Remembering the days when the old Comdex computer trade show was held at Chicago’s McCormick Place, visiting this year’s ASIS expo just felt natural. More and more I.T. technology is converging into the video surveillance and physical security markets. Bringing ASIS to Chicago seemed to pay off for the show’s organizers for what most are calling a very successful event.

Organizers reported the ASIS 2013 attendance rose 5.5 percent and drew 20,600 security professionals.

With over 630 exhibitors, there was plenty to see and new things to learn. Many of those exhibitors believe the overall attendance of the show was less than last year’s but most seemed to agree that the quality of the attendees was excellent.

There seemed to be something out-of-sync with the layout of the exhibitor floor space with those in the “front left” of the show floor having a plethora of people visiting their booths while a number of exhibitors in the “back right” of the show floor were not as impressed with the traffic flow.

More than 20,000 security professionals from 76 counties, including the United States, attended this in Chicago, Illinois, which was held on September 24-27, 2013.

Access Control solutions seemed to be everywhere and integrated with everything. Just reading the winners of the 2013 ASIS Accolades honors is like reading a directory of access control companies see winner?s list here.

This was also the third year that the (ISC)2 Security Congress colocated with the ASIS Seminar, providing a unique industry forum in which traditional and IT security professionals were able to connect, exchange, and explore shared risks and mitigation strategies in a converged business landscape

One must also remember that a significant portion of the overall ASIS annual event is the training and educational sessions. ASIS continues to be one of the top security events of the year and I’m sure most people are already looking to Atlanta for ASIS 2014.

Did you go to Chicago? Tell us what you thought of the show and what you learned.