ISCON Imaging - Experts & Thought Leaders

ISCON to discuss on expanding market awareness for campus, government and healthcare applications at the event ISCON Imaging Inc., a manufacturer of patented infrared (IR) imaging screening systems, will discuss its expanded focus into campus, government and healthcare markets during the Secured Cities Conference from November 10th-12th, 2015, in Houston. During the event, ISCON will also highlight its patented FocusScan™ solutions at booth 324. FocusScan & SecureScan solutions ISCON’s innovative screening solutions drive new levels of safety and asset protection in a multitude of environments, including education, transportation, homeland security and healthcare. Its flagship FocusScan™ and SecureScan™ screening solutions allow security personnel to scan an individual, producing an image that identifies any hidden objects. ISCON’s screening technologies emit low-velocity air, which gently warms a person’s clothing, along with any object concealed underneath. Once the warm air stops, the individual’s clothing and any concealed items cool down. Clothing over concealed objects cools at a different rate than the concealed objects, producing strong temperature contrast. A temperature-sensitive IR camera captures images of the entire area and reveals the contrast of any object hidden under clothing. Multi-layered security approach Over the last year, ISCON has experienced substantial growth as organisations seek screening technologies to eliminate health and privacy concerns found in other security technologies. As need for security and risk detection continue to expand, there has been an increased interest in implementing ISCON screening solutions as part of a multi-layered security approach to help minimise risk, strengthen safety and security efforts, and proactively address theft and loss in high risk environments. Video surveillance and access control aren’t enough — today, there are new ways to visually capture critical security data before a potential breach can occur. Effective and reliable identification and access control is critical to the overall security of high-risk areas within a facility. ISCON delivers peace of mind for these areas where critical data and high-value assets must be protected to ensure long-term business viability. “ISCON continues to evolve and grow its business by stretching to meet the security screening needs of various markets,” said Bill Gately, CEO, ISCON Imaging. “We look forward to meeting security professionals and attendees at the upcoming Secured Cities Conference to share our story and define the ISCON difference.”

ISCON screening solutions are part of a layered security approach to minimise risk, proactively address theft and loss, and enhance safety ISCON Imaging Inc., a manufacturer of patented infrared (IR) imaging screening systems, has expanded its focus into new markets as demand for the company’s technologies grows in the border security, military, government, transportation and event environments. ISCON will highlight its expanded applications and the functionalities of its patented FocusScan™ and SecureScan™ solutions, including live security demonstrations, at booth 2183 at the 2015 ASIS Annual Seminar & Exhibits, being held Sept. 28 through Oct. 1, in Anaheim, Calif. Thanks to continued technical innovation, infrastructure investments and additions to its sales and support network, ISCON has experienced solid growth as users look to invest in screening technologies that eliminate the privacy and health concerns found with comparable systems. The expanding risk environment and the growth of security as a business driver has also attributed to increased interest in implementing ISCON screening solutions as part of a layered security approach to minimise risk, proactively address theft and loss, and enhance safety. ISCON patented IR technologies ISCON’s patented technologies incorporate a low-velocity heated airflow, which disrupts the thermal equilibrium achieved when items are concealed for long periods of time. The thermo-conductive IR technology first heats the screening subject, and then assesses the cooling patterns of any object that may be hidden underneath an article of clothing to identify it by its light structure. ISCON technology does not use artificial radiation of any kind, and does not violate the subject’s privacy since long-wave infrared (LWIR) does not pass through clothing. This innovative approach enhances the visual image of a thermal imprint on the surface of clothing, caused by any item hidden underneath — no matter what material it is made from — ensuring a stark contrast with the surrounding area. ISCON educational session ASIS attendees are invited to view the complete suite of ISCON solutions, and meet the executive and sales team during exhibit hours. Additionally, Jonathan Schonfeld, Director of Technology and Product Engineering, will lead an educational session titled, "Combatting Workplace Violence: A New Need for More Effective Employee Safety Screening Technology," at 1 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28, in the Solutions Theater booth 3973. “ISCON is moving into the next evolution of its business, and we look forward to sharing our story and technology differentiators with the attendees at the upcoming ASIS conference,” said Bill Gately, CEO, ISCON Imaging. “Over the past year, we’ve proven the value of our patented approach to screening and our expanded market reach allows us to better serve customers and partners to accelerate our growth in years to come.”

ISCON SecureScan and FocusScan are built on a patented thermo-conductive IR platform ISCON Imaging Inc., a manufacturer of patented infrared (IR) imaging screening systems, released two new videos highlighting the unique benefits and ease of use of the company’s FocusScan™ and SecureScan™ solutions through the ISCON website and YouTube. FocusScan and SecureScan body scanners SecureScan conducts whole-body security scans that allow users to image an individual to detect stolen inventory or weapons without privacy or health concerns. FocusScan is a fully portable handheld security screening solution for remote and random screening applications. Both products display high resolution images on a high-quality touch screen, and provide a date and time stamp which is critical for establishing probable cause. Images can be uploaded or downloaded for archiving or use by security and human resources. Eliminates employee theft and violence ISCON’s screening technologies have been created to help eliminate employee theft and workplace violence both of which are growing at a wide range of facilities. Iscon’s IR technology is able to detect all types of materials that are concealed under clothing, not just metal like competing technologies. SecureScan and FocusScan are built on a patented thermo-conductive IR platform that first gently heats the screening subject and then during rapid cooling images any objects that are hidden underneath clothing. The technology is 100% safe as it does not utilise radiation of any kind and does not violate the subject’s privacy. Applicable across a wide range of vertical markets and applications including border security, retail loss prevention, workplace violence, critical infrastructure, regulated environments and more, ISCON Imaging’s patented solutions increase throughput, eliminate privacy and health concerns, while enhancing safety.

Most of us think of shrinkage in the context of the retail environment, where a host of video cameras, tamper-proof packaging, sensors and other technologies help control theft by customers and employees. However, the term shrinkage also applies to goods before they get to a retail store. Goods can be stolen at any stage of their manufacture and distribution, usually by employees, and there are fewer technology solutions geared toward theft along the supply chain. In fact, some distribution centres, even those operated by major players in the business, have no technology at the exits to screen employees and detect theft. Loss prevention personnel have to rely on their ability to detect “lumps and bumps” as the only deterrent. Detection of infrared (IR) heat signatures Providing a technology solution for this market is ISCON Imaging, which applies detection of infrared (IR) heat signatures to address the problem of shrinkage in manufacture and distribution centres. The technology, which comes in the form of a full body scanner or a handheld device (about the size of a metal detector), senses the temperature of an employee’s clothing and highlights any difference in temperature that might be caused by an object – such as a stolen cell phone – hidden under clothing. Because the system only detects the surface of clothing, there are no privacy issues. The system also uses a low-velocity heated airflow that destabilises temperatures and makes objects more visible (even if they have been hidden long enough for their temperature to be “normalised.”) "It’s a greenfield market, and a great fit for our technology, given the challenges and benefits an employee screening situation entails" The IR camera creates a high-resolution black-and-white image, which is transmitted to a fully automated screen that allows operators to zoom in and out (using their fingers, as with an iPhone), to add a time and date stamp, to tie the image to an employee’s ID card, and/or to save it for possible prosecution. It’s a novel application of IR detection technology, which is mostly used at a distance to determine the heat signatures of bad guys hiding in the jungle, for example. Refocus on B-to-B sales to distribution centres Begun as a startup in the aviation market, ISCON Imaging found it difficult to compete against large manufacturers selling to the government (TSA), and the technology is not as well suited to really high-volume screening like at airports. In the last couple of years, the company has been refocusing on B-to-B sales to distribution centres, which have needed such a solution to address their shrinkage problems. “It’s a greenfield market, and a great fit for our technology, given the challenges and benefits an employee screening situation entails,” says Bill Gately, ISCON Imaging's CEO. “I’m a big believer in focus, and we will focus on this before we get into other markets.” Because technology is new to the market, ISCON Imaging often helps end user customers implement their concepts of operation. “We do a lot to help them with equipment layout,” says Gately. Currently, the company targets the hundreds of large distribution centres in the United States – and the many more that are coming online in our age of Internet commerce. A differentiating factor of the technology is that it can identify the object being hidden. In contrast, a metal detector with a light and/or audible alarm only detects if an object is present – yes or no, but no additional information about what the object is. (The object also has to be metal; it can’t detect clothing, pharmaceuticals, and other items likely to be stolen.) Also, some other scanning technologies only show a “square” indicating a foreign object, rather than an actual image of the object. With little information to work with, loss prevention personnel either have to interrogate the offender or get them to agree to be searched. In addition to uses at entrance/exits, the hand-held units can be used to perform random security checks, for instance in a high-theft or high-value area of a distribution centre. “The reason we don’t have any health issues is that the camera is passive – it just looks at the heat your body is generating,” says Gately. “The only thing coming from the machine to you is hot air.” The system is so precise that it can detect even small objects like thumb drives and SIM cards that metal detectors cannot find. Employee safety "ISCON Imaging is “being dragged into” the workplace safety market because of the urgent need for screening technologies" The ISCON Imaging system also contributes to employee safety. Employees are screened when they come to work each day (to ensure they aren’t bringing weapons into the workplace, for instance), and again when they leave at the end of the day (to detect any stolen objects). If a weapon is detected, an operator can escalate a silent alarm to respond to the situation with a lockdown or other strategy. In fact, the radiation-free and non-intrusive personnel inspection system can help prevent workplace violence, an issue that can lead to liability lawsuits for employers. “Most companies aren’t screening employees on the way in,” says Gately. “That’s an area I think will drive this whole security movement very quickly.” Proliferation of active shooter drills, for example, is raising awareness among top management of the possible liability consequences of failing to prevent workplace violence. For instance, U.S. Security Associates recently paid a $46 judgment for failure to protect two Kraft employees who were shot and killed at work. Gately says “ISCON Imaging is “being dragged into” the workplace safety market because of the urgent need for screening technologies.”

We live in a global market, and goods can easily be manufactured anywhere in the world and then shipped anywhere else. For many years, companies have taken advantage of the consequent flexibility to save costs and increase profits by manufacturing products around the world, especially in low-cost areas such as China. Historically, goods made in China (and some other locales) have been characterised as somehow lower in quality, and yet many of the top companies (such as Apple, for example) have managed to achieve superior quality of goods coming from Chinese factories, while keeping costs low. All of which suggests this week’s question for our panel: In 2015, does it really matter where a security system component is manufactured?