GSN announces winners in its 2013 Border Security Awards program

Adrian Courtenay GSN's managing partner

Government Security News and GSN’s Border Security Weekly are pleased to announce the winners of the GSN 2013 Border Security Awards program.

The roster of 2013 winners includes vendor companies that have been deemed by the judges to be innovative, advanced and successful in meeting the needs of border security professionals, along with government agencies and officials who are being recognized for their participation in arrests, seizures, rescues or information-sharing projects, or for leadership and service to country that individual agents or officials have demonstrated in their border security activities.

Ed Tyler, publisher of Government Security News, offered special thanks to Telephonics Corp., the lead sponsor of the 2013 awards competition.

Big winners in the vendor categories include Phoenix-based PureTech Systems, Platinum Winner in “Best Border Security Video Surveillance Solution” and Platinum Co-Winner in “Best Integrated Perimeter Protection Systems,” as well as Gold Winner in “Best Wide Area Video Surveillance.” 

Desktop Alert, the mass notification provider, was selected as Gold medal winner in the "Best Mass Notification System" category, shared the Platinum honor with the U.S. National Guard, its client, in the "Outstanding Global Intelligence Sharing Program -- U.S. or Foreign" and also saw its client, Richard B. Montgomery of the National Guard Readiness Center in Arlington, VA, named as Platinum winner in the "Individual Leadership and Service to Country" category.

Other multiple category Winners include Axis Communications, which won the Platinum in “Best Thermal/Night Vision/Infrared Solution,” Gold medal in “Best Border Security Video Surveillance Solution” and Gold in “Best Covert Surveillance Solution.”

AtHoc, Inc, another major player in the mass communications field, was selected for the Platinum award in the “Best Bi-Directional Mobile Communications Solution” and for the Silver award in “Best Mass Notification System,” while AtHoc’s client, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, received a Platinum award in the category of “Outstanding Land Border Arrest, Interdiction, Seizure or Rescue.”

One particularly noteworthy Platinum winner in the Government Agency categories was NOVARIS, the Northern Virginia Regional Identification System in the category of “Outstanding Inter-Agency Intelligence/Information Sharing Program -- U.S. Agencies.” The NOVARIS entry for its National Capital Region AFIS Consortium describes a sophisticated network of interoperable Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) that is connecting agencies, jurisdictions and states in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Government Security News looks forward to covering this fascinating initiative of NOVARIS in an upcoming issue, according to Managing Partner Adrian Courtenay, along with coverage of the advanced technologies of winning vendors and stories about important arrests, seizures, rescues and information-sharing programs developed by government agencies, as well as accounts of individual leadership and service to country on the part of individual government officials.

Courtenay also reported that the GSN’s video team will be conducting video interviews with a number of the winners of the 2013 Border Security Awards program at the 2013 Border Security Expo, which will take place on Tuesday, March 12 and Wednesday, March 13 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, AZ.

A complete list of award winners in GSN’s 2013 Border Security Awards program is posted below:

Group #1: Border Security Access Control/Identication

Best Biometric Identification Solution

Platinum Winner: Aoptix

Best Identity Document Verification Solution

Platinum Winner: e-Seek

Group #2: Detection Solutions

Best Explosives/ID/Contraband Detection

Platinum Winner: Vidisco

Gold Winner: AS&E

Silver Winner: Rapiscan

Best Radar Detection Solution

Platinum Winner: SpotterRF

Best Outdoor/Ground Sensors

Platinum Winner: Textron Defense Systems

Group #3: Surveillance Solutions

Best Border Security Video Surveillance Solution

Platinum Winner: PureTech

Gold Winner: Axis Communications

Best Covert Surveillance Solution

Platinum Winner: Integrated Microwave Technologies

Gold Winner: Axis Communications

Silver Winner: Blackline GPS

Best Thermal/Night Vision/Infrared Solution

Platinum Winner: Axis Communications

Gold Winner: Laser Devices

Best Wide Area Persistent Surveillance

Platinum Winner: EADS North America

Gold Winner: PureTech

Best Mobile Wireless Broadband Video Surveillance

Platinum Winner: Proxim Wireless

Group #4: Communications Solutions

Best Bi-Directional Mobile Communications Solution

Platinum Winner: AtHoc