Security 50 cites upbeat sentiment for 2017, 2018

The year 2017 was still a growth year for security. Demands haven’t diminished given persisting threats from terrorists as well as criminals. Yet due to competition and falling prices, growth has been moderate, not the kind of high-level growth that we saw in the middle part of this decade. Finally, Security 50 companies also shared their views on what’s in store for 2018.
 
From Security 50 companies’ perspective, the security market is still growing. “Obviously there is variation from region to region, but overall it was positive and continues the growth trend of the last few years,” said Chris Bone, VP of Digital and Access Solutions at ASSA ABLOY EMEA. “At ASSA ABLOY in EMEA we expect to see the continuing growth in advanced access control technologies like battery powered door locks and smart keys.”
 
“In looking back at 2017, I view the global security market as healthy and progressive. For high-end security markets, such as critical infrastructure applications, there was continued growth and opportunity. While there is intense price pressure from the Chinese manufacturers and a battle for market share for camera hardware on the low-end, premium security manufacturers are still growing,” said John Distelzweig, GM of FLIR Systems. “We have seen a stronger interest in the thermal marketplace.  FLIR was the pioneer who established thermal in global security market several years ago. Today, we are seeing more manufacturers enter the thermal sector, which is validation that thermal is truly a valuable segment for the industry.” 
 

Increased security threats have been cited as a main driver for growth. “Overall, we’d see the past year as being a positive one for the global security market. There is a heightened awareness of the need for more sophisticated and higher quality solutions to create a safer and more secure world, which is the vision here at Axis,” said Johan Paulsson, CTO of Axis Communications.

“We believe 2017’s global security market was positive. Due to global terrorism and local wars, the world fell into confusion and fears was around us in recent. For that reason, safety and security matter have never been more important for us,” said Jimmy Park, Senior Director for Strategic Product Management Team at Hanwha Techwin.

“Security has become one of the most important matters/concerns worldwide, at all levels, from public safety in airports, city centers or shopping areas to private security in our own homes,” said Jeremy Palacio, General Managing Director of Fermax. “As a result, the electronic security systems capable to provide faster and real-time data for a better security and a better understanding/knowledge of what is happening or what to expect have experienced an extraordinary growth during this past year, and will continue during the upcoming years.”

Cautious optimism for 2018

As for next year, the general view is the industry will again achieve growth. “We anticipate growth in the global security market in 2018 as security awareness continues to grow, and as new technologies and applications drive growth in previously untapped markets,” said Brian Rich, CTO and Deputy CEO of Magal Security Systems. “Adding more features and capabilities to security products will continue to make them more attractive to potential customers. As well, with technologies continuing to come down in price, they will become increasingly accessible to markets that previously did not have the budgets to install sophisticated security systems, such as the commercial and industrial markets.”
 
Distelzweig, meanwhile, cited some of the trends to look for in 2018. “The top video surveillance technology trends that I see for 2018 are continued growth of AI, growth of the cloud, expanding markets for thermal, better low-light visible sensors, enhanced VMS, greater adoption of wearable cameras, increased radar offerings by traditional camera providers, growth in intrusion detection markets, stronger role for PSIMs in larger enterprise performance, and increased introduction of more full solutions to support advanced features,” he said. 

Some companies meanwhile are looking to go beyond traditional security to provide further value to users. According to Jemmy Huang, Chairman and President of EverFocus Electronics, the company will now focus on several IoT technologies. These will include Internet of Vehicles (IoV) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X). “We primarily target commercial fleet operations. We now have over 30-percent share in the bus operations, and our share in commercial trucking will rise to 20 to 30 percent between 2018 and 2019. Our future emphasis will on IoV cloud service, integrating metadata with video to generate reports vehicle fuel consumption, good tracking and driver behavior to help operators achieve further productivity,” he said.

Market consolidation

With the market still fractured, the consolidation trend is set to continue. “We forecast that 2017 will be the start of a new wave of growth that will reach $7.8 billion by 2022. To achieve this it will require a number of billion-dollar deals, and based on past history these will distort the picture but the trend line will be a gradual increase in M&A activity over the next five years,” said Allan McHale, Director of Memoori Research in a separate interview with a&s.

“The objective to add different security layers in single solutions will drive mergers and acquisitions in the coming years, for example, combining video management and access control or video management and perimeter intrusion detection,” Rich said. “Magal’s major milestone in 2017 was the amalgamation of Senstar, our PIDS subsidiary, with Aimetis, our VMS and analytics subsidiary, under the Senstar brand. This amalgamation addresses a growing trend in the security industry to reduce complexity for systems integrators and end users by enabling them to source comprehensive security solutions from a single provider, resulting in reduced costs, improved performance, unified support, and greater accountability. We are actively working toward creating seamless integration options between those two product lines.”