Omdia - Experts & Thought Leaders

According to the 2024 Access Control report by Omdia, Genetec., the pioneer in enterprise physical security software, has consistently gained market share over the last six years, solidifying its position as a worldwide market pioneer and building upon its #2 global position for access control software. In the Americas market, access control software has evolved beyond the physical security department to become an essential component of business operations. 2024 Access Control report According to the Omdia report, this broader adoption has increased demand for unified security platforms that allow organisations to manage systems - such as access control, video surveillance, and intrusion detection - through a single interface.  By anticipating market needs for access control innovation, Genetec continues to expand its market share, growing at a 28% CAGR over the past six years. Access control innovation “While many legacy access control vendors rely on acquisitions to expand their market share, Genetec has achieved rapid organic growth through innovation and investment in new technologies,” said Christian Morin, Vice President of Product Engineering, Genetec Inc. Christian Morin adds, “Over the last year, we introduced Security Center SaaS, HID Mercury Security MP controllers, Axis Powered by Genetec, and an I/O module in partnership with STid as part of our European high assurance access control system offering. This demonstrates our commitment to expanding our access control portfolio through innovation and partnerships, paving the way for future growth.” Providing adaptable solutions Omdia also reports that end users in the region prefer open systems that offer flexibility and customisation In a highly fragmented EMEA market, Genetec remains among the top 10 access control software providers by focusing on open architecture systems that allow users to integrate components from different vendors.  Omdia also reports that end users in the region prefer open systems that offer flexibility and customisation. This further supports the company’s strategy to provide adaptable solutions tailored to the region, as evidenced by its partnership with STid. Strong integration capabilities In the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China), Genetec continues to rapidly expand its market share, reaching #6 position (up from #10 in 2021). As enterprise users and multinational corporations modernise their access control infrastructure, they seek feature-rich, cyber-secure systems with strong integration capabilities.  An open-architecture solution, such as the Genetec access control solution, allows organisations to secure assets and people, enhance business operations, and easily upgrade technology at their own pace. Full cloud deployments Genetec has retained its #1 global position in the VMS market while also ranking #1 in the combined VMS The Omdia report also indicates that the access control market is increasingly adopting hybrid cloud deployments. Genetec is at the forefront of this change. Security Center SaaS is a physical security solution that brings the power of Genetec access control and video management to the cloud.  Security Center SaaS supports hybrid or full cloud deployments, allowing organisations to move components and sites to the cloud based on their needs and requirements at their own pace. Genetec solutions Because Genetec solutions are based on an open platform architecture, users choose the access control devices that best suit their needs while also preserving their existing investments.  In addition to its success in access control, Genetec has retained its #1 global position in the VMS market, while also ranking #1 in the combined Video Management Software (VMS) and Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) market, according to Omdia’s recently released  2024 Video Surveillance & Analytics Database Report.

Genetec Inc., a pioneering technology provider of unified security, public safety, operations, and business intelligence solutions, announced that it has once again been recognised as the world pioneer in video management software (VMS) by two pioneering industry analysts, Omdia and Novaira Insights. According to Omdia’s 2024 Video Surveillance & Analytics Database Report, Genetec has retained its #1 global position in the VMS market while also ranking #1 globally in the combined Video Management Software (VMS) and Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) market. Novaira Insights' report  In the Americas, Genetec has maintained its market leadership with a #1 ranking for 13 years. The Omdia report also highlights the company’s strong performance in the EMEA region, where it ranks #2, and in the Asia Pacific region (excluding China) where it is growing at three times the market rate, securing the #3 position. Novaira Insights' report also confirms Genetec as the global pioneer in Total Video Surveillance Software and Service Agreements, with a #1 ranking in the Americas, a #2 position in Asia Pacific (excluding China), and a #3 position in EMEA. Omdia report positions In the global VSaaS market, the Omdia report positions Genetec among the top 10 world pioneers In the global VSaaS market (excluding China), the Omdia report positions Genetec among the top 10 world pioneers, and in the Americas, Genetec ranks as one of the top three companies that gained the most market share.  This performance underscores the company's early leadership in SaaS innovation and the strong momentum of Security Centre SaaS, a hybrid cloud solution built to meet the growing demand for flexible cloud deployments. Hybrid-cloud approach “Over 50% of end-users are still going to keep at least part of their security infrastructure on-premises,” said Oliver Philippou, Research Manager, Physical Security Technologies, Omdia.  “A hybrid-cloud approach can enable customers to gradually transition towards a cloud architecture, benefiting from cloud efficiencies while retaining on-premises storage for legal, compliance, or business needs. This flexibility results in cost savings and ensures that customers are not forced into a one-size-fits-all solution.” Physical security “The hybrid approach isn’t a stepping stone to the cloud but the baseline for how to deploy physical security leveraging cloud technology," said Christian Morin, Vice President of Product Engineering, Genetec Inc. "Customers need a flexible solution that respects the unique requirements of their business, recognising that not every company will choose or need to fully transition to the cloud."

Absolute Security, a global pioneer in enterprise cyber resilience, announced the availability of AI Threat Insights. This new AI-powered threat detection capability is now available through the Absolute Secure Access Security Service Edge (SSE) offering. With the AI Threat Insights module activated, customers using Absolute to continuously monitor all network traffic across PC fleets can detect and act against zero-day threats, ransomware, other malware, and suspicious user, device and application behaviours. Massive investments This innovation provides proactive alerts to help organisations anticipate and respond to security risks, increases productivity by reducing false positives, and reduces the attack surface by analysing endpoint and network telemetry without having to divert traffic to the cloud. “Organisations are spending billions of dollars to defend against threats and to make sure their mobile workforces remain securely connected to their networks. Despite these massive investments, they continue to fall prey to advanced attacks, complexity, and human errors that result in catastrophic disruptions,” said Joe Savarese, Executive Vice President, Secure Access Products, Absolute Security. AI and machine learning solutions A single, successful data breach can inflict millions of dollars in damages Savarese added: “Backed by AI and underpinned by the Absolute Cyber Resilience Platform, Secure Access now provides customers the ability not only to maintain the highest levels of performance and zero-trust connectivity available, but also to greatly reduce the risk of being infected with ransomware or impacted by negligent or malicious users.” The global cost of cybercrime now extends into the trillions of dollars. A single, successful data breach can inflict millions of dollars in damages. Attacks targeting endpoints are becoming more frequent. The only way organisations can manage network risk in the modern threat landscape is by leveraging resilient AI and machine learning solutions that are always up to date, protected against vulnerabilities and threats, and fully operational. AI Threat Insights Absolute Secure Access customers with AI Threat Insights not only receive optimised connectivity across their hybrid and remote PC fleets, but also critical added benefits, including the ability to: Monitor millions of network traffic flows and associated endpoint telemetry on endpoints, inside and outside of the Absolute encrypted tunnel, to detect, block, and prevent the spread of zero days, ransomware, and other malware. Monitor all traffic traversing managed endpoints to detect potential threats and suspicious activities without having to divert traffic to the cloud, improving performance, eliminating latency, and further reducing the overall attack surface. Identify suspicious activity quickly, pinpointing individual users, devices, networks, processes, and applications that may be creating high-risk situations. Speed the identification, troubleshooting, and resolution of incidents, allowing costly disruptions and downtime to be avoided. Protect business-critical data as well as customer and personally identifiable information (PII), reducing the risk of a data breach. Achieve compliance with stringent standards including PCI DSS, HIPAA, GLBA, and other regulations. Maintain maximum performance and connectivity with network resilience and persistence capabilities embedded in the device firmware, ensuring that Absolute Secure Access is always up to date, protected against vulnerabilities, and fully operational. Mobile and remote connections “Telemetry is a double-edged sword. It is critical to establishing effective defences that can detect and stop threats and bad behaviours, but it can also lead to overwhelming false alarms that destroy productivity and lead to missed events,” said Fernando Montenegro, Senior Principal Analyst, Omdia. "With mobile and remote connections expanding, platforms that can capture data in high volumes from the edge and leverage AI to convert it into actionable information are going to be increasingly in demand.” Absolute Cyber Resilience Platform Embedded in the firmware of more than 600 million PCs, the Absolute Cyber Resilience Platform is the foundation of a modern resilience infrastructure, providing endpoint visibility and control, vulnerability and patch management, secure remote access, application resilience, rapid incident recovery, and AI-enhanced threat detection.  The platform’s unique position in the endpoint firmware ensures that from the moment devices are powered on, organisations will be able to ensure that operating systems (OS), applications, and critical security controls are always up to date, protected against vulnerabilities and threats, and fully operational. Absolute AI Threat Insights is currently available to Secure Access SSE customers at no additional cost.

The 2020s will be a wireless decade in access control, says Russell Wagstaff from ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions EMEA. He examines the trends data, and looks beyond mobile keys to brand new security roles for the smartphone. The benefits of wire-free electronic access control are well rehearsed. They are also more relevant than ever. A wireless solution gives facility managers deeper, more flexible control over who should have access, where and when, because installing, operating and integrating them is easier and less expensive than wiring more doors. Battery powered locks Many procurement teams are now aware of these cost advantages, but perhaps not their scale. Research for an ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions (AAOS) benchmarking exercise found installation stage to be the largest contributor to cost reduction. Comparing a typical installation of battery-powered Aperio locks versus wired locks at the same scale, the research projected an 80% saving in installers’ labour costs for customers who go cable-free. Battery powered locks all consume much less energy than traditional wired locks Operating costs are also lower for wireless: Battery powered locks all consume much less energy than traditional wired locks, which normally work via magnets connected permanently to electricity. Wireless locks only ‘wake up’ when presented with a credential for which they must make an access decision. AAOS estimated a 70% saving in energy use over a comparable lock’s lifetime. Find out more about wireless access control at ASSA ABLOY's upcoming 29th June webinar Deploying wireless locks In short, every time a business chooses a wireless lock rather than a wired door, they benefit from both installation and operating cost savings. A recent report from IFSEC Global, AAOS and Omdia reveals the extent to which the advantages of wireless are cutting through. Responses to a large survey of security professionals — end-users, installers, integrators and consultants serving large corporations and small- to medium-sized organisations in education, healthcare, industrial, commercial, infrastructure, retail, banking and other sectors — suggest almost four locations in ten (38%) have now deployed wireless locks as a part or the whole of their access solution. The corresponding data point from AAOS’s 2014 Report was 23%. Electronic access control Electronic access control is less dependent than ever on cabling Without doubt, electronic access control is less dependent than ever on cabling: Even after a year when many investments have been deferred or curtailed, the data reveals fast-growing adoption of wireless locks, technologies and systems. Is mobile access control — based on digital credentials or ‘virtual keys’ stored on a smartphone — an ideal security technology for this wire-free future? In fact, the same report finds mobile access is growing fast right now. Among those surveyed, 26% of end-users already offer mobile compatibility; 39% plan to roll out mobile access within two years. Before the mid-2020s, around two-thirds of access systems will employ the smartphone in some way. The smartphone is also convenient for gathering system insights Driving rapid adoption What is driving such rapid adoption? The convenience benefits for everyday users are obvious — witness the mobile boom in banking and payments, travel or event ticketing, transport, food delivery and countless more areas of modern life. Access control is a natural fit. If you have your phone, you are already carrying your keys: What could be easier? IBM forecasts that 1.87 billion people globally will be mobile workers by 2022 Less often discussed are the ways mobile management makes life easier for facility and security managers, too. Among those polled for the new Wireless Access Control Report, almost half (47%) agreed that ‘Mobile was more flexible than physical credentials, and 36% believe that mobile credentials make it easier to upgrade employee access rights at any time.’ IBM forecasts that 1.87 billion people globally will be mobile workers by 2022. Workers in every impacted sector require solutions which can get the job done from anywhere: Access management via smartphone offers this. Site management device The smartphone is also convenient for gathering system insights. For example, one new reporting and analytics tool for CLIQ key-based access control systems uses an app to collect, visualise and evaluate access data. Security system data could contribute to business success. The app’s clear, visual layout helps managers to instantly spot relevant trends, anomalies or patterns. It’s simple to export, to share insights across the business. Reinvented for learning — not just as a ‘key’ or site management device — the phone will help businesses make smarter, data-informed decisions. The smartphone will also play a major role in security — and everything else — for an exciting new generation of smart buildings. These buildings will derive their intelligence from interoperability. Over 90% of the report’s survey respondents highlighted the importance of integration across building functions including access control, CCTV, alarm and visitor management systems. Genuinely seamless integration They offer greater peace of mind than proprietary solutions which ‘lock you in’ for the long term Yet in practice, stumbling blocks remain on the road to deeper, genuinely seamless integration. More than a quarter of those polled felt held back by a lack of solutions developed to open standards. ‘Open standards are key for the momentum behind the shift towards system integration,’ notes the Report. As well as being more flexible, open solutions are better futureproofed. Shared standards ensure investments can be made today with confidence that hardware and firmware may be built on seamlessly in the future. They offer greater peace of mind than proprietary solutions which ‘lock you in’ for the long term. Open solutions and mobile management are critical to achieving the goals which end-users in every vertical are chasing: scalability, flexibility, sustainability, cost-efficiency and convenience.