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"Coming from a retail management background I have spent the last 10 years on the front line of operations with Abel Alarm Company Limited. I oversee all technical aspects of our alarm receiving centre, this involves a diverse set of skill requirements, from the implementation of virtualized servers and networks to the deployment of secure remote access tools whilst ensuring the constant availability of all networks, hardware and software and researching new, emerging technology solutions.
Are your peers within the security industry really your biggest competitors? Or is the main competition you will face in the years to come going to be mainstream consumer electronics companies and big brand names such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung?
Nobody is expecting the likes of Apple to develop a globally standards-compliant intruder detection system overnight with all of the difficulties that would entail, yet our industry is currently facing a very real threat from non-compliant consumer systems, which deliver messages and content directly to end-users and empower them with control over their devices. We are increasingly seeing an expectation of this functionality from users as they demand the ability to interact when they want and how they want.
We have already seen some elements of this trend beginning to emerge. The Nest Protect smoke and CO detector shown in this video is capable of giving spoken warnings about the type of activation and location, can be installed as a standalone wireless device with a mobile app to alert you to the battery status, and affords you the ability to silence it simply by waving your hand at the device. It even provides a motion activated light at night.
This is a perfect example of consumer-driven capability with the design focused on solving problems for the end-users.
Recent months also saw discussions of patent applications from Apple for what is being billed as an “iHome” — introducing tracking that will enable services that may have traditionally been supplied by our industry (think Access Control / Lone Worker / Tracking). This is further supported by the enabling of the iBeacon feature in iOS7, which is finding much popularity among retailers.
The acquisition of Primesense (the company that developed the Kinect sensors) by Apple has led to a vast number of speculative videos about how the technology could be applied to its existing customer base. One potential usage has not yet been raised and could be enabled by the Primesense technology: mounting a 360 degree camera on the ceiling of a room with Kinect-style gesture sensing and recognition systems, integrated with voice control. What kind of false alarm rate could be achieved with such a capable detector? Would we need a control panel to be installed with this type of system when end-point detectors are so powerful?
Google has been busy acquiring innovative technology companies at a rapid rate, and some recent purchases included gesture recognition company Flutter and several facial recognition companies such as Viewdle. You see where I am going with this, right…?
Standards and regulation
Microsoft, Apple, and Google are working hard to develop powerful and effective natural language interfaces for their products, which could easily then find applications as fire and security hardware products. Such technology could even be said to provide additional layers of security as it enables voice recognition and location awareness.
Samsung is already a large-scale provider of security products to our industry. Facing pressure from Apple and Google, it may be in a perfect position to apply its knowledge of the industry to supply a broader range of security products, which incorporate its mobile device sensor technologies and capabilities.
Several forward-thinking manufacturers in our sector are working hard to provide the expected level of functionality from professional security products, yet we need to support them by helping to shape the standards and regulatory frameworks to enable such devices and to remove the potential barriers to trade, which can in some cases inhibit developments.
The examples above are all recent, from just the last few months. Expect to see more products that will increasingly converge upon our market space and ask yourself: “What are we doing to either embrace or compete against this trend?”
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Who Will You Be Competing Against Tomorrow?Are your peers within the security industry really your biggest competitors? Or is the main competition you will face in […]
Joe Harris
IFSEC Insider | Security and Fire News and Resources
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JonathanL
December 6, 2013 9:34 am
I think you hit the nail on the head here, if you look back over the course of history you will see many a person losing a job to a technological advance. Its sad to say but as more things become standard and a method can be developed to handle it that has a set pattern of instructions it bundled into the features of some product and what was once a full time job for a person goes away. Some would argue that this creates higher level jobs for the support of the product that takes the job away. But… Read more »
Hopefully I didnt come off as too negative but really I think we have all heard the same talk about when some process becomes automated that it may eliminate those smaller paying jobs that once completed that task and now create higher paying jobs such as the person that runs the machine, supports it, repairs it, etc. I just hope thats true.
@ JonathonL – It didn’t come across as overly negative, nor do I think that these developments are a negative thing for our industry. It will drive innovation and provide new opportunities for those who are ready to grasp them. These changes will give the fire and security industry an opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of our technology to a much wider audience and also provide leverage for the wide swathe of service offerings which we can provide to deliver consumer services directly to end users making their lives easier and delivering real solutions, It is down to us as… Read more »
RajBikal
December 10, 2013 12:58 pm
We are actually competing with them and others like them right now. They are putting in city wide smart systems that are aware and gather lots of data so that meta data corresponds with video data.
But dont try to beat them, there is plenty of work on the front middle and back end.
But are those systems on the integration level? They still need security suppliers for the equipment?
SunitaT
December 23, 2013 12:43 am
@ JonathanL, you are right, it has been one repercussion of technological developments. Technology has always cost many people their jobs. Low paying jobs have been placed by high paying jobs as the technology evolved, but not for the same people with same skill set.Either they had to learn the new skills required to occupy the new jobs or they had to find jobs somewhere else.
SunitaT
December 23, 2013 12:43 am
@ Joe Harris, I agree with you on this. New challenges create new opportunities for proving your skills and ability. Fire and security industry has an edge against such developments that it provides people and businesses with all-encompassingintegrated security systems that are hard to be replaced by one device however capable it might be.
I think you hit the nail on the head here, if you look back over the course of history you will see many a person losing a job to a technological advance. Its sad to say but as more things become standard and a method can be developed to handle it that has a set pattern of instructions it bundled into the features of some product and what was once a full time job for a person goes away. Some would argue that this creates higher level jobs for the support of the product that takes the job away. But… Read more »
To try and be positive, this could result in reduced costs, with greater market competition (though at what cost?)
Hopefully I didnt come off as too negative but really I think we have all heard the same talk about when some process becomes automated that it may eliminate those smaller paying jobs that once completed that task and now create higher paying jobs such as the person that runs the machine, supports it, repairs it, etc. I just hope thats true.
@ JonathonL – It didn’t come across as overly negative, nor do I think that these developments are a negative thing for our industry. It will drive innovation and provide new opportunities for those who are ready to grasp them. These changes will give the fire and security industry an opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of our technology to a much wider audience and also provide leverage for the wide swathe of service offerings which we can provide to deliver consumer services directly to end users making their lives easier and delivering real solutions, It is down to us as… Read more »
We are actually competing with them and others like them right now. They are putting in city wide smart systems that are aware and gather lots of data so that meta data corresponds with video data.
But dont try to beat them, there is plenty of work on the front middle and back end.
“It is down to us as an industry now to step up”. I completely agree with Joe’s comment, let’s hope we do!!
But are those systems on the integration level? They still need security suppliers for the equipment?
@ JonathanL, you are right, it has been one repercussion of technological developments. Technology has always cost many people their jobs. Low paying jobs have been placed by high paying jobs as the technology evolved, but not for the same people with same skill set.Either they had to learn the new skills required to occupy the new jobs or they had to find jobs somewhere else.
@ Joe Harris, I agree with you on this. New challenges create new opportunities for proving your skills and ability. Fire and security industry has an edge against such developments that it provides people and businesses with all-encompassingintegrated security systems that are hard to be replaced by one device however capable it might be.
good point Rob, as quality of the security hardware should not be overlooked…
yes, as everyone looking for all in one solution to be protected from all corners…