Kuwait News

This year has unfolded generally as predicted. Complete solutions have enabled IP video to further penetrate the small to medium business markets. IP convergence opened up new fast-growing markets for IP intercoms and IP audio systems. The preponderance of IoT devices has driven cybersecurity efforts to new heights. In addition, lower prices, along with the increasing investment needed in R&D to keep pace with rapidly changing technology, have led to market consolidation. IoT creates oppor...

Sensor manufacturer OPTEX will be demonstrating its multi-layered approach to protecting critical infrastructure – from the initial outer perimeter to the inner areas, including detection of unauthorised access. “In the Middle East region,” says Jacques Vaarre, Managing Director for OPTEX EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa), “we are focusing on the high security element of our intrusion detection portfolio that protects critical infrastructure as there is the requiremen...

WaveLynx Technologies, a developer of customisable physical security readers and credentialing, announced the release of their newest wall mount access reader to their Ethos product portfolio. The Ethos product line are the first access readers manufactured to leverage the full extent of the Security Industry Association’s (SIA) Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP) V2.1.7 specification with the use of Secure Channel-encrypted communication and remote upgrade and maintenance capabilities....

At ONVIF, we believe our perspective for 2017 turned out to be reasonably accurate. We did see an increasing interest for interoperability all the way to system-to-system level; not only within the security industry, but also in neighbouring industries where the prospects for IoT have drastically improved. I believe the industry as such has matured in its relation to IoT and today we can imagine how IoT will play a part of smarter and safer system deployments. Increased cybersecurity threat T...

The security market is very active right now. Business is strong, according to most of the people that I talk to in the industry. In 2017, we at The Protection Bureau had one of our best years ever revenue-wise. Because of a strong economy, businesses are spending money on security. 2017 growing trends The trends that happened in 2017 vary. One trend that is growing is the national account concept. This is because clients are deploying more and more enterprise-level systems and taking advanta...

Global economic expansion and technology improvements continued to drive demand this year for IP cameras, network video recorders (NVRs), access control and other security technologies.   A strong year for security Overall, 2017 represented another strong year for the security industry. A combination of falling prices and improved IP camera performance helped drive camera sales during the year as the migration from analogue to IP continued to pick up momentum. Advancements i...

The year 2017 has been a banner one for physical security with the advent of increasingly sophisticated technology to manage threats. As we approach 2018, the field widens with regard to solutions that will expand the capability of security teams seeking ways to shore up their risk exposure and expand situational intelligence. Here’s a recap of milestones and areas we see as important in the new year. Technology integration Technology integration played an even greater role in the market...

Throughout 2017, customers have been increasingly looking for technological answers to a plethora of their business needs, and the surveillance industry has seen a rapid boost because of this. In particular, we’ve seen more organisations harness video to fulfil much more than just their security requirements. Combining physical and cyber security Businesses are now using surveillance to address areas such as health and safety, sales and marketing as it fast becomes more of a business opp...

In 2017 we saw a lot of new construction projects, and many existing buildings upgraded their security systems to include high-resolution cameras and better-quality recording systems. Because the economy is stronger, many businesses and municipalities increased their security budgets for large-scale and public projects due to terrorism threats in public places.   Smart cities became more popular One of the bigger trends we saw in 2017 is the growing popularity of smart cities...

As we take a look back on 2017, there are a number of trends we need to highlight — all of which have redefined our industry. Cybersecurity played a huge role in physical security, driven by the increase in the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the overall interconnectivity between devices and expanding cloud technologies. Although exceptionally beneficial, the IoT also brings with it an increased amount of cyber vulnerabilities. As security systems are using the Internet more and m...

The security industry was strong and healthy in 2017. High-end security markets, such as the power distribution and critical infrastructure sectors, saw continued growth and opportunity for perimeter security technologies like thermal imaging, video analytics and radar. For the low-end security markets, there was significant competition from Chinese manufacturers. Despite this challenge, we saw continued growth from premium Western security manufacturers in 2017 in which many introduced cost-ef...

Video surveillance solutions have come a long way in recent years, including this past one, with IP-based imaging solutions delivering incredible resolution and detail to provide higher levels of situational awareness, information and overall security. In 2017, we also witnessed how video surveillance serves an emerging need and desire to acquire greater business intelligence. Today’s cameras and VMS are able to truly deliver on the promise of IP video without requiring end users to break...

TDSi launches its eagerly anticipated GARDiS software solution at Intersec 2018, held in Dubai from 21st to 23rd January 2018. The company will also be showcasing its broad range of integration capabilities with other security systems. Business-specific access control security John Davies, Managing Director of TDSi commented, “We are very excited to be formally unveiling our new GARDiS software solution in Dubai. GARDiS is a web-based application that offers even greater flexibilit...

2017 witnessed a continued decline in the cost of cameras. While this creates a challenge for camera companies, it creates two clear opportunities: (1) Product differentiation now relies more heavily on software rather than camera parameters, which drives more focus and rapid innovation on the software side, and (2) cameras have become more affordable which encourages an increase in the adoption rate and size of surveillance projects.   Artificial Intelligence surveillance applications Ad...

Rapid changes in the physical security market this year have largely overshadowed one arena where change has slowed down in 2017 – mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Although there were no “mega-mergers” as in years past (such as Axis-Canon and Johnson Controls-Tyco, M&A activity still made headlines last year on SourceSecurity.com. In 2017, we wrote about M&A news involving companies such as HID Global, Eagle Eye Networks, ADT, and Honeywell.   ...

The physical security market continues to experience growth as users look to capitalise on the promises of emerging technologies and because of this, 2017 proved to be a great year for Oncam. In fact, this year was the best year in Oncam's history in terms of sales, as 360-degree fisheye cameras have gone from being a “specialty” camera used only in certain applications to a primary device for enabling total situational awareness. Today, many of our customers leverage 360-degree ca...

SourceSecurity.com’s Expert Panel covered a lot of ground in 2017 about a variety of topics resonating in the security market.   The most-read Roundtable discussion in 2017 was about a familiar and ongoing debate: What is an open system? Other hot topics that made the Top-10 list of Roundtable discussions included smartphones, buzzwords, standards and product life cycles. Here is a listing of our Top 10 Expert Panel Roundtable discussions posted in 2017,...

SourceSecurity.com’s most trafficked articles in 2017 reflected changing trends in the market, from facial detection to drones, from deep learning to body worn cameras. Again in 2017, the most well-trafficked articles posted at SourceSecurity.com tended to be those that addressed timely and important issues in the security marketplace. In the world of digital publishing, it’s easy to know what content resonates with the market: Our readers tell us with their actions; i.e., where they...

Over the past year, there was an unprecedented rise in drone incidents. Drones were unwelcome at and threatening the physical and cybersecurity of defence organisations, stadiums, corporations, and data centres, among organisations with critical infrastructure. Legislation is only just emerging now, and laws protecting airspace are hard to enforce, especially if a pilot is unaware of the risks of their flight or is flying with malicious intent. Laws can be circumvented, but detection technology...

2017 was quite an interesting and eventful year for the physical security industry. The economy has been robust and technology has become progressively sophisticated—with interactive services, cloud computing and network-based solutions taking charge to provide new insights to installers and their end-user customers. The Internet of Things is creating increasingly integrated solutions, with a heightened emphasis on total connectivity. Changing security expectations World events have als...

2017 was a very interesting year within the security industry. Although the overall economy seems to be in a stable and growing state, security spending seems to have become more “thought-out” and strategic as opposed to some of the impulsive spending on the latest pieces of technology to hit the marketplace. Many end users and integrators are thinking more long-term and some of the biggest concerns have been scalability and interoperability. Unified management platforms One of the...

The end of the year is a great time to take stock of one’s accomplishments during the year, and to reflect on successes and failures, where we are and where we’re going. 2017 brought a lot of change to the physical security market, but were the changes positive or negative? Our Expert Panelists tend to be a thoughtful and reflective group, so we wanted to get their thoughts and insights at year-end about 2017 in the security market. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable:...

The security industry remains interested in capturing actionable data from video analytics and this year we saw increasing interest from non-security industries. While still a relatively young industry for our market—think of where Google was with collecting metadata 10 years ago—video security works with similar algorithms for capturing various scenarios. The data this provides is becoming more valuable not only for security purposes, but also for business operations, such as deter...

Biometric identification technologies today are becoming pervasive. Many smartphones offer fingerprint unlock options, and most organisations have at least considered the technology as a solution for their identification and access needs. While biometrics have dramatically improved in the past several years to deliver faster, more efficient and more secure solutions, not everyone is ready for the change. New York MTA case study But does that mean that organisations need to hold off on implemen...

2018 will start to see facial recognition and other biometrics used in a combination of ways, but I’d like to look even further into the future. I believe that facial recognition will be utilised on a large scale and that it will be very hard to enjoy the enhanced speed and simplicity of travel and financial transactions of the future without relying on biometrics. Biometric ticket and passport For example, when you travel to another country your face will be your ticket and passport.&n...

An increase in spending on security, more focus on data security, higher demand for integrated solutions, and steady progress to move beyond the pixel race were key trends in 2017. As we look forward to 2018, we will continue to see development in these areas as well as greater impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) on the video security market. Potential of video security data More and more, users are realising that the real issues in video security are not about pixel counts. Managing incre...

Last year, Genetec predicted that cybersecurity would be taken much more seriously as the Internet of Things (IoT) opened more doors for hacking and network take overs. We also predicted that that there would be an increase in the adoption of Software as a Service (SaaS), expanding choice and convenience from new ownership models via hybrid (on-premises and Cloud) and Cloud-only models. Cyber Accountability awareness 2017 was also a year of awareness about ‘Cyber Accountability’....

As the economy improved during 2017, the security industry also experienced an increase in new projects and upgrades for existing customers. Security dealers have been busy adapting to the new services that customers are now demanding and trying to stay competitive within their market. Many have changed their strategies—offering not only professionally installed systems but assisting with DIY and self-install products. Overall, the goal of forward-thinking security dealers has been to ele...

Overall, it’s been quite a year for the industry and Vanderbilt. Last year, we predicted that the security industry would see a rise in cloud-based systems in 2017, and based on the developments and trends we've seen over the last 12 months, that forecast has come true. ACT365 access control and VMS Vanderbilt introduced the ACT365 cloud-based access control and video management solution to its portfolio, and it has plans to educate the marketplace on the technological and economic advan...

During 2017, we’ve enjoyed stable economic growth for a number of years now; we’re not running into as much resistance for security entrances as we did, say, seven to nine years ago. Hardening perimeters against active shooters Compared to other security products such as cameras and card readers, security entrances are a big investment and considered somewhat of a luxury: during downturns we’re among the first to hit the “cutting room floor.” Now, however, fueled...