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Adam Bannister is a contributor to IFSEC Global, having been in the role of Editor from 2014 through to November 2019. Adam also had stints as a journalist at cybersecurity publication, The Daily Swig, and as Managing Editor at Dynamis Online Media Group.
January 12, 2015

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Conservative Mindset of Access Control Industry Slows Adoption of Cloud Hosting: IHS

Cloud-based systems are playing an increasingly important role in the access-control market, as IHS publishes insights into the access control as a service (ACaaS) market.

But with integrators and installers wedded to a traditional model of “selling boxes and components”, growth is being stifled in what the research firm believes is a conservative segment of the security industry.

Nevertheless, with traditional systems still offering significant merits, hybrid systems are becoming popular among many businesses, IHS reports.

In a bid to simplify and standardise integration and improve end-user experiences, suppliers and integrators are increasingly seeking to adopt open standards, something ACaaS is conducive to.

While large access-control systems benefit from the economies of scale afforded by traditional models, IHS argues, geographically dispersed enterprises generally prefer cloud-based solutions, especially hybrid offerings. Hybrid set-ups – a mixture of onsite management, monitoring and hosted infrastructure – are set to grow particularly strongly, the firm predicts.

The ACaaS global market is set to be worth more than £350m by 2018 and £1.2bn by 2025, IHS predicts.

Nevertheless, although the access control industry will inevitably embrace the cloud like all other tech-driven sectors, it will probably do so at a much slower pace than originally projected, believes IHS’s senior analyst for access control and fire.

Services, features and concepts

Writing in IHS Technology, Blake Kozak says: “Although the access control industry is inherently slow to adopt new technologies, end-user adoption and awareness is only half the battle. Unless they were born in the cloud, most integrators and installers must change a long-standing mindset of selling boxes and components and begin selling services, features and concepts.

“Additionally, they must know the IT side of the business and be able to answer questions regarding redundancy, certifications, hacking, and other buzzwords associated with cloud-based services and ACaaS.

“Although it is a difficult process, the access control industry is already moving in this direction. Starwood Hotels offer mobile keys over Bluetooth, banking headquarters have installed wireless locks and the residential market is embracing mobile security at a rapid pace.”

Cloud-based systems still represent an embryonic market in the access control arena, representing only 3% – or 80,000 – of newly installed readers and electronic locks in the Americas in 2013. IHS expects there to be around 1.8 million ACaaS-hosted doors in the region by 2018.

Public-sector adoption, as ever, will be constrained by bureaucracy and understandable concerns over security.

“IHS expects that governments will continue to embrace the cloud, but since they must find ways to manage resource and security, which for the government, is often a lengthy and expensive venture,” says Kozak. “The US government has already started down this path with milCloud and other initiatives. For the EU, the European Cloud Partnership (Trusted Cloud) has acted as a starting point and blueprint for the future.”

The ACaaS market remains heavily fragmented, with end-users targeted by a range of methods and the number of potential channel partners high. Channel partners and providers who are more specialized in IT, integration and mobility (remote connectivity) could see more growth in the long term.

“IHS expects ACaaS to continue to grow and expand due to the flexibility of the offering not provided by on-site solutions,” says Kozak. “For example, end users can manage the entire solution themselves, while outsourcing the infrastructure maintenance. Or they can pay an additional fee and the entire solution will be managed for them from monitoring, report printing, badging, granting access rights and etc.”

Other key trends and recommendations in the ACaaS market identified in IHS’s latest research note include:

  • A mix of capital expenditures (capex) and operating expenditures (opex) often meet the needs of end users – but there must be a balance. For example, a system with 100 doors and 400 card users would likely not use a 100% opex model. The integrator/installer will need to obtain some revenue up front
  • Opex creates stickiness and yields a longer contract with the customer
  • Web-based panels are continuing to experience growth, potentially impacting the adoption of ACaaS
  • ‘Big data’ and how to harness it is a major preoccupation. The use of ACaaS and being connected to the end user could offer a way to utilise data collection and monitoring
  • Managed services will continue to account for most market revenue as a result of premium services. However, many will want to retain system management in-house and pay a small monthly fee to outsource the infrastructure

 

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shenoiekaant
shenoiekaant
March 7, 2015 6:06 am

There are a lot of companies that offer services like installation of access control security systems.
http://www.burgolarm.ie/access-control-systems/