The security industry's largest show — what we saw and what's coming to Chicago businesses.
Every spring, the security industry converges on Las Vegas for ISC West — the largest physical security trade show in North America. This year's show at the Venetian Expo drew 29,000+ professionals, 750+ exhibitors, and more product announcements than we've seen in years. Our team made the trip to see what's new firsthand, connect with our key vendor partners, and figure out which technologies are actually ready to deploy versus which ones are still vapor.
After more than 20 years in this business, we still look forward to ISC West every year — because the pace of change in security technology is genuinely fast, and staying current is what allows us to deliver the best solutions to our Chicago clients. Here's what stood out from ISC West 2026.
The defining theme of 2026: AI is no longer a feature — it's the platform. Natural language control of security systems, AI-powered video search, and adaptive deterrence responses are shipping today, not in a roadmap. And unified platforms crossing $1B in revenue are proving the market has consolidated around a handful of dominant players.
Alarm.com came into ISC West 2026 having just crossed $1 billion in annual revenue — a milestone that reflects how thoroughly the platform has become the backbone of commercial security for mid-market integrators. We've been deploying Alarm.com for years, and what they showed at ISC West this year is the most significant product evolution we've seen from them.
The headliner is AI Video Event Search: customers can now search saved video clips using plain English queries — "show me the loading dock between 10pm and midnight" or "package deliveries from yesterday." The feature works across their Premium and Commercial Video Plus plans, respects existing camera permissions, and integrates with their Familiar Face and Familiar Vehicle analytics to filter expected activity from unexpected events. That's a real operational upgrade for facilities managers who would otherwise spend hours scrubbing footage.
AI Access Assist is equally interesting — it allows administrators to manage users, credentials, and door schedules using conversational commands instead of navigating menus. Combined with their enhanced AI Deterrence (AID) system — which now delivers adaptive verbal warnings that reference specific details like clothing color or behavior, and escalates messaging when loitering persists — the Alarm.com platform feels like it's moved from reactive to genuinely proactive.
On the hardware side, the Volt Series battery-powered cameras bring wire-free indoor and outdoor coverage to locations where running cable isn't practical, with optional solar panel support for extended operation. The new Prism Series PoE cameras deliver 8MP resolution with VividNight™ technology for premium low-light color performance — a meaningful step up for commercial environments that need reliable nighttime detail.
Salto has been one of the most interesting access control companies to watch for the past several years, and ISC West 2026 reinforced why. Their WECOSYSTEM platform takes a cloud-native, wireless-first approach to access control that's genuinely different from the traditional hardwired systems most Chicago commercial buildings still run.
The practical advantage is significant for our clients: Salto's electronic door hardware doesn't require a full wired infrastructure overhaul. For older commercial buildings, multi-tenant facilities, and retrofits where running new cable through walls is either prohibitively expensive or structurally disruptive, that's a game-changer. You get modern cloud-managed access control — mobile credentials, real-time event logging, time-based schedules, remote management — without the construction project.
Their ecosystem now spans standard office doors, elevators, parking garages, and lockers, all managed from a single cloud platform with integrations into major video surveillance systems. For our clients who've been putting off an access control upgrade because of the perceived cost and disruption, Salto is a conversation we're ready to have.
OpenEye titled their ISC West 2026 positioning around "The Intelligence Shift" — and from what we saw on the floor, it's not marketing language. Their cloud-managed video platform has been pushing AI analytics down-market for a few years now, and the 2026 iteration delivers capabilities that would have cost enterprise money just two years ago.
The core proposition remains strong: instead of passive recording that requires manual review after an incident, OpenEye Web Services delivers AI-powered analytics that let operators search footage by event type, flag exceptions against expected traffic patterns, and surface relevant clips in seconds rather than hours. For a Chicago retailer, warehouse, or multi-location commercial property manager, that translates directly into faster incident resolution and meaningfully reduced shrink.
What's new in 2026 is the depth of business intelligence integration — OpenEye is increasingly positioning video analytics not just as a security tool but as an operations tool, helping clients measure customer traffic patterns, dwell times, and occupancy in addition to security events. It's an approach that changes the ROI conversation with clients who've been skeptical about camera upgrades.
Kidde Commercial's Evolve fire alarm panel continues to be the system we recommend for new commercial fire alarm installations and panel replacements. It delivers on its "powerfully simple" promise in a way that actually matters in the field: faster commissioning, a more intuitive interface that reduces the risk of configuration errors, and full addressable capability that meets UL Listed commercial fire requirements.
For our Chicago clients moving off aging panels — and there are a lot of them, particularly in older Loop and suburban commercial buildings — Evolve is the upgrade path we're recommending. The reduction in installation time and post-install service calls translates to real cost savings for building owners, and the modern platform gives us more flexibility in how we integrate fire with the rest of a facility's security ecosystem.
Natural language is the new UI. The most surprising shift at ISC West 2026 wasn't a hardware announcement — it was how many platforms are replacing traditional dashboards with conversational interfaces. Alarm.com's AI Access Assist lets admins manage credentials with typed commands. AI Video Event Search replaces clip-scrubbing with plain English queries. The complexity of enterprise security management is getting abstracted away, which is a genuine win for mid-market operators who don't have dedicated security staff.
AI analytics are now table stakes. Two years ago, AI-powered video analytics were a premium upsell. At ISC West 2026, they were baseline expectations. Any camera platform that doesn't offer motion intelligence, object classification, and searchable event history is already behind. The market has moved.
Unified platforms are winning. The clearest competitive pattern at the show: vendors with open, integrated platforms that cover intrusion, video, access, and fire are pulling away from point-solution specialists. Alarm.com's $1B milestone isn't just a financial story — it's a signal that the market has decided consolidation wins.
Remote video monitoring is becoming standard, not optional. The integration of CHeKT into the Alarm.com platform — bringing verified, real-time video response into the monitoring center workflow — reflects where the industry is going. Unverified alarm dispatch is increasingly seen as a liability, and video-verified monitoring is the answer.
We don't attend ISC West to collect brochures. We go to make informed decisions about what technologies we're going to stake our reputation on and deploy for our clients. Coming out of 2026, here's what you'll see from us:
If any of these technologies are relevant to your current setup — or if you're not sure what you have and whether it's keeping pace — a free site assessment is the right place to start. That's exactly what we built the business around.
We'll walk your facility and give you an honest assessment of what makes sense — no pressure, no obligation. Just straight answers from people who just spent three days on the ISC West floor.
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