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IT IQ of security industry on the rise
Major security trends for the next five years will include video surveillance, identification and biometrics, background checks and physical security services, according to a leading financial analyst following the security industry.
November 22, 2007 By Jennifer Brown
Jeffrey Kessler, senior vice-president with Wall Street services firm
Lehman Brothers Inc. delivered his 2007 Security Industry Annual report
on the security industry at the 12th annual Securing New Ground, The
Business of Security conference held Nov. 13-14 in New York City.
“We believe that background screening, data analytics,
biometrics, networked video and sensor technology will be major
security investment trends in the next three to five years,” Kessler
told the audience of about 280 senior security leaders.
And while organizations are moving towards converged security systems,
Kessler said the uptake has been slow to progress.
“For all the talk of converged security and networked video not much has changed,” says Kessler.
However, trends include the increasing “IT IQ of the security
industry” with the increasing presence of technologies such as IP
network and access control.
Kessler said many large corporations are starting to hire chief
security officers who want national and international coverage for
their organizations with physical security running on the network.
Meanwhile,
small businesses are buying DVRs in quantity to help them with their
digital video, which is expanding and requiring more storage and
legacy/digital combinations.
Large end users are also looking for “bundled security solutions that
are effective and easy to use.”
The report noted the need for the next generation of security
professional to “speak IT” as “security systems integrators have to
become smarter to keep up with go-to-market changes.”
Specifically,
the report singled out Axis Communication’s approach, in which it has
been selling IP networked video cameras through a two-tiered
distribution approach using distributors and channel partners, with
incentives for those that do well — that is similar to IT channel than
the way the security dealer business has been run.
Other sectors Lehman Brothers finds attractive include systems
integration (companies such as Stanley, Securitas Systems, Tyco/ADT,
Diebold), network video and analytics and bio-radiological sensors.
In terms of selling security to the executive level, Kessler
said security in some enterprise environments and government is
changing from a negative sell/insurance policy to a value-added
provider of critical infrastructure data.
Lehman Brothers estimates that the global security industry was valued at $150 billion in 2006.
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