Full Steam Ahead at Intersec 2023

I am going to come straight out and say it – Intersec 2023 in Dubai was the best year of the show (so far) that TDSi has ever had! In the 17 years that we have been exhibiting at the first big security event of the calendar year, this year saw the highest number of sales leads and conversations we have enjoyed in any one single year. We met representatives from over 30 new companies and the conversations we had were exciting and inspiring. With people attending from across the Middle East (and well beyond) the buzz was electric – it was very clear that the demand for security systems and solutions has rarely been higher.

To say the TDSi stand was busy would be a serious understatement – myself and the team were incredibly busy demonstrating our products and also discussing many potential security projects and requirements. This year we joined the UK Pavilion, as part of the BSIA’s promotion of British security technology, for the first time in a decade. Visitors were keen to see the latest from British Security providers and our showcasing of the latest versions of our powerful GARDiS security ecosystem of hardware and software products particularly caught the eye of visitors.

TDSi’s Channel Partner Excellence Awards

Along with meeting up with new and potential partners and customers, Intersec was also the perfect time for TDSi to present our Channel Partner Excellence Awards, recognising our particularly outstanding partners from across the Middle East.

Due to the physical travel restrictions of the last few years, it has been a challenge to meet face to face with some of our partners for some time, so being able to present the awards in person this year was particularly gratifying. Consequently, I was very pleased to be able to present both the 2022 Channel Partner Excellence Award and belated 2021 Channel Partner Excellence Award to Abdelouahed Ajar, CEO of ASVS from Morocco. I was equally delighted to present 2022 Channel Partner Excellence Awards to Irfan Ali, General Manager of Advanced Creative Technical Services (ACTS) from Dubai, Osama Al Naser, President of Al Maalim from Saudi Arabia, and to Jaishankar Muthuswamy, General Manager of AMPS Technology Integrators from Bahrain.

BSIA recognition

Another highlight at Intersec this year was TDSi’s recognition of 30 years membership of the BSIA. I was delighted and proud to be presented an Anniversary Trophy on behalf of the whole TDSi team by BSIA Director John MacAskill MSyl.

We have a long-standing relationship with the BSIA, with us both championing British Security excellence and exports, and the British Pavilion at Intersec 2023 was the perfect illustration of this. Naturally the security industry (and the wider world) has seen enormous changes over the last three decades, but British security products continue to represent the pinnacle of security solutions and clearly garner a lot of respect from buyers, installers, and end users worldwide.

The year ahead   

Intersec is often a good barometer for the Middle East security market (and indeed also the broader global market) and this year it was clearly more than just the grass roots of recovery we started to see last year. Whilst much of the world is fully back to business, global political and economic instability means that security features heavily on the shopping list for many businesses and organisations that are looking to protect their people and investments.

Clearly the world continues to face a multitude of challenges and of course this also affects the security industry, but Intersec 2023 has shown there is a clear appetite for ensuring safety and protection are key investments for the year ahead and beyond.