Cost-effective biometric solutions and three product launches: ZKTeco Ireland MD previews IFSEC 2018

ZKTeco, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of biometric solutions, is inviting partners and prospective customers to attend presentations of three new product launches during IFSEC 2018.

We caught up with the MD of ZKTeco Ireland Kiran Wolbeck to find out more.

IFSEC Global: Hi, Kiran. Could you give me a brief overview of the company?

Kiran Wolbeck: We’re a global security company with more than 3,000 employees and 26 regional offices worldwide. We are world’s largest manufacturers of biometric solutions, by sheer numbers, having developed technologies based on fingerprint, vein, iris, palm and facial recognition.

Applied to a large variety of solutions, including access control, WFM, turnstiles, CCTV, metal detectors, X-Ray and remote under vehicle inspection, integrated security solutions and embedded fingerprint modules.

We’ve been in the market since the late 80s, and since the early noughties have expanded worldwide.

IG: Any new products in the pipeline?

KW: We’ll be launching three innovative solutions at IFSEC.

One is Hi-FACE – a revolutionary High-Speed Facial Recognition Android Cloud Based Platform. The applications of this system numerous, as it can be used for T&A, Access control, Video Surveillance, Attendance Management and Data Analysis solutions.

Facial identification has seen massive growth, particularly in the UK.

We’re talking about high-end security solutions that haven’t been attainable for the mainstream market until recently

We’re also releasing our new licence plate recognition solution, which recognises plates of over 60 countries, and is available for third party integration.

And we’re launching BioOnCard, which is essentially biometrics on proximity card, where you won’t require any further third-party technology integration. A very interesting solution for access control manufacturers, as an easier way to move from RFID/Keypad to Biometrics, maintaining their current system.

[Find out more about seeing ZKTeco’s new and existing solutions at IFSEC 2018.]

The key factor here to our strong presence in the global market is very competitive pricing.

We are talking about high-end security solutions that haven’t been attainable to the mainstream market until recently – it’s always been for very bespoke solutions. These new products should be competitive enough to target pretty much any size company in any market today.

How have you been able to get the price down?

Obviously R&D and manufacturing costs come into it. The numbers show we’re a global leader in the manufacture of biometrics, and although labour costs have been on the rise over the last few years, our increasing global market share favours lower production costs so price wise we strive to keep this balanced.

It’s a confident stance to take in the European and North American markets, where we are experiencing an ever-stronger market presence.

We control about 45%-50% of the biometrics market in the whole of Asia, so that’s a strong backbone to have. We’re number one in China alone.

How does your business model work in terms of distribution and installation?

ZKTeco’s philosophy and goal is to cover the full range in the security and identification industries. We work in all channels due to the large range and types of products we offer.

We offer different models depending on the partner. Installers would be more likely to work with our own software, and so would prefer straightforward plug and play, from the simplest to project-based solutions.

Just like distributors, who prefer reselling complete all-in-one solutions.

We’re on our way to manufacturing every aspect of a smart-city solution in-house – everything managed from one platform

We work a lot with integrators in the UK. The integrators market here is massive. We can offer various SDKs and middle wares for such requirements.

Another big part of our business is OEM, including ODM projects for other security manufacturers.

How is ZKTeco aligning its vision with the evolution of security as a discipline?

ZKTeco has for decades been offering countless solutions that can be integrated into countless 3rd party solutions. Only in the last few years have we moved into a position where we can offer the market an all-in-one security solution, encompassing all ZKTECO technologies.

It is the first step on our way into the world of smart city. Our key advantage is that we’re on our way to manufacturing every aspect of such a solution in-house – having everything managed from one single platform.

Offering full in-house smart city solutions on a global scale is where we expect to be standing in about two years’ time.

What else are you hoping to achieve at IFSEC 2018?

It’s our seventh time at IFSEC. It’s a favourite of ours as far as Europe goes. It’s opening us up to new partners from all over Europe.

We’ve got about 900 partners throughout Europe and many travel to IFSEC to meet our sales and technical teams and have a look over new products.

IFSEC is great for meeting clients, new partners, installers, industry workers, manufacturers, see the latest innovations etc… It really is the most ideal and complete all-around security event.

Apart from the new products we’re launching we’ll have our standard access control range and cloud-based fingerprint T&A solution, which is a new launch for this year as well.

Another key focus will be Biosecurity 3.0 – All in One web-based security platform which centralizes access, entrance and elevator control with CCTV, T&A, visitor, parking and patrol management.

Then we have metal detectors, biometric turnstiles, CCTV facial identification, and the entire range we are known for.

Finally, we have a conference room booked for the second day of the event to showcase our new products. [Find out more below…]

We’re looking forward to it!!

ZKTeco Solution Sessions

When: Wednesday 20 June
Where: Conference Room 25, ExCeL exhibition centre, London
Register: Find out more and register for your preferred session.

For further information contact ZKTeco at [email protected].

ZKTeco is exhibiting at IFSEC International, 19-21 June 2018, ExCeL London. You can find them on stand F235. Register now.

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