TBW ADVISORS LLC

Category: Conference Whispers

  • Conference Whispers: G2E 2025

    Conference Whispers: G2E 2025

    Conference Whispers: G2E 2025

    Las Vegas, NV October 6- October 9

    Published to clients: October 10, 2025                    ID: TBW2105

    Published to readers: October 11, 2025 am                      

    Published to Email Whispers: October 11, 2025

    Public with video edition: October 12, 2025

    Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Abstract:

    “Global Gaming Expo (G2E) 2025 brought nearly 25,000 attendees to Las Vegas for a high-energy showcase of gaming innovation, regulatory tech, and casino infrastructure. TBW Advisors captured over 75 minutes of video across 81 segments, including two livestreams and a full expo hall walkthrough. Our coverage focused on the technologies shaping the future of gaming—from multilingual communication and fraud prevention to cash automation and iGaming compliance. This edition includes four unlisted Whisper Report playlists and concludes with a video montage answering: “What’s the best part about attending G2E live in Vegas?”

    The Conference

    • Nearly 25,000 attendees gathered at the Sand’s Convention Center in Las Vegas. Every aspect of gaming was included while we focused on the technology.
    • Technologies seen include anti-fraud, anti-money laundering (AML), language translation, casino management, player engagement, data center and server technology, cybersecurity, cyber + Physical security, identity, access management

    Cautions

    • Friendly reminder: this research provides examples of what was shared with us at the event, not an evaluation, validation, or recommendation of the given technology.

    Conference Vibe

    After 15,000 steps, 81 videos, and over 75 minutes of video including 2 livestreams and over 20 fact checks, our coverage of Global Gaming Expo better known as G2E 2025 closes. Registration moved quickly as the nearly 25,000 attendees waited for expo hall to open! While we did not get clearance in writing to record any sessions or keynotes, we were able to get permission to capture Expo Hall. In fact, our favorite quote of the event described expo hall as having ‘some incredibly impressive booths’. See for yourself as you enjoy our walkabout. The usual Venetian eateries were available including the café, the food marketplace and the bistro!

    We once again live streamed from on site. On Tuesday requesting those attending to find me to answer Questions 1-3, and Wednesday to let you know about upcoming events we have scheduled and to introduce all to TBW Advisors LLC, and requesting assistance. Specifically, I requested assistance on your favorite videos for my segment on the October 10th broadcast edition of Computer Talk Radio.

    While at G2E 2025, we conducted research for three additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.

    1. Whisper Report: What’s the next gaming tech that will change how we play?
    2. Whisper Report: What’s one casino innovation you wish existed today?
    3. Whisper Report: What’s the biggest risk in iGaming no one’s talking about? And a bonus report,
    4. Whisper Report: What’s the best part about attending G2E live in Vegas?

    Readers and viewers wishing to experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: G2E 2025 Playlist in its entirety. The playlist will be sited in the end screen, description, and as a pinned comment of the video edition.

    The video edition will conclude with a montage of responses to Question 4 — “What’s the best part about attending G2E live in Vegas?” — capturing the energy and moments that made the event unforgettable.

    Exhibits

    Our favorite quote of the event was, “there are some impressive booths in Expo Hall”. From designers showing how your high roller room should really look to chairs for patrons, uniforms for staff, lawyers and accountants specializing in the Gaming ecosystem —  everyone was there. At TBW Advisors LLC we of course focused on the technology that tells the story. Commencing with agilysis, they have a solution that can run the entire resort including scheduling and handling advanced amenity types from golfing to spas. Prefer to focus on gaming data organization? CCT is ready to jump in and partner. They organization all your data from casino operations; from the cage through revenue audit.

    If you want to make sure everyone working at the resort can communicate reliable across any language barrier, Relay should be on your evaluation list. Relay offers a software cloud-based solutions that enables capabilities not normally available in traditional telecommunication solutions. If you would like to clean up the air in the casino, QleanAir’s smoke free cabin demonstrated their technologies capabilities.

    Physical Casinos mean physical payments. Those physical payments may mean your client may have to get up to go to the ATM or counter if their players card runs out. Pavillion Payments would like you to know – this inconvenience is no longer required. Introducing Apple Pay at the machine by Pavillion Payments. If your challenge is in counting the cash that comes into the casino, JCM has a solution including multiple Six-Axis Robots – enjoy the demo! If you would prefer to leverage the same cash counting technology the Federal Reserve in the US leverages, then Giesecke + Devrient were in expo hall ready to show you their highly trusted solution.

    Physical Casinos not only must count but secure the cash, chips, and machines. Regulations require very strict key and asset management. Fortunately, companies such as Traka were in expo hall to share their solution which not only manages keys but ensures compliance. Those seeking additional information on physical cyber security are directed to our ISC West Coverage. Druvstar provides cybersecurity and data security for your gaming needs solution created by actual former CIOs and CTOs in the gaming industry. Those seeking additional information on cybersecurity are directed toward our coverage of Black Hat. Speaking of data, Seon leverages over 909 first party data sources to help you stop fraud. Clients may recall when we first covered Seon during our coverage of Fintech Meetup 2024.

    iGaming regulations frequently require one to keep the data in country to be compliant. If your expansion plans are hindered by finding data centers in remote locations, Continent 8 Technologies should be on your radar. Trying to maintain compliance in all those exotic iGaming locations? eCOGRA operates anywhere in the world iGaming is allowed – over 50 territories. If however, you are seeking durable, rugged hardware that can be custom created to your needs, Radeus labs was in expo hall looking to meet you. For anyone seeking to understand the ‘why’ behind a player’s actions, fullstory has a solution for you. But if maintaining a player’s engagement during play within the app and you don’t want to build out a new team. Perhaps you are seeking player engagement out of the box? Plotline has an intelligent tool ready for you to leverage. Seeking a platform to build and entire game? Want that game to be equally available for iGaming as it is on land for Casinos? Perhaps with the same exact play as well? Then incisor brought the exact development platform you have been seeking to G2E this year!

    Next Year’s Conference  

    Global Gaming Expo 2026 will once again return to Las Vegas and will be held at Sands’ Convention center at the Venetian on September 28 through October 1, 2026. G2E also shared that G2E 2027 will be held September 27 September 30 with G2E 2028 being held October 9-12.

    Related playlists and Publication

    Conference Whispers: Black Hat USA 2025

    Conference Whispers: Identiverse 2025

    Conference Whispers: ISC West 2025

    Conference Whispers: Fintech Meetup 2025

    Conference Whispers: Infocom

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

    TBW Advisors Logo

    Corporate Headquarters

    2884 Grand Helios Way

    Henderson, NV 89052

    ©2019-2025 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Technical Business Whispers, Fact-based research and Advisory, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Email Whispers, The Answer is always in the Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking, The Answer is always in the Whispers, and One Change a Month, are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whispers: Pack Expo Las Vegas 2025

    Conference Whispers: Pack Expo Las Vegas 2025

    Las Vegas, NV September 29- October 1

    Published to clients: October 3, 2025                                                          ID: TBW2101

    Published to readers: October 4, 2025                   

    Published to Email Whispers: October 5, 2025 at 6am

    Public with video edition: October 5, 2025 at 8am

    Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Abstract

    “Pack Expo Vegas 2025 drew 30,000 attendees, filling over 1 million square feet with 2,300 exhibitors across 40 verticals. From robotics and automation to vision AI and IIoT, the show spotlighted packaging tech’s expanding role in enterprise ops. TBW Advisors captured 52 videos, 135+ minutes of footage, and livestreamed twice from the floor. The event showcased the full spectrum of packaging—from boxing and palletizing to robotics, automation, and sensor-driven intelligence.”

    Coverage on Computer Talk Radio

    The Conference

    • A community of 30,000 gathered for Pack Expo Vegas 2025. The event featured over a million square feet of exhibit space, 2300 exhibiting companies serving over 40 vertical markets.
    • Technologies spanned from packaging, to boxing, to palletizing. Robots, automation, and intelligence meant sensor data and traditional AI were plentiful amongst all of the products.

    Cautions

    • Friendly reminder: this research provides examples of what was shared with us at the event, not an evaluation, validation, or recommendation of the given technology.

    Conference Vibe

    After 52 videos and over 135 minutes of video including 2 livestreams, 30 fact checks, over 25,000 steps, 18 flights of stairs and 4 Vegas Loops Rides our coverage of Pack Expo Vegas 2025 closes. Opening day provided a rush for everyone to get their badges at Registration along with a temporary line. The Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) South Hall Upper featured every packaging need for dandy and confectionaries including the Confectionery Pavilion. South Hall lower featured the Containers and Materials Pavilion and related exhibitors. South Hall also features its own eateries where you can get nearly anything sweets packed. South Hall lower out back also features a Vegas Loop Station. Enjoy the ride along over to West Hall. There was also an extensive shuttle infrastructure to facilitate attendees. West Hall featured the Innovation Stage and Industry Speaks. West Hall also features an extensive eatery collection. West Hall features a air conditioned short walkway enabling all to cross the street to North Hall. It is always interesting to see how each event leverages the walkway. In this case, Pack Expo Las Vegas leveraged it to feature their Packaging Innovation Show Case. It was quite fascinating to appreciate all the hard work, creativity, and talent that goes into packaging various goods we use every day. North Hall features the Logistics Pavilion, Processing Zone, Healthcare Packaging Pavillion, Containers and Materials Pavilion and Package Printing Pavillion. North Hall also had an eatery inside the Hall as well as leveraged the traditional Central Hall Food Court. Unless you leveraged a shuttle, the easiest way to get from North Hall to South was a short walk outside. 

    We once again live streamed from on site. On Monday requesting those attending to find me to answer Questions 1-3, and Tuesday to let you know about upcoming events we have scheduled and to introduce all to TBW Advisors LLC, and requesting assistance. Specifically, I requested assistance on your favorite videos for my segment on the October 3rd broadcast edition of Computer Talk Radio.

    While at Pack Expo Vegas 2025, we conducted research for three additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.

    1. Whisper Report: What’s the biggest packaging tech blind spot for CIOs?
    2. Whisper Report: How will robotics in packaging reshape enterprise ops?
    3. Whisper Report: What’s the most overlooked data source in packaging?

    Readers and viewers wishing to experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: Pack Expo Vegas 2025 Playlist in its entirety. Once the video edition is available, the playlist will be sited as a pinned comment on the video edition. It is also easy to locate any previous Conference Whispers playlists through TBW Advisors LLC corporate website.

    Welcome to Pack Expo Las Vegas

    Tracy Stout, VP of Marketing and Communications at PMMI, the organization that hosts and runs Pack Expo Las Vegas, welcomed Press to the event. The CEO of PMMI, Jim Pittas, then shared highlights of what to expect at the show. Specifically, the show featured more than a million square feet of exhibit space and 2,300 exhibiting companies representing 40 vertical markets. One of the more exciting aspects of the press lunch was the State of the Industry Address. Enjoy the entire session; the net takeaway was this industry continues to grow despite years of continued growth. Later in the event we were able to catch the Sr. Vice Chairman of Pakistan’s packaging association, APCCMA, Aftab Ahmed. Mr. Ahmed wanted all to know to know Pakistan is open for business with many goods to sell around the world.

    Exhibits

    With over a million square feet of exhibits, and 2300 exhibitors – each exhibit had plenty of space to show off their machines, equipment, automations, and ROBOTS. Signode Technologies shared their autonomous robots on an integrated line. This line demonstrated palletizing, ring wrapping the pallet along with transportation of the loads between steps by robots. KUKA shared their complete robotic portfolio with attendees. The portfolio included SCARA robots (selective compliance articulated robot arm), Six-Axis robots, and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) as well. For those not familiar, Six-Axis Robots are industrial robots capable of moving with six degrees of freedom that would be X, Y and Z axis and rotations including roll, pitch and yaw around these axis. We were also able to capture the Six-Axis Robot by Universal Robots along with their AMR by MiR. Robot Units is an industrial manufacturer that creates modular automation systems involving aluminum extrusion, robotic framing and guarding to conveyors and powered roller belts, timing belts, modular belts. If you are seeking a cost effective one-stop shot for control automation, Unitronics would love to speak with you. If however, automation backed by three generations of experience catches your attention, the industrial integration company of Flex-Line Automation  was also in expo hall.

    A very critical aspect of packaging is that of boxing. The SOMIC Superflex 434 can rotate the packages so that they can be placed in alternating positions for maximum capacity. In addition, SOMIC also offers a solution to pack unglued boxes saving space and money without losing packaging strength. Attempting to box sticky products and don’t want to give away too much product? Harpak specializes in exactly that sticky situation! Once packages are in a box it is time to think about palletizing. B2B solutions was on site with their innovative 1 and 3 pallet solutions. What was most interesting was the tiny, five and a half by seven and a half feet space it can fit in. If that is not convenient enough – it can leverage a standard wall outlet.

    Space isn’t the only area of efficiency that many sought. If you are focused on getting your stock levels at the correct levels, Netstock’s video should catch your attention. If you find yourself having workers work overtime only to have workers with no stock before them 3 shifts later, you need to address this problem. Be sure to schedule an inquiry with your TBW Advisors analysts at the earliest convenience so we can discuss where you are today. In addition, create an action plan and strategy to digitally transform your organization enabling not only efficient use of staff but of packaging materials as well.

    Other interesting technologies located include this innovative printer head by Hitatchi Industrial ensuring your product codes are readable without significant and constant human intervention. As any network team in the distribution and manufacturing sector can tell you, constant reconfiguration can mean tricky cable management. In expo hall we found icotek that enables reconfiguration and reconnecting without all the traditional hassles.

    One cannot have all these robots and manufacturing lines without significant proliferation of vision AI. Flexible Vision focuses on quality control and traceability, analytics and data collection. If you are seeking to examine the quality of your products leveraging vision at speeds up to 13,000 or more parts per minute – Vision Software was in expo hall. If you are seeking to get intelligence from sensors in general, perhaps even need to procure those sensors, SICK is there to help you realize your Industrial Internet of Things – IIoT – soluton. It’s not about the sensor; it is about the business result.

    Next Year’s Conference  

    Pack Expo Vegas 2026 will once again return to Las Vegas and will be held at Las Vegas Convention Center with dates to be announced.

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

    Corporate Headquarters

    2884 Grand Helios Way

    Henderson, NV 89052

    ©2019-2025 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Technical Business Whispers, Fact-based research and Advisory, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Email Whispers, The Answer is always in the Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking, The Answer is always in the Whispers, and One Change a Month, are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whispers: HR Tech 2025

    Conference Whispers: HR Tech 2025

    Las Vegas, NV September 16- September 18

    Published to clients: September 22, 2025                  ID: TBW2097

    Published to readers: September 23, 2025            

    Published to Email Whispers: September 24, 2025

    Public with video edition: September 24, 2025

    Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist(s): D. Doreen Galli At HRTECH 2025, more than 10,000 attendees gathered in Las Vegas to explore the technologies shaping the full employee lifecycle—from recruiting and benefits to human capital management. With 433 exhibitors, including ninety-four startups, the expo floor was the largest in the event’s history. Our team captured over 120 minutes of footage across forty-nine videos and three livestreams, documenting not just the tech but the tone of the conversations. While generative AI continues to blur lines with legacy automation, the real story lies in how HR leaders are rethinking org design, talent matching, and employee care.

    The Conference

    • A community of 10,000 gathered for HRTECH2025. The event featured 433 exhibitors including ninety-four startups.
    • HR Tech featured technologies a human resource professional and department would need through the entire employee relationship lifecycle.

    Cautions

    • The conflation of AI for artificial intelligence that has been around for decades and the newer generative AI that can hallucinate continues in prevalence.
    • Friendly reminder: this research provides examples of what was shared with us at the event, not an evaluation, validation, or recommendation of the given technology.

    Conference Vibe

    After 49 videos and over 120 minutes of video including three livestreams and over forty-five fact checks, our coverage of HR Tech 2025 closes. HR TECH 2025 gathered 10,000 human resource technology enthusiasts from around the world including USA, Canada, UK, Sweden, Germany, Japan, China, India, Australia, and UAE. Expo Hall was just shy of 100,000 square feet and displayed 433 exhibiters including ninety-four startups surpassing all year’s prior! Registration had no lines whatsoever. We were able to capture the breakfast on Wednesday.

    We once again live streamed from on site. On Tuesday requesting those attending to find me to answer Questions 1-3, Wednesday to let you know about upcoming events we have scheduled and to introduce all to TBW Advisors LLC, as well as Thursday from Expo hall itself requesting assistance. Specifically, I requested assistance on your favorite videos for my segment on the September 20th broadcast edition of Computer Talk Radio.

    While at HRTECH 2025, we conducted research for three additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.

    1. Whisper Report: What’s the biggest AI risk in HR no one talks about?
    2. Whisper Report: How should CTOs rethink org design with GenAI?
    3. Whisper Report: What HR tech trend will disrupt engineering hiring next?

    Readers and viewers wishing to experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: HRTECH 2025 Playlist in its entirety. Once the video edition is available, the playlist will be sited as a pinned comment on the video edition. It is also easy to locate any previous Conference Whispers playlists through TBW Advisors LLC corporate website.

    Recruiting

    One of the more fascinating aspects of HRTECH 2025 was to see how recruiting may be expanding or dare I say, finally improving past trying to box engineers into keyword searches, Booleans, and over filtering. Endorsed AI is an agentic solution that understands, for example, all the nuances and behaviors software engineers are involved in providing a fuller picture to match talent over traditional systems. Understanding that interviews do not accurately represent how one will perform as an employee, FitFirst allows organizations to identify the talent they want. Gem is an AI first recruiting platform focused on finding you your next gem of an employee. HeyMilo focuses on recruiting at scale even providing adaptive interviewing capabilities.

    If you need is strictly on technology to parse resumes, RChilli specializes in exactly that! However, if you want to find tech beyond ATS (applicant tracking systems) perhaps with a side of Employee of Record tech (EOR) – olamee can handle even mid-size organizations.

    Benefits & Employee Care

    An important aspect of recruiting and maintain employees is that of benefits. As such, it is no surprise to find technologies in the benefits space. If managing benefits on a global scale has got you overwhelmed, Benifex specializes in global benefits for 120 countries. Seeking a modern benefits platform leveraging AI from the ground up vs bolt on legacy solutions? Aptia would be one to add to your evaluation list. If, in caring for your employees, you simply want a direct answer to the question, “How are you doing?” Lollipop was on site sharing their solution. If you are seeking analytics in general over everything about your employees, One Model was on site.

    If you are attempting to make training interesting in your organization, Atensi has a gamification solution ready for you to evaluate. If your challenge is more about the acquire, deploy, cultivate/train and redeploy life cycle of employees, Eightfold AI may be on your radar. However, if your employees are demanding payroll in a stable coin crypto current – Pebl has a solution already worked out for you to deploy quickly.

    HCM Human Capital Management

    If your business employes front line workers, Fountain has a front-line worker operating system design to give you speed across the entire process. If you are in the SMB space, BambooHR is designed to empower your HR teams. Perhaps your HR team is exceptionally lean and you need technology so you can still get the job done? HireRoad was designed with you in mind. An enterprise HCM solution that also provides an Employee Gateway Management Systems, Darwinbox believes their solution will make all the difference. If you are seeking an HCM solution with a side of services, Paychex was in expo hall for you.

    Next Year’s Conference  

    HRTECH 2026 will once again return to Las Vegas and will be held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center on October 20-22, 2026.

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples of products in the same category may have also been on display.

    TBW Logo

    Corporate Headquarters

    2884 Grand Helios Way

    Henderson, NV 89052

    ©2019-2025 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Technical Business Whispers, Fact-based research and Advisory, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Email Whispers, The Answer is always in the Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking, The Answer is always in the Whispers, and One Change a Month, are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whispers: Commercial UAV Expo 2025

    Conference Whispers: Commercial UAV Expo 2025

    Las Vegas, NV September 2- September 7

    Published to clients: September 15, 2025                      ID: TBW2093

    Published to readers: September 16, 2025            

    Published to Email Whispers: TBD

    Public with video edition: TBD

    Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist(s): D. Doreen Galli

    Abstract:

    “After 79 videos and 175 minutes of video including 3 livestreams and over 45 fact checks, out coverage of Commercial UAV Expo 2025 closes. Our coverage from Commercial UAV Expo 2025 explores the evolving landscape of drone innovation, enterprise operations, and regulatory strategy. This research highlights examples shared across keynotes, technologies, and industry use cases. Readers are encouraged to explore the full edition for insights into the trends shaping unmanned systems and their impact on commercial and strategic decision-making.”

    After 79 videos and 175 minutes of video including 3 livestreams and over 45 fact checks, out coverage of Commercial UAV Expo 2025 closes. CUAV brought together over 3393 drone enthusiasts from over 62 countries. Registration had no lines whatsoever. We were able to capture the lunch served on Wednesday as well as breakfast on Thursday. This time we once again tried out the live streams with one on Tuesday requesting those attending to find me to answer Questions 1-3, Wednesday to let you know about upcoming events we have scheduled, as well as Thursday from Expo hall itself requesting assistance. Specifically I requested assistance on your favorite videos for my segment on the September 6th broadcast edition of Computer Talk Radio.

    While at Commercial UAV Expo 2025, we conducted research for three additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.

    1. Whisper Report: What’s the biggest UAV threat CIOs aren’t ready for?
    2. Whisper Report: How will drones change enterprise data strategy?
    3. Whisper Report: What’s the most underrated UAV use case in industry?

    Readers and viewers wishing to experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: Commercial UAV Expo 2025 Playlist in its entirety. Once the video edition is available, the playlist will be sited as a pinned comment on the video edition. It is also easy to locate any previous Conference Whispers playlists through TBW Advisors LLC corporate website.

    Keynotes and Sessions

    At the Commercial UAV Expo we were excited we could cover the keynotes this year. The opening monologue set the stage. Buzz Solutions Kaitlyn Albertoli kicked off the event with 5 tips for overcoming inaction in your drone problem. This was followed by a great case study fireside chat with her client Dominion Energy. Dominion’s Thomas F. Butler emphasized that collaboration is the key to success. This was followed by a fascinating case study of how drones were used to capture the stunning beauty of the Grand Canyon.

    Commercial UAV Expo’s team content manager, Matt Collins welcomed all back on Thursday morning. The Keynote panel was hosted by Cyberhawk’s CEO Chris Fleming. Collaboration was the key emphasis and produced one of our favorite quotes of the event. “Safety is not Proprietary”. The session also provided many insights for succeeding with FAA paperwork be it waivers or permits. The morning keynote was concluded with the awarding of the 2025 Eric Talley Memorial Award to Officer Matt Rowland.

    DRONES

    When one attends a Commercial UAV expo, it is not unusual to see a lot of drones including a variety of specialty drones. IPET drones’ propellers and motors come as a set, easily snap on and off, and are notoriously quiet. These propellers also enable very quick maintenance. If you are seeking a variety of drones including nano drones, Ascent Aviation shared their wares. Need to cover remote areas? Starling’s drone in a box even can automatically manage between the three batteries possible in the box with the drone. Perhaps you need to deal with the chemicals of agriculture? Central UAS drones are specifically designed to handle the agricultural and pest spray space. If chain of custody regarding the cargo for applications such as medical deliveries, blueflite drones have you covered. Heavy cargo? FlyingBasket can handle 100 kilo cargo with a 200-kilo capable drone coming by year’s end. Parallel Flight Technologies are hybrid drones and can handle 100 pounds for 1.4 hours or 50 pounds for almost 3 hours. Finally if you want a tethered drone or want to convert your drone to a tethered drone, ELISTAIR came to Vegas all the way from France share their solution.

    If you were seeking a distributor for drones, there were a number of options on site. One example was Frontier that represents product lines from over 40 different manufacturers. Another example was Multicopter. They consider themselves a drone provider with their advantage being NOT offering services. This eliminates competing with the manufacturers themselves. They enjoyed speaking both with drone manufacturers on site as well as customers seeking a great source to purchase their enterprise drones.

    Finally, one of the great challenges for all drone manufacturers is testing their drones. Filing all that paperwork and enduring the FAA delays can interfere with business. Ukraine, represented by their San Fransico Consulate, Consul General Dmytro Kushneruk wanted drone manufacturers to know that you are welcome in Ukraine. Unlike the US, it is only a matter of a few weeks to get approval for testing. They also have scenarios not generally available. This has resulted in over 2,000 drone producers coming out of Ukraine.

    Communications

    A universal need for drones is the ability to communicate either back to their controller or back to the enterprise. Teal.io specializes in mission critical infrastructure. With one SIM card you can connect to 100’s a networks via a single pane of glass including the ability to switch networks. GEODNET represents the largest RTK network – real-time kinematics makes GPS significantly more accurate which is required with drones. If you are concerned about GPS getting jammed, TUALCOM operates in anti-jam, electronic warfare, data links, flight termination, terrestrial navigation, and 4G and 5G as well as telemetry devices. Of course, alternatively one could leverage Anello Photonics’ World’s smallest optical gyroscope to ensure your navigation in the event GPS is blocked, spoofed or jammed. This year they brought their new maritime solution to expo hall.

    Components

    As many drone manufacturers are gathering, those creating components and parts for drone those very manufacturers are also exhibiting. On the power side, if you are familiar with the benefits and challenges of hydrogen, H2MOF does not store it as a gas or liquid – enjoy their video to learn more! Do you want to further reduce the weight of your aircraft? Are you hoping to save a little money over carbon fibre? Mag Materials, a magnesium specialist, may be the vendor you have been looking for. If you need LiDAR sensors but could use help on the entire end to end picture? Green Valley International is looking forward to speaking with you. Finally, if your drones deal with harsh, hot environments? Pelican Wire has heat resistant custom wire to fit your needs. In fact, they had three different types of specialized wire on display. In addition to the heat resistant, they shared their Thermocouple/RTD wires which measure temperature, resistance wires that generates heat, and various other custom engineered wire solutions for specific customer applications.

    Compliance

    With the October 6, 2025, deadline to comment on Part 108 for the FAA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking fast approaching – it was the talk of the town. We were able to capture an exclusive summary of the panel discussing everyone’s primary concerns. This conversation highlighted many areas of concern and critical tips to ensure your comments are counted and matter. Once 108 passes, many drone manufacturers may be seeking components that can enable compatibility with the rules. To that end, uAvioni has been developing technology aligned with the proposed rules and is ready to serve. Part 108 is all about making the skies safe and enabling objects to navigate amongst each other. For pilots have concerns, DSPA – drone service providers alliance -is a group advocating exclusively on behalf of pilots on the local and national level.  

    Drone Operations

    At the enterprise level, drone operations require a lot of strategic thought, planning and technology. We first heard of the enterprise AI powered visual intelligence of Buzz Solutions during the keynote. The emphasis is always getting all of the information out of the data you can for all the use cases available for a given data set. Collect once, use many times was a common theme at the event this year. AirData provides a fleet management solution to manage all your UAS fleets, pilots, certifications, checklists and the likes. If your industry requires the handling of special care cargo, Apco Defence has a highly innovative drone recovery systems with technology to provide a soft landing. If your challenge is understand where that fleet of drones and aircraft are flying, ALOFT can enable you to visualize your airspace.

    Frequently, drones are requested in locations a great distance from population making them difficult jobs to accept. Some drone operators got together with Custome Trailers to create a remote operating hub for drone operators. The result is Drone Pro Trailer and the Drone Ops Company.

    Pilots are a required part of every organization. If you want enable them to virtually practice, Zepher has your covered over a large variety of aircraft. Looking to prepare your pilots for certifications? USI shared their enterprise solution. Expanding the team? The Neuro Diversity Works organization may have just the talent you are seeking!

    Next Year’s Conference  

    Commercial UAV Expo 2026 will once again return to Las Vegas and will be held at Caesars Forum on September 1-3, 2026.

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

    TBW Advisors LLC Logo

    Corporate Headquarters

    2884 Grand Helios Way

    Henderson, NV 89052

    ©2019-2025 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Technical Business Whispers, Fact-based research and Advisory, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Email Whispers, The Answer is always in the Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking, The Answer is always in the Whispers, and One Change a Month, are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whispers: Black Hat USA 2025

    Conference Whispers: Black Hat USA 2025

    Las Vegas, NV August 2- August 7

    Published to clients: August 11, 2025                                 ID: TBW2089

    Published to readers: August 12, 2025                  

    Published to Email Whispers: TBD

    Public with video edition: TBD

    Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist(s): D. Doreen Galli

    Abstract:

    After 61 videos including 4 first ever onsite livestreams, 150 minutes of recording including multiple exclusive shots – our coverage of Black Hat USA 2025 closes. Black Hat USA 2025 featured over 100 briefings and 120 sponsored sessions, with coverage spanning keynote presentations, technical sessions, and exhibit hall innovations. Topics ranged from AI-driven threat detection and agentic SOC platforms to identity verification and proactive risk management. Trends in cybersecurity regarding defence, use of AI agents, and focus on resiliency continue to grow.

    Coverage on Computer Talk Radio August 2, and August 9.

    The Conference

    • Black Hat USA 2025 featured over one hundred briefings and 120 sponsored sessions. Attendance numbers are forthcoming. 2024’s edition featured over 20,000 in person attendees.

    Cautions

    • Black hat is not a conference to attend without preparation. All of one’s technology should be up to date. One should ensure they are leveraging a VPN and a RDID wallet when intentionally going around black hat. If not using one’s phone, a portable faraday pouch is always beneficial.
    • Friendly reminder: this research provides examples of what was shared with us at the event, not an evaluation, validation, or recommendation of the given technology.

    Conference Vibe

    After 61 videos and related fact checks, over 150 minutes of recording including for the first time ever – four onsite LIVESTREAMS – our coverage of Black Hat USA 2025 closes. Black Hat featured over one hundred briefings and 120 sponsored sessions. Clients may recall the expo hall restrictions during our coverage of HIMSS which treated the entire expo hall like a surgical operating room from a privacy perspective. Guess what? It was even tighter at Black Hat. Nonetheless, we were able to capture the energy as Expo Hall was opening. Not only that, for the first time ever, Informa (who owns Black Hat) gave permission to someone to do a walkabout in Expo Hall prior to its opening for the day. That’s right – enjoy your exclusive look at Black Hat USA 2025 Expo Hall. Not only that, we were able to capture the mouthwatering lunch served on Wednesday. Once again, unlike most events, the What’s To Eat? Video does not include any attendees enabling us to really get a great shot of the food! A first for TBW Advisors LLC – we did four livestreams while on site. One live stream on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning. One final livestream went out on Thursday as I requested assistance on your favorite videos for my segment on the August 9th broadcast edition of Computer Talk Radio.

    While at Black Hat USA 2025, we conducted research for three additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.

    1. Whisper Report: What’s the biggest cybersecurity myth in 2025?
    2. Whisper Report: Can AI defend against AI-powered attacks?
    3. Whisper Report: What’s the next SolarWinds-level breach waiting to happen?

    Readers and viewers wishing to experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: Black Hat USA 2025 Playlist in its entirety. Once the video edition is available, the playlist will be sited as a pinned comment on the video edition. It is also easy to locate any previous Conference Whispers playlists through TBW Advisors LLC corporate website. Additional cybersecurity conference research is available via Conference Whispers: Identiverse and Conference Whispers: ISC West.

    Keynotes and Sessions

    Kicking off in dramatic fashion, the conference kicked off with an amazing keynote from non-other than the most famous virus hunters – Mikko Hypponen and father of the Hypponen law of IoT security – one of our favorite coverage spaces. Specifically, Mikko said that if a device is smart, it is vulnerable. It was amazing to hear his story.

    On the bleeding edge of things, we received two session summaries from Microsoft’s Thomas Roccia. The first session was his Black Hat session on NOVA – Prompt Pattern Matching regarding a new type of threat gaining traction. The second session is actually at DEFCON – the sister conference where no one would be ignorant enough to bring in modern technology outside of a faraday cage. Fortunately, we caught Thomas while at Black Hat. IN this talk Thomas shared that they are releasing an AI Agent to track crypto currency’s movements including visualization to combat crypto money laundering. The final Microsoft session itself that we captured is the Unmasking of Cyber Villains. I always love when engineers get a very loud boastful ovation from the audience. This stage featured the heroes of MISTIC and Dart who shared how they leverage each other’s strength. MISTIIC stands for Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center while Dart stands for Microsoft’s Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset. In this session, the Microsoft team emphasized that incidents require empathy, speed, and precision. The Darth team is on the ground delivering the empathy and getting the data to MISTIC. MISTIC in turn, provides the cheat codes to the Darth rescue team to quickly combat the incident.

    On the topic of using AI Agents on a team of humans in wish SOC, James Spiteri from Elastic Security shared a summary of his session. “AI without Borders: Extending analysts capabilities in a modern Soc” dove into details how Agents and humans can successfully interoperate in a SOC. James also covered critical questions you need to think about in order to truly operationalize this type of situation. 

    Exhibits

    As with many events, some exhibits span outside of the formal expo hall. We were invited to the Dune Security Command Center on site where we heard about their solution. Their adaptive training uses a personal credit risk scoring model. It targets each employee’s risky actions and knowledge gaps with customized, targeted, proactive program. The goal is to elevate them to meet corporate standards. This theme of preparation, training, and doing things up-front was definitely a theme. Cumulated shared how their solution focuses on resiliency. Given that the proper way to discuss it is always when and not if, it is wise to ensure a quick recovery when it occurs. This preparation and looking out for the threat aligned with Qualys’s Risk Operations Center. This center is focused on assisting organization proactively identify, prioritize, and finally remediate identified risks. Covering all five personas in a SOC (alerts, vulnerabilities, threat intel, case management and DFIR (digital forensics/incident response )) StrikeReady’s platform integrates with 800 tools and is focused on removing each role’s pain points. Continuous Threat Exposure Management or CTEM is the area addressed most recently by Safe Security. Booli also moves things earlier in the process, in their case identity stitching. Specifically at the very beginning of the process including score carding the identity and providing the information back to the identity service. Ensuring stolen credentials are changed once they have been phished and the criminals attempted to leverage them, Mokn was on site to tell attendees about their solution.

    If your organization would prefer to fix vulnerabilities instead of the common security software composition analysis, Heeler Security was the booth to visit. Feeling overwhelmed, by cloud configurations in your organization? imPac Labs was on site talking about their expertise. Admittedly, given my Microsoft Patent application on Policy Profiles, cloud configurations is a problem space on our radar at TBW Advisors. Speaking of high availability environments, HAProxy Technolog exhibited their platform that brings enterprise security performance and configurability into packaged software.

    An area we have discussed in Conference Whispers: Money 20/20, Conference Whispers: HIMSS 2025, and Conference Whispers: Fintech Meetup 2025 – verifying the hardware device is a valuable defence vector for fighting fraud. At Black Hat USA 2025 we met SmallStep that enables device identity with cryptographic identity ensuring corporate devices are used to perform work. Leveraging device identification to eliminate deepfakes within a corporation, Netarx leverages multiple models to ensure your corporate communications are safe from deep fakes. Elastic Search – an open-source project known for search – found itself building native security and analytics due to popular demand.

    Moving into the agentic side of things, Microsoft’s AI Agent Challenge was a big hit. Their booth had plenty of specialists on site to answer any of your questions. Focusing exclusively on AI Agents for the Red Team, Mindgard’s solution keeps probing to find vulnerabilities, filters through them based on your target and context. Finally, remediation advise is dispensed. Cyata built a built a control plane for Agentic Identity and includes policy enforcement. Addressing the full lifecycle above and beyond triage, Exaforce shared their Agentic SOC Platform. A demo of Exaforce was also captured. Finally, if you are unfamiliar with the current state of agents or have never seen an agent in action, enjoy the video with Ralph. Ralph comes from Cyber Innovate; a think tank focused on stopping threats from AI Agents themselves.

    Next Year’s Conference  

    Black Hat USA 2026 will once again return to Las Vegas and will be held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in August 2026. The exact dates have yet to be announced at time of publication.

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

    TBW Advisors Logo

    Corporate Headquarters

    2884 Grand Helios Way

    Henderson, NV 89052

    ©2019-2025 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Technical Business Whispers, Fact-based research and Advisory, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Email Whispers, The Answer is always in the Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking, The Answer is always in the Whispers, and One Change a Month, are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whisper: Identiverse 2025

    Conference Whisper: Identiverse 2025

    Published to clients: June 10, 2025                                       ID: TBW2083

    Published to readers: June 11, 2025                      

    Published to Email Whispers: August 18, 2025

    Publicly Published with video edition: August 18, 2025

    Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist(s): D. Doreen Galli

    Abstract:

    Identiverse 2025 welcomed 3,300+ attendees to Mandalay Bay – nearly a 20% gain over 2024. Featuring 250+ sessions and 150 exhibits all on one floor, the event was smooth and accessible. Keynotes and sessions emphasized teamwork, resilience, and collaboration, while exploring AI in identity, decentralized credentials, and zero-trust implementation. Exhibitors showcased innovations from selfie-based authentication to intelligent access control and secrets vault cleanup. The shift from Aria to Mandalay Bay marked a new chapter for the expanding event, which returns to Mandalay Bay in 2026.

    The Conference

    • Identiverse 2025 was held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center, a move from Aria in 2024. It hosted 3300 attendees, 250 sessions and 150 exhibitors.

    Cautions

    • Friendly reminder: this research provides examples of what was shared with us at the event, not an evaluation, validation, or recommendation of the given technology.

    TAGS

    Identiverse 2025, digital identity, identity security, zero trust, AI in cybersecurity, decentralized identity, verifiable credentials, identity governance, privileged access management, IAM, IGA, cybersecurity conference, Mandalay Bay, authentication, biometrics, secrets management, SSO, MFA, ITDR, access control, enterprise security, digital trust, identity trends, identity innovation, conference highlights, tech expo, identity tech, identity solutions, cybersecurity trends, identity keynote, identity management

    Conference Vibe

    After over 53 videos, almost 200 minutes of content only 2 escalator rides, 30,000 steps and over 25 fact checks, our coverage of 2025 Identiverse ends. The event spanned 4 days, had over 250 speakers, 150 exhibits and with over 3300 attendees – 700 more registered over last year. Registration went very smooth with rarely any waiting time. Interestingly, we were informed many registered late. Executives realize that reducing risks and therefore related losses is a viable path to protecting profits in uncertain times. This year’s event took place at Mandalay Bay Convention Center, a change from Aria last year. Most enjoyed the conference taking place all on the same floor. It was great to see the conference grow and expand. Like all changes, there were the old timers yearning for the days when they all packed into too small rooms at Aria. Unfortunately, some of the sessions located physically further from Expo Hall reported some in person attendance challenges from those too tired to walk to the room. The event featured a full collection of meals. We were able to capture the Tuesday Seminar’s Lunch and the lunch on Wednesday in Expo Hall.

    While at Identiverse, we conducted research for three additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.

    1. Whisper Report: How can organizations implement zero-trust security without disrupting user experience?
    2. Whisper Report: What are the latest advancements in decentralized identity and verifiable credentials?
    3. Whisper Report: How can AI and behavioral analytics enhance identity security?

    Readers and viewers wishing to experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: Identiverse Playlist in its entirety. Once the video edition is available, the playlist will be sited as a pinned comment on the video edition. It is also easy to locate any previous Conference Whispers playlists through TBW Advisors Website under Subscribers research/Conference Whispers.

    Keynotes and Sessions

    Identiverse is absolutely one of those events where regardless of the amazing session you choose, you are aware you are also missing an incredible session – or two. Fear of missing out was rampant. Fortunately, we were able to capture 53 videos for our clients and subscribers. The first Keynote featured John Pritchard, CEO of Radiant Logic. Titled, “Identity isn’t a solo Game” it drove home the message that one cannot succeed in identity without collaboration with the professionals around you throughout the organization and with others in the industry.

    Another frequently referred to keynote featured the UK’s Hanna Rutter who is realizing their government digital identity solution. In her talk she spoke about the challenges of such a decentralized digital identity solution and how she is overcoming roadblocks on her path to success. A much in demand topic regarding identity challenges in the realm of AI was presented by Richard Bird. A tech talk held in the expo hall was hosted by Microsoft. Their tech talk covered the hot topic of ITDR, Identity threat detection and response.

    Exhibits

    Identity is a topic found not only in the expo halls of Identiverse, but was also seen in the halls of HIMSS, Fintech Meetup, Money 20/20 and ISC West just to name a few. What is interesting is the different manners of vendors describe their technology. At ISC West, vendors in the expo hall spoke in terms of a solution. They would always emphasize the PII information is not on the badge, rather a hash of the biometric data which enables verification is provided instead. While this was not clarified on the videos at Identiverse, the vendors later disclosed the same technical approach that was taken on the technology captured at Identiverse. If you are seeking a tap-in to sign-in on a shared device for your organization, Imprivata was in the expo hall with their solution. If you would like to verify the customer requesting the high-risk transaction is the same customer who signed up for the account, Panani shared their technology. Keyless offers a solution to authenticate high risk actions with a selfie. If you are an engineer developing a solution and need the capability to onboard customers, no need to start at square one! PropelAuth provides an out of the box identity capability you can add on to your solution to onboard customers! Seeking to manage your remote teams and seeking a cost effective out of the box solution to provide SSO and MFA? Cubeless shared their free and easy SSO and MFA solution made for you. 

    Is managing privileges gotten to be too much for you and your organization? Apono Unified Access Management is an intelligent solution that aims to provide just enough just in time privilege for human and non-human-identities (NHI). Oasis goes one step further in managing AI Agents’ Identity, provisioning, deprovisioning and cleaning up stale accounts. Are your coders overwhelmed trying to identity what secrets vault to use so they land up hardcoding the secret? Is your organization suffering from identity vault sprawl? GitGuardian was on hand with their solution that can assist you in identifying and remediating secrets vault sprawl.

    Expo hall also featured quite a few IGA (identity governance and administration) and PAM (privileged access management) platforms. Omada captured their 25-years’ IGA experience into a free best practice framework. This framework includes use cases and related configuration recommendations for their platform, Omada Identity Cloud. Lumos shared their agentic AI autonomous IGA solution. This solution can even recommend what privileges a new employee should get based on their role and department. If you have a small but complex environment, Clarity Security has an IGA solution targeted at your organization.

    Keeper Security shared their zero-knowledge identity solution for endpoints. Their solution is referred to as zero knowledge as the customer’s data is encrypted on the endpoint with the customers key; meaning, Keeper Security has no access to customer data whatsoever. Bridgesoft shared their complete identity platform that also can adapt and include any components that may already exist in your environment. Specializing at the start of the process, CyberSolve helps organizations commence new identity programs. Looking for IAM services across the portfolio? Simeio was on site there to offer guidance. Clients are reminded to schedule an inquiry to review the current state of your identity program. If you are seeking to expand it or modernize it, we will produce an inquiry plan to guide you along the journey even if you are working with an outsource provider or consultant.

    Next Year’s Conference  

    Identiverse will once again be held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center June 15-18, 2026.

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

    TBW Advisors LLC Logo

    Corporate Headquarters

    2884 Grand Helios Way

    Henderson, NV 89052

    ©2019-2025 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Technical Business Whispers, Fact-based research and Advisory, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Email Whispers, The Answer is always in the Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking, The Answer is always in the Whispers, and One Change a Month, are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whispers: Customer Connect Expo 2025

    Conference Whispers: Customer Connect Expo 2025

    Las Vegas, NV April 16-April 17

    Published to clients: April 22, 2025                ID: TBW2078        

    Published to readers: April 23, 2025

    Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Abstract:    

    After over 200 minutes of recording, 6 flights of stairs, and over 30 factchecks, our coverage of the rebranded Customer Connect Expo 2025 or CCE25 closes. The event featured over 43 keynotes and seminars and over 200 vendors exhibiting. Keynotes included discussions on customer loyalty, employee satisfaction, data-driven personalization, and AI in customer experience. A seminar focused on enhancing call centers with AI agenst is also included. Exhibits ranged from technology supporting customer experience and call centers, data consolidation and customer 360, to entire platforms and BPO services.

    The Conference

    • The event featured over 43 keynotes and seminars and over 200 vendors exhibiting.
    • Technologies covered include telephony, networking, SIP, call blocking, data, data management, data fabrics, customer 360, AI, LLMs, agentic AI, conversational AI, and bots.

    Cautions

    • Just because a solution ‘works’ doesn’t mean the product was designed with customer privacy in mind.
    • Platforms that combine multiple functions can look like a quick win unless you already have installed components or desire to switch a specific function to a best in class. Ensure any ‘platforms’ leverage standards for any components. By adhering to standards, customers can avoid vendor lock into the platform and keep the door open for maximum architectural flexibility.

    Conference Vibe

    After over 200 minutes of filming, 6 flights of stairs, over 30 fact checks, our coverage of the rebranded event, Customer Connect Expo 2025, or CCE25, comes to a close. CCE25 opened with a grand ribbon cutting ceremony featuring the Global Voice of Customer Experience, Dennis Wakabayashi. TBW Advisors LLC’s clients and subscribers may recognize Dennis from last year’s AMA Industry Whispers event with Dennis. Admittedly, this event is one we always look forward to having covered it in 2023 and 2024 under its previous branding of CCCLV for Call & Contact Center Expo Las Vegas. The event features 4 stages hosting a total of 43 keynotes and seminars. The theaters for the speakers were mixed amongst over 200 exhibitors in expo hall. The keynotes and seminars were full coming in just under maximum capacity. The last two years, there were notable audio issues for the speakers. This year they had a dual audio set up with headphones and speakers. I only heard one major feedback sound the entire event. In fact, the sound worked so well that it kept the audience enthralled preventing them from walking around as much as in previous years. This led exhibitors to politely describe foot traffic as a “slow”. While the total booth traffic was light, the exhibitors did admit that the leads they obtained were rock solid with most easily covering the expenses. In other words, everyone was there was serious about conducting business with not much fluff. Food was also available within the expo hall itself.

    While at CCE25, we conducted research for three additional forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.

    1. Whisper Report: How can we integrate AI-driven customer service solutions with our existing IT infrastructure?
    2. Whisper Report: What are the most effective strategies for ensuring data security and privacy in customer interactions?
    3. Whisper Report: How can we leverage customer interaction data to drive business insights and innovation?

    Readers and viewers wishing to experience the entire event are encouraged to view the Conference Whispers: CCE25 playlist in its entirety. Once the video edition is available, the playlist will be sited as a pinned comment on the video edition. It is also easy to locate any previous Conference Whispers playlists through TBW Advisors Website under Subscribers research/Conference Whispers.

    Sessions

    During our coverage at CCE25 we were able to catch 4 keynotes and one seminar. The first keynote we captured was by Pfizer’s Wayne Simmons. Wayne reminded all that customers want companies that are interested in partnering for life when possible. In many domains such as banking, it is very inconvenient and takes significant effort to switch companies. One a customer is lost – it is expensive to reacquire that customer if at all possible.

    Ford’s Dr. Kalifa Oliver drove home the obvious but too often overlooked point. If an employee is miserable and being treated horrible, how do you think they will treat your customers? A company should not be worried about an employee being happy but rather ensuring they have the tools and support to do the job. The development of employee satisfaction tools tend to be behind customer satisfaction tools but they need not be separate tools. It’s simple, data shows a satisfied and empowered employee is more likely to provide a positive customer experience.

    The second day keynotes kicked off with Macy’s Siva Kannan Ganesan on the power of data. Siva highlighted the importance of capturing customer data including every click. A customer experience must be engineered. The two-tower approach was recommended for one’s digital strategy the achieve the ultimate in personalization.

    Ring Central’s John Finch was on the Keynote stage to talk about Agentic AI driving the next generation of customer experience. The presentation went beyond revealing the next generation of customer experience tools. Context for the value contributed by conversational AI, generative AI, bots as well as the power of agents and personalized assistants was also provided. Expanding on that agentic AI theme was a seminar on expanding your call center with AI agents. Mitrol’s Francisco Trojano shared their approach to improve contact center’s impact. This seminar included various success stories.

    Solution components

    The exhibits had a large variety of vendors including various components of solutions to create the ultimate customer experience. To the surprise of some, fax usage has risen 23%. Faxsipit shared their solution that won’t create a chain of mis transmissions and errors even for 1400-page documents! Perhaps, like many of the exhibitors, you are meeting and speaking with your prospects at a conference and don’t want to miss any of the potential leads. Claritiv shared their solution to capture and enable your ability to analyze these interactions. Need a method to see what the customer is experiencing first hand? With Blitz you can send a quick link that allows them to share their camera view without downloading a mobile application. Perhaps you interact between the physical and digital world and want a vendor that can help you? Put Unified Direct Solution on your radar who specialize in optimizing such a scenario including balancing needs based upon conditions. If you are short of staff and are thinking about outsourcing but not sure you want your customers to deal with outsourced agents, you might want to evaluate Kongusto. Now that you have all this staff, you’ll want them to feel like a team even if they are spread around the world. To that end, Nexgen virtual office shared their next generation of leveraging technology to create the ultimate in virtual office. Regardless of your technology, if you were seeking to market your solution, Greenstar Marketing was there with their services.

    Data Centric, Platforms, and BPOs

    There were exhibitors with products focused on bringing your data together and providing insights. Maprehend focused on the expertise of your very best employee and empowering all. Likewise, if you wanted to clone your best sales agent, Verse.ai focuses on the best message on the right channel to deliver results. Enthu.ai connects and consumes all your customer interactions with a side of automation to provide useful customer insights. Diabolocom leverages a proprietary AI solution that is trained exclusively on your data for your private model. Zaon’s approach is to start with the problem or use case and connects the subject matter experts to create solutions.

    If you are seeking a contact soluton provider beyond the data and perhaps a solution that is actually a carrier, Nobelbiz is a telephony carrier and can assist if your calls are not getting connected correctly. Assembled is a support operations platform with three pillars. One pillar handles AI agents through all forms of contacts, second is vendor management offering including handling billing, and third workforce management to increase productivity. A platform for omni channel communications highly integrated with AI agents is available through Mitrol as described earlier in their seminar. If you are looking for a platform with a side of business process outsourcing (BPO), Etech harnesses the power of AI to drive your customer experience through calls, chats and all customer interactions. The three focus areas include contact center services, Quality and analytics and customer development. ValueLabs leverages its own generative AI platform built leveraging various LLMs. ValueLabs focuses on four areas: outsourced product development, quality engineering, data engineer and process automation. ProntoBPO offers shared services, rental stations, BPO as well as software development. ProntoBPO specializes in verticals such as Pest, Lawn and HVAC services.

    Next Year’s Conference

     CCE conference will unfortunately move to Atlanta, GA for 2026.

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

    ©2019-2025 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Technical Business Whispers, Fact-based research and Advisory, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Email Whispers, The Answer is always in the Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking, The Answer is always in the Whispers, and One Change a Month, are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whispers: NAB Show 2025

    Conference Whispers: NAB Show 2025

    Las Vegas, NV April 5-April 9

    Published to clients: April 14, 2025                    ID: TBW2070         Published to readers: April 15, 2025                     

    Published to Email Whispers: July 16, 2025

    Publicly Published with video edition: July 16, 2025

    Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist(s): D. Doreen Galli

    Abstract:    

    After over 40,000 steps, 20 flights of stairs, 8 Vegas Loop rides, 140 minutes of video content spanning education sessions, main sessions and exhibition highlights, our coverage in NAB Show 2025 closes. NAB Show 2025 hosted 55,000 attendees with 26% from 160 countries and 53% being first timers. Various vendors showcased AI-driven media solutions, storage innovations, and advanced workflows. Key technologies included AI for speech translation, video captioning, media format transformation, and virtual production. The event emphasized the importance of secure media storage and collaboration tools, with a focus on AI-enhanced search and metadata creation. Next year’s conference will be held at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

    The Conference

    • Data storage, data virtualization, identity and access management, networking, cloud computing, hybrid computing, AI vision and audio, metadata, compression and search were all popular technologies found within the solutions.

    Cautions

    • This year’s NAB Show featured an alarming trend for those with corn allergies. Specifically numerous booths in every hall were popping corn throwing the corn protein into the air. Studies show up to 6% of the population potentially have such an allergy with some segments of the population measuring at 15%. Perhaps the LVCC should consider restricting such items in booths for future events.
    • Just because a storage solution holds your media and makes it easy to access does not mean it is secure and appropriate for the intellectual property for which it is used. Identity and access management must be a part of the storage solution.
    • While not unique to the Media industry, most data storage solutions have no method to keep track of all the various copies created of a given file therefore potentially leaving the door open for information leaks or data thefts.
    • Despite also catering to the growing creator economy, ad servers for social media could not be found at this event.

    Conference Vibe

    After over 40,000 steps, 20 flights of stairs, 8 Vegas Loop rides, 140 minutes of video content spanning education sessions, main sessions and exhibition highlights, our coverage in NAB Show 2025 closes. NAB Show 2025 hosted 55,000 attendees with 26% from 160 countries and 53% being first timers. This is down from NAB24 when 61,000 attendees gathered from 163 countries. The conference spanned the entire Las Vegas Convention Center sans Central Hall which in under construction leading to a somewhat bifurcated experience. Registration was available at all halls and major resorts on the strip. West Hall featured AI and Machine Learning, AdTech, Monitoring, Asset management, cloud computing, storage, streaming, radio, transmission and start-ups. West Hall featured eateries in the food court as well as in the exhibit hall. West Hall also hosted the recognition for all those support the NABPAC and ensuring freedom of the press remains a right. To get to North Hall one could take the Vegas Loop to Central Hall or take the interior connected bridge that crosses the street. North Hall featured TV and newsroom automation, audio production, cameras, digital signage, lighting and grips. North Hall had the food court outside of traditional Central Hall open despite Central Hall construction. From North Hall to get to South and South Lower Hall one could jot around the construction outside. Admittedly the construction did give a bit of a bifurcated conference feeling. South Hall lower featured production, post-production, acquisition, graphics, editing, creator lab and the post-production world. South Hall food court was also open for those needing food at this location in the event. If one wanted to return to West Hall, there was also a Vegas Loop stop at South Hall that one could take back to the Central Stop or directly to West Hall.

    While at NAB Show, we conducted research for three forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.

    1. Whisper Report: How can AI and machine learning transform media and entertainment?   
    2. Whisper Report: What are the best practices for integrating cloud technologies in media workflows? 
    3. Whisper Report: How can we leverage the creator economy to drive business growth?

    Sessions

    NAB has a full schedule of sessions and educational talks for attendees. Main stage in West Hall always has some of the biggest headliners. This year we were able to capture DJ Delilah’s story that she shared as she won her award. It was interesting that early in her career that her merit of achieving exceptional ratings with the audiences was rewarded with a layoff. Main stage also featured an interview with Stephen A. Smith who recently signed the largest contract for a sports commentator that wasn’t a pro-athlete.

    We were also able to briefly capture two training sessions by the ever-engaging Luisa Winters. The first session taught drone pilots how to get the best shots to make amazing content. Wishing to learn more about drones and running a drone business? The answer is in our coverage of the commercial drone event, Conference Whispers: CUAV Expo. The second session by Luisa Winters was her event on additional methods to monetize YouTube. Unfortunately, what we captured seemed to be the same advice commonly found online.

    Many vendors also had specialized stages such as this partner talk on the AWS Stage. This session focused on the AI content delivery workflow for a multimodal media stack. Finally, we captured the main stage event featuring the Bluemoon AI use case with Dell and NVIDIA on the topic of AI Advanced workflows. The big advice was to train your models locally.

    Storage & Search

    One of the largest problems found in media is where to put all the media! Media is not only voluminous, but it is the Intellectual Property that gives media companies value. The first problem is where to store it so those that need to work with it can. Strada agents allow one to share their hard drive with collaborators turning it into a private cloud. Studio Network Solutions, SNS, gave us an overview of the various methods it enables media professionals to share their media storage for collaboration. As a word of caution, just because a product is at a conference and organizations use it does not mean it is secure. Particularly, there was an alarming lack of identity and access control technology protecting many media storage solutions. For more research on this topic see Conference Whispers: Identiverse.

    Some of the solutions exhibited adds in AI for additional capabilities. For example, Axle.ai works with your storage BUT adds AI and search capabilities so one can maximize monetization of their content. Likewise, Eon Media also focuses on adding value to raw media assets leveraging various forms of AI to create the metadata to enable such powerful searches. Interestingly, their solution also enables and facilitates the licensing of such content for the full digitization to monetization spectrum. There was an abundance of solutions that applied AI to your data in your storage as well. For example, Magnify immediately searches your live video including sports video adding critical metadata to the field to reduce production costs and increase content usability.

    Workflows

    The next largest group of technologies involves those that go beyond storage or storage and search into the production workflows. TBW Advisors LLC is excited to share that we were able to capture a demo of Latakoo, popular in end-to-end workflow in broadcasting. Furthermore, we had an exclusive interview with Latakoo’s Founders right before they found out they won Best in Show NAB25! This award recognizes their generative video coding to transcribe live video.

    Dell had a large display sharing all their latest and greatest in hardware, software, and solutions including those with some of their biggest partners. Dell has always been known for their ability to understand what is required to scale out – something the crowd really seemed to appreciate at NAB. Simple and easy was the goal with the new capabilities highlighted by Ross. Where the solution leverages their components or an industry standard, just drag and drop into the workflow and you are set. As with

    AI and Speech

    While many different terms are used to describe the capabilities derived, the base functionality of many solutions involved artificial intelligence analysis of speech. From the video owner’s perspective, they often seek to have the video translated from one language to another. From the business’ perspective this is called localization. YellaUmbrella provides a pay-as-you-go translation capability for all your content. If you want the video to not only have its sound in another language but attempt to make it look like they are speaking it, also known as dubbing, DeepDub supports 130 languages and is one of the solutions you should evaluate. Another AI use case with speech is to provide in-room captioning for live events. This capability is critical for those seeking inclusive events and is available via MediaScribe.

    Additional Media Technologies

    Additional technologies we found include the critical capability of changing formats – Europe and USA do not use the same formats. Broadcast and streamers do not use the same formats. Cinnafilm is known for high quality media transformations. Cinnafilm’s flagship product, Pixelstrings can even make something 1080p to 4k! If the only transformation you are seeking is clipping it into shorts along with some intelligent search, Opus clips was in the creator’s lab. Another technology from the creator’s lab is the amazing ability to create a 3d augmented reality virtual background by AR Wall. Nominated for product of the year, AR Wall also offered a package with Sony for a huge screen to install for its realization. Keeping on the theme of virtual production, Riverside offers virtual podcast capabilities. Interestingly, all recording is executed locally in order to remove any network delay or contamination in the media. Last but not least, for all those editors and producers using these amazing products, there is KB Covers and Keyboards. Mac or windows or even laptops, editor or producer tools or even analytics, CRM or ERP tools – KB Covers and Keyboards vast array is likely to have a keyboard or cover to assist.

    Next Year’s Conference  

    NAB Show 2026 conference will once again be held in Las Vegas, Nevada April 18-22, 2026.

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

    ©2019-2025 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Technical Business Whispers, Fact-based research and Advisory, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Email Whispers, The Answer is always in the Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking, The Answer is always in the Whispers, and One Change a Month, are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whispers: ISC West 2025

    Conference Whispers: ISC West 2025

    Las Vegas, NV March 31-April 4

    Published to clients: April 7, 2025         ID: TBW2069  

    Published to readers: April 8, 2025           

    Published to Email Whispers: July 28, 2025 12pm.

    Publicly Published with video edition: July 28. 2025 2pm.   

    Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Abstract:

    After capturing almost 50 videos, over 150 minutes of content and countless shorts forthcoming, our coverage of ISC West 2025 closes. Attendees gathered for ISC West 2025 held in Las Vegas March 31-April 4. The event featured innovations in video surveillance, driver-assisted systems, palm vein identity solutions, edge AI, and gunshot detection. Exhibits included AI vision, camera intelligence, and layered security solutions. TBW Advisors was able to capture exclusive content from the live sessions as well as full details on top products at exclusive Press Briefings.

    Cautions

    • ISC West offers the option to print your badge at home. It is important to note that you not only need your badge holder and lanyard on site, but you still must wait in the registration line. Specifically, you must present and verify your ID to get a sticker on your badge for it to be useful. IF you only snag the badge holder, you will land up back at the long registration lines.

    Conference Vibe

    Our coverage of ISC West 2025 includes over 38 videos and over 150 minutes of video content spanning session summaries, product overviews, and answers to three urgent questions. There will be countless shorts forthcoming so save the entire Conference Whispers: ISC West 2025 playlists by clicking on the book mark symbol. Registration was quite interesting for the x attendees as one could print the badge at home but still required face to face registration to get the validation sticker. Held at Venetian, the customary Venetian Café Presse was open as well as the Venetian Food Marketplaces within expo hall if you got hungry. The event seemed to exceptionally crowded as you can feel as all waited for expo* hall to open and was loud enough to trigger a 100db warning on my watch. Upon clearing security, endless exhibits featuring massive amounts of vision AI,  AI video analysis, IoT sensor data, and complex security identity solutions bridging the physical and cyber worlds.

    While at ISC West, we conducted research for three forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.

    1. Whisper Report: How can we enhance our cybersecurity measures to protect against emerging threats?  
    2. Whisper Report: What are the best practices for integrating AI and machine learning into our security systems?
    3. Whisper Report: How can we ensure compliance with new and evolving security regulations?

    Sessions and Press Event

    We are excited to share that we have two exclusive pieces of content where the presenters gave a special overview just for TBW Advisors LLC, our clients, and subscribers. First, we have the session by Intel RealSense. This session focused on the combination the long history in vision and the long history of AI together to successfully create the current generation of facial recognition for the purpose of useful Identity and Access Management via the biometric field of one’s face. Keep in mind, data representing one’s face is PII or personally identifiable information. While not healthcare, the protection of PII requires the same care as all PII data as discussed during our coverage of Conference Whispers: HIMSS 25.

    The second session summary we were also treated to includes a look at when cyber and physical security combine. Operations and IT coordinating to achieve a business function is quite common. As anyone who has been a corporate CIO in an organization with physical buildings knows, security is security. Physical security must interface with IT systems to understand who is permitted to do what. Historically, if physical security fails, IT systems are always at a higher risk due to information being left around or the increased attack surfaces made available via the ability to physically access a network terminal or a server itself depending on the organization. In 2025, the rush to get data from everything connected to survive the pandemic or to rush ahead with AI solutions has increased possible attack surfaces. The confluence of these scenarios together has made the Cyber Physical Security practice space blossom so expect to hear and see a lot more in this space for the foreseeable future.

    Whenever given the chance, we try to bring unique content and details about the companies at the conferences to you. At ISC West we were able to attend a special, press only event held by Taiwan Excellence better known as Taitra. Taitra’s mission is to help spread the word around the world about innovations coming out of Taiwan by featuring some of their companies. The editor in Chief for Security Today Magazine, Ralph Jensen also spoke at this event to kick it off. We were able to capture the full 10-minute presentations for each of the 6 technologies featured!

    The first technology featured is Cyberlink. Cyberlink provides extensive video surveillance capabilities including the ability to successfully track people. In the event of a violent attack or a lost child, finding the desired human being from all the surveillance video available can be quite timely without the right technology. Cyberlink’s people tracking works even if the face is not visible on the video through posture, clothing, or body movement signature.

    Advanced driver-assisted systems (ADAS) are popular in automobiles but for larger vehicles it is still newer due to the complexity and size of semi-trucks. EverFocus gave the press an in-depth overview of their current solution including the company’s success in obtaining many Taiwan and global certifications enabling deployment.

    The third technology presented at the event was Himax with their palm vein identity solution. As this contactless solution works even if a surgeon has scrubbed for surgery and put on their two pairs of surgical gloves, this technology could have easily been featured at HIMSS25 or Identiverse. Himax is not only known for their palm vein identity solution but also for their ultralow power AI processor that runs their solution and is available on the market as WiseEye.

    The fourth and fifth companies presenting both featured edge solutions. Kneron featured a general-purpose secure full stack edge AI solution that support AI services at the edge for a large variety of use cases. One example is combing standard RGB video with thermal camera information for a cohesive image to properly identity living beings or animals in the camera’s view. Likewise, Vivotek specializes in IP Surveillance solutions including network cameras, network video recorders (NVRs) and related software solutions and accessories.

    Exhibits

    The product mix set at ISC West is interesting as it spans AI vision, Camera Intelligence, surveillance, and identity. Let’s start with the best in show new product two-time award winner, Vaidio. Vaidio provides an AI vision platform leveraging their deep AI expertise. Their belief is you should be able to point a camera at anything and make it safer. Safr is a vision AI solution focuses on facial recognition and liveness verification for live video including watchlist alarms. We also had an extensive booth tour by Intel RealSense. As you can see, their solution is quite easy to integrate for developers. Enrolment is quite simple. Their chip/software solution is integrated into many of the products on the floor. They also provided a live demonstration of their solution in action. If you are famous or a high NetWorth  individual and you are not comfortable with your personal identity or other information floating around the web, 360 Privacy was there with their solution.

    Advancis is 30-year-old company that provides a one-stop identity solution that focuses on integrating as many hardware devises as possible. It currently can integrate with over 550 hardware devices on which it can capture and verify credentials. They add support for approximately 30 devices each year. Also playing in the Physical Identity and Access Management (PIAM) space is RightCrowd. RightCrowd specializes in complex scenarios for organizations with many employees, many visitors across many locations. For those seeking a PIAM solution leveraging facial recognition or fingerprints, Bioconnect might be on your radar. Bioconnect integrates with the top 8 IAM platforms in the market. For a layered security approach, dormakaba provided TBW Advisors LLC with an exclusive booth tour walking through their offering and various layers. If any of the biometric or other identity information needs to be put on a secure card with any of the contact and contactless embedded technology, Dascom was on site. Their printer can securely hold up to 200 finished product cards until a batch is completed and retrieved.

    Diving more into the physical security aspects, LVT provides a mobile security unit that is rapidly deployable. LVT’s low power solution leverages cellular connectivity and high scalability for future proofing its deployment. Underneath the surface, LVT leverage the latest in agentic AI capabilities within its solution to provide these advanced capabilities. Another agentic AI solution that

    stops threats without human intervention based on video surveillance, Spot.ai might be on your radar. As an Agentic AI solution, Spot.ai not only detects an issue but can automatically handle the threat in 90% of the cases. Specifically, the solution will automatically be able to execute things like intimidating announcements, spotlights on, and following the potential threat as well as turn on sirens. The solution notifies a humans if the automation determents fail.

    Finally, if safety and security means identification of a gun shot and its source, Databuoy was on hand. With technology funded by DARPA, their solution is just as effective in your closest metropolitan area as it is in a urban combat.

    Next Year’s Conference  

    ISC West 2026 conference will once again be held at the Venetian in Las Vegas, Nevada. The dates are yet to be announced for 2026.

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

    ©2019-2025 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Technical Business Whispers, Fact-based research and Advisory, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Email Whispers, The Answer is always in the Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking, The Answer is always in the Whispers, and One Change a Month, are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whispers: Fintech MeetUp 2025

    Conference Whispers: Fintech MeetUp 2025

    Las Vegas, NV March 10-13

    Published: March 17, 2025              ID: 2065

    Published to Readers: March 18, 2025

    Published to Email Whispers: June 25, 2025

    Analyst(s): Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist(s): Doreen Galli

    ABSTRACT:

    The 2024 Fintech Meetup experienced a 25% increase in size, featuring over 50,000 one-on-one meetings. Key areas of interest included development environments, product connectors, customer engagement solutions, and ACH payment simplification. Risk management and compliance were significant themes, with solutions for identifying threats, ensuring regulatory adherence, and verifying new clients. Identity verification and fraud prevention were also highlighted. Global risk decisioning platforms and extensive marketplaces were showcased, along with solutions for digital payouts, gift cards, and depositor retention.

    The Conference

    • Fintech MeetUp 2025 was held in Las Vegas, Nevada and had just over 5,000 registered attendees including over 1000 CEOs, with diverse collection of exhibiting companies. Over 50,000 one-on-one meetings were also scheduled.

    Cautions

    • It is critical you keep up to date with the deadlines as the MeetUp approaches to get the maximum networking from the MeetUp. If you registered in the last month before the event, you are already too late to participate in the meetups.  
    • The event explicitly did not want any of the sponsored keynotes to be recorded or amplified. Sponsors should keep this in mind if they want any attention outside of those able to make it in-person those exact days.

    Conference Vibe

    Having covered Fintech Meetup in 2024, we knew what to expect from the meetups. As you can feel in the energy of the event, it was about 25% larger than last year. This year featured over 50,000 of their infamous one-on-ones – just be sure you register and get your information in early if you want to participate. Our coverage this time focused on the expo hall. In addition, we were able to conduct research for three forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.

    1. Whisper Report: How can we ensure compliance with evolving regulations?
    2. Whisper Report: What are the best practices for enhancing cybersecurity?
    3. Whisper Report: How can we build and maintain consumer trust in fintech solutions?

    Enjoy the entire playlist for Conference Whispers: Fintech Meetup 20205 to more fully experience the event.

    Plethora of FinTech!

    Regardless of your role or fintech need, there was likely a vendor in that specific fintech space. Developers had Gitlab providing  an environment to develop solutions from ideas, through the entire software development lifecycle to production. Creating a solution that requires that is required to connect to various products in the fintech space? Merge shared their vast collection of product connectors regardless of development or integration technique. Perhaps you are specifically focused on improving your customer engagement. Interface.ai provides an agentic AI solution designed exclusively for credit unions and community banks to engage with their customers. If the interface you are most concerned with is ACH payments, Trustly can simplify ACH payments and comes with a side of risk management.

    Money makes the world go around so risk management will always be a significant area of focus within Fintech. A cognitive AI solution to identify missing threats, Thetaray seeks to find troubling patterns before an organization is compromised. More concerned with compliance? Security Metrics shared their capabilities for ensuring compliance not only with FinTech but also Healthcare and other regulated industries. Focused on compliance, and fraud and perhaps but also must increase your customer conversion rate? OnFido shared their combination solution that enables organizations to quickly and correctly verify potential new clients. The risk profile is configurable depending on the specific needs of a given organization at a given time.

    If identity is an area of interest in your organization, TBW Advisor’s research, Conference Whispers: Identiverse is a must read. The identity space also featured quite a few vendors in the identity space. During an exclusive interview, Intellicheck told us about their exclusive access to the data required to strongly identify drivers’ licenses from USA or Canada. If you prefer to leverage phone intelligence, Prove previously covered at Money 20/20, shared an update to their solution that now goes beyond leveraging the chip in the phones. For Fraud, prevention is always better than detection, Aries Fraud Solutions is all about prevention achieved by leveraging different numbers on the card versus the strip. In the area of risk decision and fraud detection, it is also worth to evaluate the extensive offering by Socure with an active customer base across 20 different verticals.

    For various solutions, it is frequently not only about what it can do, but how extensive globally is their coverage? Provenir informed TBW Advisors that their global risk decisioning platform is available in 60 countries serving anything from Tier 1 providers all the way to SMBs. It is a multi-component platform offering a marketplace in 120 categories. On the topic of marketplaces, MoneyLion shared their extensive offering with over 800 3rd party products serving 20+ million consumers and as well as the engine behind the largest enterprise fintech customers.

    The B2C dimension is always a challenging dimension for payouts. Whether it is payouts for the workforce, or refunds, Onbe’s solution is bringing clients into the digital age. If you are focused more on gift cards, Incentive.AI can create customer solutions to fit your needs. Finally, an interesting solution to help retain depositors was shared by Wysh. Wysh enables financial institutions to offer free life insurance to customers based on deposit values.

    Next Year’s Conference 

    While this year’s event was held at the Sands Convention Center of the Venetian, next year’s event will be at Mandalay Bay. The event will be held March 30-April 1, 2026.

    ©2019-2025 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Technical Business Whispers, Fact-based research and Advisory, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Email Whispers, The Answer is always in the Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking, The Answer is always in the Whispers, and One Change a Month, are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.