From a&s International’s 101th issue to the 200th,
we have witnessed how the security industry overcame challenges
from the global financial crisis and continued to transform with IP technology.
The early booming stage of the industry was driven by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
But this initial growth ran its course and the market slowed down for the first time ever between 2007 and 2009.

At the same time, global adoption of IP products began to pick up
with an influx of more accessible made-in-China security products to the market.
All these have resulted in the current market reorganization. It is expected that a new order shall come in the near future.
The 200th issue bears testimony to our relentless efforts at covering the market and the recognition it has received over the last 16 years.
Moving forward, the magazine will continue to provide in-depth security information for global security professionals.
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Security over the Past 8 Years

The Great Recession of the last decade expanded from the U.S. to Europe in 2008,
pulling down Iceland first and then the South European countries.
The global security industry also experienced the recession’s pressure since many government budgets were cut or suspended.
Chinese companies, on the other hand, took advantage of the situation to grow further. In 2012, the Sandy Hook school shooting happened, followed by the Boston marathon bombings in 2013, giving rise of further fears of terrorism. In the meantime, IP technology began shaping the security industry, to focus on solutions and attract more entrants.

Regional Market’s Journey to Recovery

Countries such as Italy, Turkey, Japan, and Croatia still remain in the process of market recovery.
Their attempts to motivate the markets and adopt IP technology have run into several different challenges.
To maintain sustainable growth, many companies had begun to sacrifice quality and adopt cost-effective products from Asia.
Major Chinese companies gained many footholds in these markets over these years.

However, the side effect of this has been the lower profits in sales channels year by year.
Fortunately, we find the difficulties push many local distributors and resellers to grow further
to become either a professional box-mover or value-added solution provider.

Restructuring of Asian Manufacturers
in the Global Stage

The period from 2007 to 2015 was the most changeable years for most of the Asian companies.
The restructuring in Asian manufacturers forced most of Taiwanese and Korean companies to
render their OEM manufacturing business to Chinese companies.
But, some Taiwanese companies still differentiate by quality and efficiency.

Transformation in Channels

Distributors and resellers were impacted the most from the economic slowdown.
Squeezed margins and the challenge to pick up IP technology forced channels to transform and restructure.
Norbain, the leading European distributor, was acquired by Newbury Investments.

In 2014, Norbain also acquired IT infrastructure distributor, CMS.
TKH acquired Aasset Security, and Anixter acquired Tri-Ed and power solutions segment of HD Supply.
All these show how the security channels adapted to IT/IP sales channels, in order to become competitive.
Regional channel players also began to change.
Market expansion and solution development are both key for them to grow further.