity of $11 billion, will provide attractive business growth opportunities for businesses other than Russian ones. With the relevant experience and capabilities, international corporations can also count on participating in joint projects and lucrative contracts in areas such as the construction of sports and other facilities, deployment of engineering and communications infrastructure, environmental protection technologies, and security technologies.

In the context of positive changes in the economic development of Russia, and following the recommendations of the Advisory Board of the Security Essen exhibition, Messe Essen and the Russian exhibition operator «Bizon» have launched a joint project, Security Russia. This commercial exhibition will be held for the first time from 27 to 30 October 2009 — during the Interpolitex exhibition, organized by «Bizon».

The choice of the Russian partner, the company «Bizon», had very good reasons. «Interpolitex» is the only security exhibition in Russia that has federal status and is organized by an official decree of the Government of the Russian Federation. While the exhibition «Interpolitex» focuses exclusively on technologies and equipment used to ensure national security, the exhibition Security Russia will be devoted exclusively to aspects of civil security — just like the German Security Essen.

Over the more than 12 years of its existence, the Interpolitex exhibition has strengthened its position not only as the largest exhibition in the Russian security industry, but also as one of the largest events of its kind in Europe dedicated to national security issues.

The Security Russia and Interpolitex exhibitions will be held simultaneously in the recently built international pavilion «Russia» of the All-Russian Exhibition Center — the largest exhibition venue in the Russian Federation. The total exhibition space of the pavilion is over 188 thousand square meters.

EXHIBITION AS A MIRROR OF THE MARKET Interview with Torsten Hansen, Trade Fairs and Exhibitions Manager at Messe Essen GmbH (Germany)

What did your company base its plans on when planning the arrival of Messe Essen in Russia? Can we talk about «long-term plans»?

Relying on our own strategic plans, supported by marketing research, as well as on the market knowledge and professionalism of our partner, the company «Bizon», we have planned to hold the Security Russia exhibition in October 2009. The format of this event is partly a pilot, and much in the further development of the project will depend on how the Russian market of technical means of protection and security reacts to our actions.

By what parameters does the exhibition intend to compete with existing trade shows of the security industry in Russia?

We are not really set on competing with existing exhibitions — in our understanding, we, like our business colleagues, are a kind of «market mirror». After all, the capital's exhibitions — both in Moscow and in St. Petersburg — have very different venues, where the list of participants and the structure of visitors differ greatly from each other. Some are aimed at security forces, some — at ensuring the security of civilian facilities, plus everyone has their own favorite vertical markets. Since all this is still in its infancy in Russia, and the process of introducing technical means of ensuring security is in full swing, there is nothing to divide here yet.

FIRST PERSON «At the All-Russian Exhibition Centre we will offer our exhibitors an excellent opportunity to establish and strengthen close contacts with Russian partners in the security market,» says Egon Galinnis, Managing Director of Messe Essen GmbH. In his opinion, «Bison» was the ideal partner for this project: «The combination of the Security Russia and Interpolitex exhibitions creates all the necessary conditions for the successful implementation of our new «foreign» project.

By and large, the goal of the exhibition is to initiate new contracts and new channels of direct communication, to promote the movement of goods and finances in the industry as much as possible. All events to attract interest in the exhibition are subordinated to this goal. Therefore, the main parameter by which the exhibition will differ favorably from other industry shows is the quality of visitors. I hope there are no questions about the quality of the organization: in Essen we have 1,100 participants and about 40 thousand professional visitors. The developed technologies are directly transferred to Moscow, we are vitally interested in this.

Yes, we can confirm this: our newspaper took part in last year's Security Essen. And yet, the German exhibition is fundamentally different from the Russian ones… How?

A deeper difference between our project and the exhibitions currently operating in the Russian Federation is rooted in the very nature of the Security Essen exhibition. At the exhibition in Essen, most of the participants are leading global manufacturers of equipment and solutions. In our country, everyone traditionally strives to show off their innovative products and solutions to the maximum, competing quite fiercely with each other for the opportunity to attract the attention of guests. In the Russian incarnation of the project, the emphasis on innovation will remain — and it is quite possible that we will bring along brands that are new to the Russian/CIS market. Without infringing on anyone's interests.

Is this a purely ideological choice — not to enter into active competition? Or is the position determined by some special properties of the Russian market?

We have carefully analyzed the activity of current Russian exhibitions and have become convinced that there is a shortage of quality exhibition services in your country that serve the security and safety equipment industry. The market for security and safety solutions and equipment in Russia and the CIS is a high-demand area, and therefore, according to our calculations, intense competition is not to be expected. As I have already indicated, our strategy excludes the displacement of competitors from the market. We are following the path of specialization: exhibitions should be different in order to provide participants and visitors with a good choice.

What will the exhibition business program focus more on — import to Russia or export from it?

We will strive to maintain the right balance — according to the same scheme as it happens in the practice of the «head» — Essen — exhibition. Security Essen is an international exhibition, and a significant part of its participants are companies with a transnational scale of operations, interested in marketing their products to global markets. Therefore, visitors come to the exhibition from all over the world. We intend to build the Security Russia strategy according to the same model: having attracted «world-class» visitors, the exhibition will be able to effectively promote the products of Russian companies for export. All the prerequisites for this are in place: Security Essen has been held since 1974, and the reputation of the exhibition is exceptionally high. The task is to launch a project of similar quality in Russia.

Russia is a country of great distances, and often business visitors do not benefit from flying several thousand kilometers, which limits the attendance figures for exhibitions. Is the project planned to expand to the regional level?

Today it is too early to talk about this. We will resolve issues of further expansion into Russian regions together with our partners, relying on their expert knowledge of the Russian national security market. And here, I repeat, a lot will depend on the results of the Moscow exhibition Security Russia — 2009.

Exhibitions are usually compared «by the heads» of visitors, which does not always correctly characterize the effectiveness of the event (since it belongs to the category of B2B marketing communications). In your opinion, is this criterion sufficient for evaluating any particular exhibition?

Indeed, the most common parameter for evaluating events adopted in the exhibition business is the number of visitors. However, since we do not work in the consumer market, the quality of visitors I have already mentioned is no less important for us. It is no secret that at all trade shows there is a certain proportion of visitors motivated solely by curiosity. We are mainly interested in professionals — those who are directly involved in the life and development of the industry in which the event is held — the security industry.

Who do you expect to see among the exhibitors? Please indicate the most interesting categories of visitors.

We expect to attract a fairly wide range of visitors — representatives of businesses from the security industry and related industries, professionals, representatives of government agencies, law enforcement agencies, etc. The exhibition is addressed to current and potential investors, customers, technical specialists influencing decisions on the acquisition of systems, technologies and their individual components.

We have taken a course on innovation — and this allows us to hope that Security Russia will not leave the Russian exhibition audience indifferent.

FIRST PERSON

Over its more than 30-year history, Security Essen has consistently presented outstanding achievements — in some cases world premieres — to the competent and impartial industry community. In order to consolidate the exhibition's status as an indicator of progress and development in the security industry, the SECURITY INNOVATION AWARD was established by the exhibition management in 2008.

However, the uniqueness of Security Essen is not limited to the breadth of its innovative technologies. Thanks to the cooperation with twenty security associations and organizations that are members of the Advisory Board and participate in the trade fair on a regular basis, Security Essen also acts as an independent platform for the free exchange of information. The exhibition halls host over one hundred and fifty different presentations, discussions and demonstrations, as well as a number of joint conferences organized within the framework of the initiative «Security in Dialogue» — all of which provide the opportunity to exchange information of all kinds.

This makes Security Essen particularly valuable as a meeting place for company executives and managers — a place where you can get general information as well as the latest news on everything related to security.

Dr. Joachim Hennecke, CEO of Messe Essen GmbH

Security Essen — 2008 Record attendance and geography of guests

1,100 exhibitors and 40,850 visitors took part in last year's world exhibition Security Essen, which was held from 7 to 10 October in Essen. The registration service reports a record figure for national representation: guests from 115 countries were registered at the event. And 480 foreign companies-participants represented 42 countries.

«Security Essen has clearly and impressively proven its global leadership in its sector,— says Egon Galinnis, Managing Director of Messe Essen GmbH. — It has simultaneously proven itself as a popular communication platform, a contract area and a showcase for innovative solutions.» According to a visitor survey, 63.6% of all visitors personally make or participate in decisions on the purchase of security equipment and systems. Galinnis says: «Many of the exhibitors informed us about the conclusion of very significant contracts — right here at the trade fair.»

The most significant groups of visitors to the 2008 exhibition were specialists from installation companies (25.2%), security industry workers (15.7%) and representatives of trade organizations (9.7%). In addition to those listed, the exhibition was also attended by specialists from all areas of the security industry and related occupational safety services, police and firefighters, insurance companies and security agencies. Among the foreign guests, Europeans predominated, but there were visitors who came specially from Asian and American countries. The maximum interest among the exhibition guests was caused by security alarm equipment (41.5%), followed by fire, smoke and gas alarms (36.8%), and video surveillance and process control systems interested 31.5% of visitors.

Innovation Demonstration Space

The guests of the event were interested in innovative solutions and technologies — especially world premieres. This concerned all sections of the exhibition — each program had its own «highlight»: the latest video cameras, ultra-compact smoke detectors, personal identification systems based on the pattern of blood vessels on the hands, … This year, for the first time in the history of the exhibition, awards were presented «For Innovations in the Security Industry» (SECURITY INNOVATION AWARD), for which over seventy products were nominated. The prizes went to the Swiss company Kaba (gold in the category Products and Technologies for the original contactless access control system), the company Observision (silver in the category Products and Technologies for the Videominer video analytics) and the Munich company PCS Systemtechnik GmbH (bronze for the biometric system IntusPalm Secure). Special prizes were also awarded — Siemens Building Technologies (special prize in the category «Fire Protection» for the fire extinguishing agent Sinorix H2O Gas), Haverkamp (special prize in the category «Security and Environmental Protection» for the perimeter security system Solar Gard) and the Leipzig-based Alvara Group (special prize in the category «Secure Transportation of Valuables» for the development of the ICC visual tracking system).

The Business Program is a highly popular source of information

Over 160 specialists gave lectures, held discussions and demonstrated systems and equipment in action at open conferences and seminars held during the exhibition. Particular attention was paid to the dangers associated with the global Internet: for example, specialists demonstrated how easily an intruder can penetrate a corporate local network or employees' mobile phones — as well as a set of means to counter such threats. Teams of dog handlers demonstrated the work of their pets — security guards and bloodhounds. The problem of protecting people and property proved to be a popular topic for discussion. A new initiative was a series of events in the business program, united by the general title of «Dialogues on Security». A seminar on the topic of «Know-How Leak: Small and Medium Business as a Target of Potential Attacks» also aroused considerable interest.

Into the Future — with optimism

Despite the financial crisis, the security industry does not seem to have any worries about its future. The global security industry is still growing at a rate of 3.4% per year. In Germany alone, the total sales volume in the security segments amounted to around 10 billion euros in 2007. More than 65 percent of visitors to Security Essen rated the economic health of their companies as «good» or «very good.» And 60 percent of them predict an increase in economic activity in the industry.

The exhibitors were satisfied with the event — almost all of them managed to conclude profitable contracts and make useful contacts. The exhibitors noted that the quality of visitors had improved significantly. 89.5% of the exhibitors and 92.6% at the time of the survey had already decided that they would definitely attend the next Security Essen exhibition — it will be held from October 5 to 8, 2010. Since a cooperation agreement was concluded between Messe Essen GmbH and the Industrial Department of the US Consulate General in Essen during the exhibition, an increase in the number of American companies participating in the exposition is expected in 2010. And in the interval between the Essen exhibitions — in October 2009 — Security will debut in Moscow.

The material was prepared by the press service of Messe Essen GmbH

BY THE WAY Messe Essen GmbH already has experience in holding industry exhibitions in the Russian Federation. Since 2007, Moscow has hosted a specialized international exhibition, «Welding, Cutting and Surfacing», also known under the international name Schweissen&Schneiden Russia. The German company Messe Duesseldorf GmbH, which has a branch in Moscow, acted as a partner in organizing the event. It is quite possible that the success of «welders» played a significant role in the decision to launch the Security Russia project.

BY THE WAY Security Russia is planning to create its own media resource — a quarterly newspaper with the working title «Security in Russian». This will not be a corporate leaflet for a narrow circle, but a full-fledged media outlet — a newspaper for the organizers and participants of the exhibition. The project's readership, according to preliminary estimates, is comparable to that of leading industry publications. In addition to covering preparations for the exhibition, the newspaper will publish information about exhibiting companies, materials from business programs and seminars, as well as translated articles from foreign partners that are of interest to Russian readers.