Hexagon - Experts & Thought Leaders

Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division announced the expansion and rebranding of its portfolio of physical security solutions to HxGN dC3. The new name, which stands for Detect, Command, Control and Collaborate, reflects the company’s approach to protecting people, property and assets by supporting the entire lifecycle of an incident to minimise its impact. LiDAR detection technology Since acquiring pioneering physical security solution provider Qognify in April 2023, Hexagon has been extending and integrating its offerings into the broader Hexagon ecosystem. The newly expanded portfolio will continue to serve as a platform for growing Hexagon’s footprint in the physical security space.  New to the portfolio is the AI-enhanced HxGN dC3 LidarVision (formerly Accur8vision), a 3D surveillance system based on volumetric LiDAR detection technology. It goes beyond traditional perimeter protection to secure entire areas instead of just the fence line, with the ability to track intrusions even in low light and classify objects using Hexagon’s proprietary AI neural network, DeepTection. HxGN dC3 core portfolio HxGN dC3 leverages solutions from the wider Hexagon stack, including HxGN OnCall Dispatch The portfolio also includes HxGN dC3 Video (formerly Qognify VMS), an open-platform video management software (VMS), and HxGN dC3 Orchestrator (formerly Situator), an enterprise-class physical security information management (PSIM) software. Solutions for advanced video analytics, forensic search and centralised management and monitoring of multi-site physical security systems complete the HxGN dC3 core portfolio. In addition, HxGN dC3 leverages solutions from the wider Hexagon stack, including HxGN OnCall Dispatch, Hexagon’s industry-leading computer-aided dispatch solution, and HxGN Connect, an AI-enhanced, cloud-based collaboration portal. Integrated software solutions With the HxGN dC3 portfolio and complementary solutions, customers have all-encompassing security coverage to manage incidents from beginning to end, plus an unprecedented ability to manage, store and analyse data to deter and prevent intrusions and incidents. “Hexagon is reinventing physical security with a suite of integrated software solutions for enterprise organisations,” said Mladen Stojic, president of physical security for Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division. “With HxGN dC3, Hexagon empowers these organisations to safeguard their worlds.”

Hexagon AB announces that the Board of Directors, after a comprehensive assessment, has directed management to prepare for the separation of its Asset Lifecycle Intelligence division and related businesses by way of a Lex Asea distribution (or “spin-off”) to its shareholders, as previously announced on 25th October 2024. The Board intends to propose the distribution and listing of NewCo’s shares at a shareholder's meeting in early 2026, provided that the circumstances are deemed right at the time.  Focus of NewCo’s business Hexagon will establish a temporary Swedish Depository Receipt programme for NewCo Reflecting the geographical focus of NewCo’s business, Intergraph’s heritage as a U.S. public company and the location of its management team, Hexagon expects NewCo to list on a U.S. national securities exchange.  Subject to regulatory approvals, Hexagon will establish a temporary Swedish Depository Receipt programme for NewCo via a listing on Nasdaq in Stockholm, for existing shareholders to locally participate in potential value creation and facilitate the transition to the U.S. listing. Growth and benefit from structural tailwinds “After an extensive review, we remain convinced that a spin-off allows each company to capitalise on their competitive advantages, execute on their increasingly distinct strategies, and leverage their greater agility to accelerate growth and benefit from clear structural tailwinds." "We are excited by what’s to come for each of these companies as well as the value we believe a spin-off will create for our employees, customers, and shareholders,” says Ola Rollén, Chairman of the Board for Hexagon. NewCo expanded to include SIG Hexagon grew the hoped perimeter of NewCo to include the rest of Hexagon’s SIG After the Board’s evaluation, Hexagon has expanded the expected perimeter of NewCo to include the remainder of Hexagon’s Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial (“SIG”) division, as opposed to solely the Utilities & Infrastructure business within SIG, as was previously communicated.  As before, the NewCo perimeter will include the ETQ business (currently operating under the Manufacturing Intelligence division) and the Bricsys business (currently operating under the Geosystems division). Inclusion of SIG in the NewCo perimeter “The inclusion of SIG in the NewCo perimeter, as well as reflecting a shared history, presents significant financial and operational synergies. SIG’s diversified and sticky global customer base expands NewCo’s addressable market and adds more software solutions designed to transform complex data into powerful insights and analytics." "The expanded NewCo perimeter also means a tighter focus for Hexagon on its core mission, to accelerate our leadership in measurement technologies and develop increasingly autonomous solutions for our customers across all end markets,” added Ola Rollén. Data-centric strategy NewCo will help customers plan, operate, and maintain assets more effectively NewCo will be a pureplay software and SaaS company, offering comprehensive asset lifecycle intelligence, safety, infrastructure, and geospatial capabilities for a wide array of industries. NewCo will leverage best-in-class capabilities across diverse domains, applying them in new ways to deliver previously unrealised market advantages. With a data-centric strategy, NewCo will help customers plan, operate, and maintain assets more effectively, enabling clearer insights and better incident response. NewCo's next phase of growth  As a standalone company, NewCo will also have increased flexibility to pursue its distinct operating strategy, accelerate a SaaS transition and shift to recurring revenues, and establish a separate currency for future M&A. As previously announced, NewCo will be led by Mattias Stenberg who is currently President of Hexagon’s ALI division. “NewCo is uniquely positioned with software and services offerings for both industry and the public sector and the entire organisation is incredibly excited to leverage our scale, product portfolio, and collective expertise to drive the next phase of growth as a standalone company," says Mattias Stenberg. IFRS accounting standards NewCo, including SIG, ETQ and Bricsys, had about 7,200 employees as of December 31, 2024 Stenberg added: "We’re confident that we’re ideally placed to capitalise on both organic and inorganic opportunities in the market, and we look forward to what lies ahead.”  NewCo, including SIG, ETQ and Bricsys, had approximately 7,200 employees as of December 31, 2024, and revenues of approximately EUR 1,448 million with an adjusted operating margin (EBIT1) of approximately 31% for the year ended December 31, 2024, before consideration of standalone costs and using IFRS accounting standards. NewCo management changes Steven Cost has announced his decision to retire from his current position as President of SIG at the end of Q1 2025. “It has been a privilege pioneering our division and serving on the group management team during my tenure with Hexagon. I believe the future is great for the NewCo spin-off, and that including the SIG division will be a positive move for our customers and partners,” said Steven Cost. “I would like to thank Steven for his commitment to Hexagon over the last 18 years. I wish him every success and happiness in his retirement”, says Ola Rollén.

LiDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a technology pervading many different industries. One of the biggest examples is driverless cars. LiDAR can help a vehicle understand and respond to the changing environment around it. An increasing number of car manufacturers are introducing LiDAR-based systems, such as Volvo's EX90 fully electric SUV, to help keep the vehicle a safe distance from other traffic and obstacles in the road ahead. Bathymetric surveys  The technology has even been used on spacecraft to monitor the Earth and to help Apollo 13 astronauts But it isn’t just on the ground where LiDAR technology is being used. Now, LiDAR is widely used for topographic mapping to create detailed three-dimensional representations of overland terrain, as well as Bathymetric surveys that study the depth of large bodies of water. The technology has even been used on spacecraft to monitor the Earth and to help Apollo 13 astronauts return safely. Next big thing in 2025 Given that LiDAR technology has been around since the 1960s, why have so many experts named it as one to watch and ‘the next big thing’ in 2025?  Let's take the security industry as another example. ABI Research forecasts the worldwide market for smart LiDAR sensors in the sector will surpass three million total installations in the next five years. LiDAR enables virtual perimeter 'fences’ or ‘safe zones’ to detect and track unauthorised movement with pinpoint accuracy.  This is undoubtedly a game-changing application; however, it is the ability to create digital twins using LiDAR that is causing a major paradigm shift. Modern 3D LiDAR systems In simple terms, a digital twin is a virtual model, or clone, of something that exists physically In simple terms, a digital twin is a virtual model, or clone, of something that exists physically. However, it is far more intelligent than a digital representation or map. Using modern 3D LiDAR systems, a digital twin can quickly run complex simulations to assess the likely impact of an almost limitless range of scenarios in the real world.  Digital simulations based on highly accurate 3D LiDAR models can be used by shopping complexes, factories and warehouses, airports, critical infrastructure sites and even a whole town or city to understand how an incident or activity would play out in the real world. The applications are vast, and you don’t need to be a NASA scientist or have a space race budget to use it. Latest advances in 3D LiDAR systems Now, the digital and real worlds are becoming increasingly interconnected. They create, inhabit and share virtual environments from Minecraft to the Metaverse. The latest advances in 3D LiDAR systems enable them to place the real world in the digital world, and in doing so can help to make the physical spaces safer, more secure, run with greater efficiency and capable of responding as environments and the demands placed upon them change. 

The sale of Carrier’s Global Access Solutions to Honeywell in December amounted to a dramatic finish to a big year in 2023 for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the physical security market. In the transaction between two industry giants, Honeywell sought to enhance and strengthen its building automation capabilities with the acquisition of Carrier’s Global Access Solutions business for $4.95 billion, in an all-cash transaction. Honeywell acquires Carrier Access business  The acquisition, which includes both hardware and software solutions, will mean a new corporate owner for the LenelS2 brand, a pioneering business for over 25 years in commercial and enterprise access solutions, including well-known offerings Onguard and Netbox. In addition, the acquisition covers the Onity brand of electronic locks, including hospitality access, mobile credentials, and self-storage access; and the Supra brand of cloud-based electronic real estate lockboxes.  ADT sells commercial business, which rebrands as Everon  ADT Inc. announced the sale of its commercial security, fire, and life safety business unit to GTCR ADT Inc., another industry giant and a trusted brand in smart home and small business security, announced the sale of its commercial security, fire, and life safety business unit to GTCR, a private equity firm, for a purchase price of $1.6 billion.  ADT Commercial, a security integrator and premier provider of commercial security, fire, and life safety in the United States, announced that it will move forward as a standalone organisation and rebrand as Everon.  Bosch to sell building technologies products  Bosch Building Technologies announced in 2023 that it is realigning its Building Technologies division to focus solely on its regional integrator business, with solutions and services for building security, energy efficiency, and building automation. Therefore, Bosch plans to sell most of the Building Technologies division’s product business. At year-end, Bosch was seeking a buyer who would take on all three business units with their associates and locations. This includes the Video, Access and Intrusion, and Communication business units, and affects some 4,300 associates at more than 90 locations worldwide. Building its integrator business earlier in 2023, Bosch announced the acquisition of Paladin Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, a provider of security and life safety solutions and system integration services in North America. Motorola acquires IPVideo, creator of HALO Sensor In another deal emerging late in 2023, Motorola Solutions acquired IPVideo Corp., Bay Shore, N.Y., the creator of the HALO Smart Sensor, an all-in-one intelligent sensor that detects real-time health and safety threats. The powerful capabilities of the HALO sensor extend Motorola’s end-to-end physical security offering by integrating a non-video threat detection product into the safety and security ecosystem. IDIS acquires Costar Technologies  Costar has a sales channel of over 100 distributors and 1,000 systems integrators across the U.S. Korean video manufacturer IDIS and U.S. company Costar Video Systems had enjoyed a long-term existing ODM (original design manufacturer) relationship, and approximately 60% of Costar Video products were already made by IDIS. Therefore, it made sense when IDIS Co., Ltd. and Costar Technologies Inc. announced an agreement and plan to merge, with IDIS acquiring Costar. Leveraging Costar's established distribution networks and sales channels in the U.S. gives a significant boost to IDIS' growth strategy, which is founded on building long-term relationships with systems integrators. Costar has a sales channel of over 100 distributors and 1,000 systems integrators across the U.S. that will benefit from IDIS’ NDAA-compliant and 100% Korean-made technology. SECOM invests in Brivo and Eagle Eye  Eagle Eye Networks, a cloud video surveillance company, and Brivo, a provider of cloud-based access control and smart space technologies, announced one of the largest investments to date in cloud physical security in 2023.  SECOM CO., LTD, based in Japan and one of the largest security integration companies in the world, has made a primary equity investment of $192 million in the two companies, $100 million in Eagle Eye Networks, and $92 million in Brivo. $100M primary equity investment Brivo will also use the additional investment to continue expanding in Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific Eagle Eye Networks, a global pioneer in cloud video surveillance, announced it will use the $100M primary equity investment to expand its suite of AI-powered products, fund geographic expansion, and enhance its enterprise features.  Brivo will use the investment to grow sales and marketing, accelerate product development scale support and operational functions, and evaluate strategic acquisitions. Brivo will also use the additional investment to continue expanding in Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, and enhance the smart spaces and AI functionality in the Brivo Access Platform.  ACRE buys PremiSys Portfolio  ACRE, a security company built on acquisitions, is continuing to broaden its portfolio and serve the expanding needs of its customer base. In 2023, ACRE acquired the PremiSys software and hardware portfolio and assets from IDenticard.  PremiSys’ technologies enable organisations to self-manage door access and view integrated video and lockdown facilities. The acquisition extends opportunities for ACRE in healthcare, education, data centers, and senior living facilities.  Qognify is a part of Hexagon  Qognify extends Hexagon’s real-time monitoring and security reach to detect, assess, and respond Qognify, a provider of video (VMS) and enterprise incident management (EIM) solutions announced that it has become a part of Hexagon. Qognify joins the Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial division of Hexagon, following the completion of its acquisition originally announced on Dec. 19, 2022.  Qognify extends Hexagon’s real-time monitoring and security reach to detect, assess, and respond to incidents, providing a more robust offering. ASSA ABLOY continues acquisition trend  ASSA ABLOY continued to acquire companies in 2023 to strengthen its position in mature markets by adding complementary products and solutions to the core business. Among the companies acquired in 2023 were Ghost Controls, a U.S. supplier of automated residential gate openers, and Securitech Group, a manufacturer of high-security mechanical and electronic door hardware products in the U.S.  Door and fencing ASSA ABLOY also acquired Leone Fence, a Canadian manufacturer, distributor, and installer of fencing products for commercial and residential applications, and Lawrence Hardware and Gallery Specialty, providers of commercial hinges, locksets, exit devices, and door hardware accessories in Canada. Another new acquisition is Inovadoor Portas Industriais Ltda, a Brazilian manufacturer of sectional and high-speed doors.  Earlier in 2023, ASSA ABLOY completed the acquisition of Spectrum Brands’ Hardware and Home Improvement division and the divestment of Emtek and the Smart Residential business in the U.S. and Canada to Fortune Brands.