Global security brands are expected to dominate the show floor at The Security Event in Birmingham this year, with Genetec, the global leader in enterprise physical security software, chiefly among them.
As the Canada-headquartered company is showcasing innovations and new integrations with its unified platform, Security Center, asmag took the opportunity to sit with Dan Meyrick, Senior Manager Consultants A&E (CDE) Program, Europe, Genetec, for an exclusive interview ahead of the 28-30 April trade show.
asmag.com: What will Genetec showcase at The Security Event? Where is your focus in terms of technology?
Dan Meyrick: Our focus continues to be on the unification of technologies. On the one hand we will see Security Center in its traditional form, on the other hand we will see a range of new best-of-breed applications stemming from our technology partnerships. We will showcase the interfaces of different camera vendors within Security Center, as well as interfaces for video analytics, intrusion detection, intercoms. Overall, we’re seeing a rapid revolution in our SaaS platform. Looking back on last year and where we stood back then, it is evident that we’ve taken a big step.
One of our key messages, however, is that we’re not looking at cloud versus on-prem as an either-or question. With AI, it is more about the question
of where workloads are residing. At Genetec, we’re seeking to understand the needs of our customers and what’s driving their decisions, taking into account all kinds of factors, from financial considerations to infrastructure, connectivity, the features they need and their capabilities. Regardless of what technologies they need or already have in place, we have the flexibility across our portfolio to accommodate them.
Central in all our communication with the market, our channel partners and end users is the question, ‘What are the challenge they’re facing and how can they be addressed?’ This is more important than the focus on individual products and the brands of the devices in their system.
asmag.com: What role does your partner network play in addressing end-user needs?
Dan Meyrick: We’re blessed with having a global network of system integrators, some of whom have been our channel partners for over 20 years. They have the expertise needed to design systems and deploy their architectures. This is important because not a lot of end users and their organizations have the expertise spanning across the whole security and wider IT landscape with its stakeholders, who all need to be able to give input in the process. Our channel partners are the real subject-matter experts.
Especially in times of cloud management and SaaS, there are questions about the security channel and revenue opportunities for partners. At Genetec, however, we are very passionate about our channel partners.
From a technology perspective, our route to market will always be through the channel partner program. Within our portfolio we offer them a large amount of upsell opportunities and other opportunities to continue engaging with end users, accompanying them on their journey and providing the first line of support as a trusted advisor.
asmag.com: As a leading global brand, Genetec’s portfolio spans all relevant verticals. Are there, however, any developments in particular vertical markets that you’re excited about?
Dan Meyrick: Our footprint across many verticals is indeed testament to the flexibility of our platform. Organizationally, we split our approach into enterprise and public verticals. An area in which we’re very strong is the tech, media and telecom space. This includes data centers, which is growing a lot at the moment.
For data centers, the UK market is of outsized importance, not least because a lot of operational decision-making is centered on the UK, with great influence on global projects.
At Genetec, we have perfectly suited, unified solutions for data centers, spanning use cases from the perimeter to the car park, with license plate recognition for barriers, access control, credential management, video security and IoT sensors.
Other important areas are healthcare, education, and property construction and management. If you look at the City of London, for example, Genetec covers a lot of infrastructures in those buildings. Aviation and transportation are also of great importance.
asmag.com: Unification is a great opportunity for organizations to reorganize their processes, but implementing it also poses challenges, not least because questions of data sovereignty and compliance have to be addressed. Can you tell us how that plays out in the UK?
Dan Meyrick: If we look back 10 or 20 years, we see a dominant mindset that prescribes that different data domains, for example video security and access control, should be siloed in order to create resilience. However, as the underlying issues have been resolved, we have seen that mindset change. Now we have architectures and unified solutions with built-in resilience and failover capabilities, with independent deployment and management across the data domains involved.
Meanwhile, keeping up with the changing regulatory environment is a massive task for the industry, especially as regulations are just catching up. One thing, however, that all stakeholders can see is the massive gain in efficiency brought about by de-siloing systems.
At Genetec, we point out a clear distinction between integration of different systems and true unification. Integration often means creating connections between systems that continue to follow their own logic. In contrast, unification means you have a single application built from the ground up. This architectural choice means that instead of managing five different software updates for five different systems, you only have one.
Genetec at The Security Event
Security Event visitors can find Genetec solution at stand 5/J10 from 28 – 30 April at NEC Birmingham.