Revealed in the company’s latest Access Control Intelligence Database – Installed Base report, credentials like access cards and fobs account for the vast majority – 95% – of this market, fuelled by their high turnover (because employees move jobs and regularly lose their cards).
However, the growth in credentials is slowing, IHS Markit also noted.
Hardware, meanwhile, comprises 32% of revenue in the access-control market. Within the hardware category panels have just a 1% share.
Capable of covering a large number of readers, which are needed at each entry point, panels are required in comparatively small numbers. Remove credentials from the installed base and panels make up 18.8% of all installed hardware and 38.3% of revenue.
The boom in electronic locks – particularly in the residential and utilities sectors – means they have leapfrogged readers to become the second-largest hardware segment.Electronic locks make up 16.7% of the installed base, edging past readers, which stands at 16.6%.
While IHS Markit has projected continued growth for the electronic locks sector, it does anticipate a slowdown as the locks’ mechanical nature makes for shorter life cycles compared to those of readers.
ASSA ABLOY’s Cliq: one of the electronic locks driving strong growth in the access control market
With 495 million units and a 21.6% share, the commercial sector accounts for the largest portion of the installed base, followed by governmental (17.1%) installations.
Sharing a growing need to secure premises against evolving threats and properly audit entry and exit, these two vertical markets were the earliest adopters of access-control products.
However, the residential sector is making up ground fast, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 7.4% between 2012-2016, from a small base of 47.6 million units.
Nevertheless, replacements are needed more often in the residential sector, which tends to favour electronic locks with mechanical moving parts that wear out more quickly than alternative, digital technologies. As replacement shipments rise, IHS Markit predicts that installed-base growth will begin slowing sooner than it has in other markets.
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