VIRGINIA GTSI FORMS PHYSICAL SECURITY ALLIANCE Copyright 2004 Post-Newsweek Business Information, Inc.
Newsbytes
March 15, 2004, Monday

GTSI Corp. has joined with 17 other security-related technology firms to develop a set of advanced physical security products and services for civilian and military agencies and local and state governments, the company said today.
The Chantilly, Va.-based information technology company said the Physical Security Alliance will provide security systems consulting services, physical security products and solutions, and managed security and systems integration services.

The announcement comes as legions of security technology firms are aggressively vying for lucrative local and federal government security contracts for IT systems and physical security services.
But with many companies offering different and incompatible solutions, agencies and organizations that require their products are calling for integrated security systems with a consistent set of solutions, said Arpad Toth, GTSIs senior technologist and founder of PSA.

Within the private sector, the physical security industry is relatively fragmented with no industrial alliance to provide [services], Toth said.

Toth said he expects around 40 companies to be involved in the alliance by midyear because of the complexity of the industry with 15 product categories and 80 individual products. All firms that join PSA must meet the alliances certain certification requirements.

The members of the alliance are: DMJM Technology of Arlington, Va. ISR Solutions Inc. of Chantilly, Va. Lenel Systems International Inc. of Pittsford, N.Y. Equis Corp. of Chicago BNX Systems Corp. of Vienna, Va. Cisco Systems Inc. Defense Group Inc. of Falls Church, Va. DigitalPersona Inc. of Redwood City, Calif. Griffid LLC of Fort Lee, N.J. Intel Corp. NetBotz Inc. of Austin, Texas ObjectVideo Inc. of Reston, Va. Panasonic Inc. Seneca Inc. of North Syracuse, N.Y. StorageTek Corp. of Louisville, Colo. Trident Tek Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md. videoNEXT of Arlington, Va.

The companies will tailor-make security-related tech products and services for their customers. First, a group of high-level system designers and architects will determine specific system requirements for each customer, then a second group of architects will develop the systems and solutions, Toth said.

GTSI hopes to benefit from its existing alliances with local, state and federal governments by offering them value-added system integration services for physical security and force protection through PSA, Toth said.

Reported By Washington Technology, http://www.washingtontechnology.com