Electical Contractor

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Convergence among security, lighting, energy management and other disciplines is growing in a host of financial and retail institutions; As more security integrators appear on the scene to solve retailer and banking problems—both from the physical security and information technology (IT) side—contra

According to American Banker, vendors promoting their biometric security tools to banks say consumer confidence in such systems has improved, and that in some cases the cost is becoming more manageable. Meanwhile, consumers are warming up to biometric authentication systems as well.

Break out your browser for security applications: Physical security meets information technology, thanks to voice and video over Internet protocol (IP); the Internet is able to connect to a network, router or other transmission device and broadcast voice, video and data.

  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released some $399 million for critical infrastructure protection.

Fifteen million users couldn’t be wrong. That’s how many surveillance cameras were sold in 2005, according to a leading security industry report. As security concerns rise, closed-circuit television surveillance (CCTV) continues to come to the rescue.

Most contractors opt out of networking projects when terms, such as “network security,” “firewall” and “software,” start getting thrown around. But, that may not be the best move to make, as network security is a niche market where contractors could easily profit.

A new breed of technician continues to emerge from the electrical contracting ranks with an eye on maintenance and power quality (PQ). Of course, there have always been power quality specialists, but the discipline continues to evolve.

A leading architecture/engineering member of the CSI revision team (who requested anonymity) described the genesis of the change to MasterFormat 2004 this way: “Division 16 was used to describe means and methods of lighting and distribution of power in buildings.