2021 Security 50

Technology has become an important enabler of growth in the physical security industry especially in Covid-19 – changing the way markets and regions do business and speeding up the development of new solutions and applications. But not all might be appropriate or ready for immediate adoption. In this tech trends reader survey, 339 channel players help us identify which security technologies are making a strong impact on the industry, as well as emerging security technology trends that you should definitely take note of. Further discussion of the survey can be found here.

AI-Related Technologies

Mature and suitable: (1) AI-controlled bandwidth (2) AI object detection (3) AI-driven business intelligence (4) High speed LPR (5) AI forensic research
AI is not just a buzzword anymore in the security domain, with applications across verticals, from the backend to the frontend, driving security and business intelligence. Cloud has lowered the barrier to AI: organizations are now reaping the benefits minus significant hardware costs. In the future, companies that support better analytics and better tools and infrastructure for reliable machine learning will have the advantage.

Camera Technologies

Suitable but not mature: (1) H.266, MPEG5 codecs; Mature and suitable: (2) bi-spectrum cameras (3) PTZ auto tracking (4) low light cameras
It’s no surprise that these technologies were voted as highly relevant to the industry as (2) (3) and (4) enhance perimeter security, intruder detection and management as well as fire detection. New compression standards (1) are set to significantly reduce bandwidth, but will also level up codec complexity and video resolution/framerates, posing as potential challenges for existing encoding solutions and traditional servers.

Wireless, Virtual and Work Platforms

Not mature nor suitable: (1) blockchain technology (2) containerized applications; Not mature but suitable: (3) 5G wireless communication; Mature but not suitable: (4) Project management applications; Mature and suitable: (5) VSaaS
This section yielded variable responses from the readers. As rollout of 5G (3) continues across the globe, the implications for cloud services, AI and VSaaS (5) are unparalleled. Interest in blockchain (1), edge computing and containerized applications (2) have been growing as privacy and data security concerns grow.

Next Generation Security Solutions

Not mature nor suitable: (1) Unmanned security platforms (2) Radar and Lidar
While there might have been an uptick in the use of robots and drones (1) to mitigate risks, manage costs, boost productivity, and even deal with COVID-19 issues, its development and application has not been without hiccups. On the other hand, radar and lidar (2) has been "on the radar" of the industry, with lidar finding its way into non-autonomous vehicles and non-security applications, such as retail. Combined with retail analytics, lidar can be a good alternative to IP cameras.

Our Survey

The tech trends reader survey was conducted by asmag.com in Aug 2021 with 339 industry players worldwide providing their feedback. Our respondents mainly consisted of system integrators/installers (34%), distributors (24%), consultants (17%), manufacturers (16%) and end users (6%). Asia was strongly represented (53%), followed by EMEA (32%), Americas (13%) and Oceania (2%).

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