While familiar faces sweep across this year’s Security 50 list, a few fresh new faces have appeared. These include ACTi, Digital Barriers, AxxonSoft, Costar Technologies, and Identiv. One common thread that these newcomers have is their offering of applications in certain niche segments to find their unique place in the market.
While familiar faces sweep across this year’s Security 50 list, a few fresh new faces have appeared. These include ACTi, Digital Barriers, AxxonSoft, Costar Technologies, and Identiv. One common thread that these newcomers have is their offering of applications in certain niche segments to find their unique place in the market.
ACTi began as a traditional video surveillance manufacturer but has waded into the field of analytics which the company believes helps in two primary ways: operational management and business intelligence. For example, to help the end user understand more about their clients in retail, ACTi’s solution entails a people counting camera that transmits data to the cloud and presents it to the user who can then deploy resources or adjust staff accordingly. The company has also built a web portal that provides video in different languages. End users can watch the video and quickly understand the benefits of using ACTi’s services. Their global sales teams can also easily acquire many sales tools to approach their customers and deliver the right message to them.
AxxonSoft is a software-driven company which has achieved success with its two flagship products: Intellect PSIM and Next VMS. AxxonSoft’s software differentiates by providing full integration to other systems and offering the kind of flexibility that that SIs need. “Our strategy was different from the beginning; we were integrating ourselves, we connect the sample device, we got the API, and we did it ourselves to make sure that the quality is perfect,” said Yury Akhmetov, Business Development Director at AxxonSoft, adding his company provides even further value. “We don't charge for technical support, we don't charge for upgrades. I am just paying once.”
Costar Technologies achieved success on the back of strong growth that the company, together with CohuHD, saw last year and this year. Even though CohuHD and Costar Video have combined; each has its own distinct target market segments. CohuHD is well known globally for its specialized, ruggedized video surveillance equipment. Costar Video, on the other hand, focuses primarily on the U.S. market and targets less critical environments like retail and banking. One thing that Costar sees lots of potential for is the so-called HD analog technology. “A year or two ago we thought it was a fad type of product,” said Mike Rose, VP of Sales at Costar. “But what we’re finding is that the picture quality, performance and price point have really taken that technology and cemented it into the next five years.”
Digital Barriers provides visually intelligent solutions for the global surveillance, security and safety markets, specializing in zero-latency streaming and analysis of secure video and related intelligence over wireless networks. The company claims it can stream video wirelessly more efficiently than any other technology on the market. This means where only very low bandwidth is available or affordable, Digital Barriers can stream live video in real time. “This has been a great driver of growth for us, streaming video from cars or from other locations, but also from wide area surveillance deployments,” said Zak Doffman, CEO of the company. “Another area of growth is video analytics, with so many more cameras out there, we provide a level of intelligence enabling cameras to look for threats.”
Finally, Identiv is known for its access control and identity management hardware and software, some of which still retain the Hirsch brand that Identiv acquired in 2009. The company focuses on markets where access to physical and logical assets is strictly controlled and monitored. These include the US federal government where solutions need to be compliant with FICAM, a standard dictating how digital certificates stored in cards should be validated to access doors and networks. “Our high levels of end-to-end encryption, based on ISO standards, provide secure communications from card to reader, reader to controller and controller to server,” said John Piccininni, VP of Marketing and Business Development at Identiv. Other primary vertical markets include critical infrastructure and education, both looking for solutions that are secure, reliable and integrative.
Indeed, with the security industry becoming more competitive than ever, finding a niche segment and offering solutions that users in those niches look for is one way to remain viable, and ultimately sustainable, in this business landscape, and these new entrants have demonstrated how they’ve used this approach to their advantage.