4A International (4Ai), Chicago, a provider of physical, homeland and IT security convergence solutions, launched a new portfolio of market research services. 4Ai will provide objective data and analysis on trends, best practices, and vendor selection criteria for end users, integrators, and manufacturers from physical security and IT. The new services include best practice, market overview and trends analysis reports, as well as custom research projects and due diligence.

In addition, the company announced the availability of two new reports: “Trends: Security Convergence in 2006” and “4A Best Practices: Convergence Strategies.” The trend report identifies that 3,500 non-government corporations in North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim will spend more than $2 billion collectively on projects requiring the cooperation of physical security and information technology (IT).

The best practices report identifies that in the next few years companies will achieve more value from security investments than any time in recent history. The reason for this strong increase in benefit and flexibility is the maturity of information technologies like Internet protocol (IP), new software and communications standards, and improved understanding of how to measure the value of security. For more information, visithttp://www.4ai.com/.