Biggest users of security equipment in Poland are government agencies — including border control and special units of surveillance (customs and antifraud, for example), police (national, regional and urban), special forces, fireman and civil protection units, national military forces (army, navy and air force), airports and harbors administration and management agencies, and foreign organizations (embassies and consulates) — as well as private corporations (multinational companies, financial institutions, telecommunications, etc.), private security firms and software companies providing computer network protection.
¨Everyone is now focusing on EURO 2012, which is expected to attract some 350,000 football fans from all over Europe to two hosting countries, Poland and Ukraine," said Edyta Bujak, Sales Manager for Janex International. ¨As a result, a huge number of projects such as stadiums, hotels and shopping malls are being built as we speak. Additionally, airport upgrades , apartment buildings and office towers can also be seen, though at a slightly slower rate.〃
Polandˇs current airport network consists of one central airport (Warsaw Okecie), one regional central airport (Krakow Balice), nine regional airports, 42 small airports, 31 sporting and training airports owned by the Polish Aeroclub, 14 post-Russian military airports, and five facilities owned by manufacturing enterprises.
All Polish airports have major expansion/modernization plans to accommodate growing numbers of the Civil Aviation Office predicts that the total number of passengers served by Polish airports will reach 30 million in 2015 and 41 million in 2020. Since Warsaw Okecie airport (Terminal I and new Terminal II) is expected to reach its capacity in 2010, there are plans to build a new passenger-cargo airport near Warsaw — Warsaw II, which could accommodate 7 million passengers per year.
Because of EURO 2012 Championships, a lot of investment dollars are coming in Polandˇs way, said Tjeerd Huitema, Vice President of Sales for Bosch Security Systems Poland, seconding Bujakˇs opinion. ¨Coupled with expected changes of governments in both Poland and Ukraine, public thinking and general atmosphere are quite positive.〃 Active projects for Bosch include entertainment and recreational facilities, corporate buildings, shopping centers, hotels and banking institutions.
According to Huitema , the overall security market size is estimated to be US$540 million — including fire and cabling — and growing at 15 to 20 percent per year. When it boils down to pure sales of surveillance, access control, alarm and perimeter systems, the number should be between $200 and $250 million, which can be confirmed with Sony's and other vendors' figures.
For Sony, Poland, the Czech Republic and Serbia are the top three Eastern European countries in terms of sales, said Marta Malecka, Retail Transport and Venues Sales Manager for Sony Poland. ¨The high-end video surveillance market in Poland is valued at around $35 million." In terms of sales, 85 percent of Sony's new security projects demand IP-enabled products, even though there is still room for improvement in Polish IP infrastructure.
¨The security market grows 15 percent per year,〃 said Andrzej Jarzyna, Director of SPS Trading. ¨Main verticals for us include education, small and medium enterprises, hotels and city surveillance.〃 Similar market segments were also suggested by Axis Communications: ¨We have a channel partner program, of which our golden members generate the most revenue, from verticals like education, retail, transport and banking,〃 said Lars Wilson, Channel Manager CEE.
Of the 16 Eastern European countries (17 if Kosovo is included), Poland is the largest market with the highest potential in terms of security, said Hideo Hiraishi, General Manager, Security System Solutions, Panasonic Eastern Europe. ¨Major projects for us include K-12 schools, electronics factories and government facilities like courthouses and prisons.〃 At the moment, more than 50 percent of Panasonicˇs projects are specifying IP-enabled systems, echoing Sonyˇs description of current IP development.
In Poland, six stadiums (three brand new and three upgrades) are designated for EURO 2012, and the same number applies to Ukraine. Funds have been provided by the European Union for building surrounding infrastructure that includes training centers, hotels and roads. ¨Our main projects now include business parks/zones in Warsaw and corporate users like Vodafone and Orange, as well as banks, malls and railways,〃 said Malecka of Sony. The company is also installing intelligent cameras in some rental apartment buildings (owned by municipalities) and has city surveillance projects in Torun, Szczecin and Bydgoszcz.
¨In our economic zones and industrial parks,〃 said Milosz Nowakowski, Product Manager for Arpol, ¨there are many foreign factories — for example, LCD ones from Japan and Korea — which all need security systems.〃 Poland also has a large number of historical sites like museums, churches and theaters that require state-of-the-art, wireless systems which are specified and paid for by the European Union.