The M73 high-performance camera based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), is the latest in the Mobotix lineup to have received the SySS IT security certificate. After completing multiple tests, SySS GmbH now attests that the entire Mobotix IoT camera series has a particularly high level of cyber security. In addition to the M73, the M16, representing the entire Mx6 series, has also earned the SySS certificate. This is a continuation of the Mobotix Cactus Concept, which aims to offer a reliable, end-to-end video system protection against hacker attacks.

In several scenarios, the hardware and software components of the M73 were subjected to simulated state-of-the-art hacker attacks. The penetration testers at SySS GmbH are very familiar with attack methods on IT systems and are researching new ways and means of preventing intrusion into digital infrastructures. With this extensive know-how, SySS GmbH is the penetration test market-leader in Germany as they test IT landscapes, looking for both common and unique weaknesses and other security vulnerabilities.

“With the SySS certification of our new M73 video system, we are proving that Mobotix continuously strives for the best possible cyber security for all of our camera series,” emphasises Mobotix CEO, Thomas Lausten. “Our Mx6 range is one of the market-leading systems for classic security camera applications and is the first choice for many of our customers. The robustness and durability of the power-saving system is in line with the classic Mobotix DNA and is ONVIF-compliant despite the decentralised approach. The SySS certification of the new, open Mobotix 7 platform and the M73 proves that we have achieved the goal of ‚highest data and cyber security‘ even with our most powerful camera series,” says Lausten. “This also applies to the Certified Apps that are integrated in the firmware, which comprehensively extend the modularity of our systems.“

The Mobotix Apps based on deep learning and solutions from renowned partners are explicitly verified and certified by Mobotix. Users can use exactly the apps in their video systems that they need for their requirements.

The Milestone Systems Board of Directors has appointed Thomas Jensen as Chief Executive Officer, and he will assume the role on October 1, 2020.

“Milestone is a strong company with a strong leadership team. Adding Thomas’ broad experience in strategy and execution puts us in a great position to achieve our goal of long-term sustainable growth for our community partners and for Milestone Systems,” said Lau Normann Jørgensen, Chairman, Milestone Group.

With his background in Hewlett-Packard and most recently in Europe’s largest IT integrator company Bechtle, Thomas Jensen is an executive leader with a strong global footprint that includes P&L responsibility for international businesses in software and hardware. He has deep business experience with IT and technology, and an understanding for the dynamics of business communities, technology partners and integrators. People are at the core of Thomas Jensen’s leadership philosophy, which resonates well with Milestone Systems’ Scandinavian leadership values and People First approach to management.

Thomas Jensen said: “I am both humble and very proud to become part of Milestone Systems. Their strong focus on people was crucial to me when I accepted the position and I’m determined to continue with this as CEO. Combine this with Milestone Systems’ influence in transforming how video technology is used, both in security and in new applications beyond the industry, makes this a dream job for me.”

Thomas Jensen will join Milestone from Bechtle, Europe’s largest B2B IT service provider, where he was Executive Vice President and member of the Management Board.

Before this, he was Head of Worldwide Channel Sales Strategy for HP Inc. in Palo Alto, California, United States, where he drove the global channel development. During the separation of Hewlett-Packard into HP Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Thomas led the channel separation, and was responsible for preparing the new strategy and organisation for the indirect revenue of HP Inc. Before moving to the United States, Thomas was General Manager for Hewlett-Packard’s PC & Print Division in Denmark.

Thomas Jensen has also held leadership positions in Vestas Wind Systems and Maersk Line. He holds a Master of Science in International Business Administration from the University of Aalborg and has completed the Executive Board Program at INSEAD in France.

Marketsandmarkets forecasts the Video Surveillance Storage (VSS) market to grow from USD 7.5 billion in 2020 to USD 10.2 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 6.1% during the forecast period. The factors driving the market growth are the adoption of IP cameras and a growing demand for video surveillance and its storage to secure public places.

Vertical sectors are expected to witness a high adoption of VSS solutions to achieve various benefits, including increased employee efficiency, reduced crime rate, and secured public places. Among these verticals, the transportation and logistics vertical is expected to hold the largest market size during the forecast period. This sub-sector is investing a huge amount in installing video surveillance systems for monitoring traffic, preventing accidents, and conducting accidental investigation.

Based on applications, the city surveillance segment is expected to hold the largest market size in the VSS market up to 2025. The city surveillance application helps in monitoring traffic and securing airports, seaports, stadiums, and theatres. Whereas, the industrial vertical is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The constant need to monitor manufacturing plants that deal with high grade raw materials, chemicals, and precious metals is the top priority in industrial applications. VSS solutions help such industries to avoid thefts and accidents in the workplace and maintain a proper decorum.

In terms of geography, the analysts expect the Asia Pacific (APAC) region to hold the largest market size in the global VSS market. There is a rise in competition in the VSS market, due to the increasing number of smart cities in countries such as India and China demanding video surveillance storage systems to monitor and analyze public places for security purposes. The governments of Japan, Australia, India, New Zealand, and Singapore are investing in smart city projects for monitoring traffic and protecting their citizens and public places. Due to these contributions to the VSS market, APAC is expected to witness strong growth.

The VSS market report provides the competitive landscape and company profiles of key vendors and mentions major vendors, such as Cisco, Hitachi, Dell, Honeywell, Avigilon, Bosch, Seagate, Quantum, Schneider, Fujitsu, BCDVideo, Nexsan, Idis, Qognify, Genetec, Axis amongst others.

Assa Abloy has signed an agreement to acquire Focuscura, a leading provider of technology solutions for senior care in the Dutch market. Focuscura has developed a software platform, which in combination with other products and technology services, enables elderly care organisations to focus on care.

“I am very pleased to welcome Focuscura and their employees into the Assa Abloy Group. Focuscura is a strategic technological addition to the Assa Abloy Group. The company will reinforce our current offering within senior care and will provide complementary growth opportunities,” says Nico Delvaux, President and CEO of Assa Abloy.

“Focuscura is a true innovator in digital solutions for care providers and senior people. The Focuscura offering is a good fit with our solutions in Phoniro and together we will continue to support people to stay independent for longer and live enriched lives,” says Christophe Sut, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Technologies business unit Global Solutions.

Focuscura was founded in 2003 and the main office is located in Driebergen-Rijsenburg, The Netherlands.

Sales in 2019 amounted to about EUR 13 million (approx. SEK 130 million) and the acquisition will be dilutive to EPS from start. The acquisition is expected to close during the third quarter of 2020.

Motorola Solutions announced it has acquired video surveillance heavyweight Pelco for a total of US$110 million, marking the communications giant’s third major video surveillance purchase in two years and making it a growingly influential player in the video surveillance business.

Motorola Solutions announced on August 3 that it has completed the $110 million acquisition of Pelco, which Transom Capital purchased in 2019. Before the Transom ownership, Pelco was owned by Schneider Electric from 2007 to 2019.

The $110 million was small money for Motorola Solutions, considering its $7.9 billion revenue for 2019. For that money, however, Motorola Solutions has gotten itself a third major video surveillance company after its 2018 acquisition of Avigilon for approximately $1 billion and its acquisition of IndigoVision earlier this year for $37 million.

With three video surveillance brands under its roof, Motorola Solutions becomes a major video surveillance player with a solid lineup of products and expanding geographic presence. In the case of the purchase of the U.K.-based IndigoVision, for example, John Kedzierski, Senior VP of Video Security and Analytics at Motorola Solutions, said in an earlier interview with asmag.com that it “helps us extend our reach globally. For Motorola Solutions, the U.S. is the strongest region, and we are always interested in extending our geographical reach. This acquisition brings the channel, the sales organization, and a brand that would help us expand internationally.”

Good fit for Pelco

The deal may also be good for Pelco, which had been a leading player in the video surveillance business but has been on the decline due to fierce competition, which has diminished Pelco’s sales from the channel side and forced it to look for special, advanced projects for which highly customized video surveillance solutions are needed. Yet that objective was not well served by the ownership from Schneider Electric, whose core focus is on building automation for which video is not a good fit.

Motorola Solutions, on the other hand, is a better match for Pelco, whose solutions can benefit critical infrastructure, government and law enforcement sectors that Motorola Solutions also targets and has lots of integration projects in. In this sense, the Motorola Solutions-Pelco combination makes more sense and is expected to create more synergy for both.

Greg Brown, chairman and CEO of Motorola Solutions, himself said in a statement that “Video continues to play a more powerful role in enabling safer cities and securing businesses around the world. Pelco’s track record of innovation, internationally recognized brand, global channel and customer installed base enable us to further expand our global footprint with enterprise and public safety customers.”

Kingdom’s premier security, safety and fire protection exhibition scheduled for March 2021 in Riyadh

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: New dates have been announced for Intersec Saudi Arabia, with the Kingdom’s largest trade fair for security, safety, and fire protection, now scheduled to take place from 15-17 March 2021 at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The three-day event is organised by Saudi-based ACE Group under licence from Dubai-headquartered Messe Frankfurt Middle East. The new dates come after extensive feedback and consultation with the venue, exhibitors, visitors, trade partners and associations, as the Saudi government continues to contain the spread of Covid-19.

In its 4th edition, Intersec Saudi Arabia was initially postponed to run in September 2020, however Show Director Alexandria Robinson said the move to 2021 was widely supported by stakeholders: “Plans are underway to deliver a sold-out event once again next year with more than 120 exhibitors from 20 countries participating. As is customary, we’ll deliver a wide range of value-added conferences and workshops covering pertinent security, safety, and fire protection topics.”

“Intersec Saudi Arabia is an important and growing show, designed to reflect Saudi’s security, safety, and fire protection industries, and one where international solution providers look to make inroads in a bustling market,” added Ms. Robinson.

Intersec Saudi Arabia is supported by the Ministry of Interior (MoI), the Saudi Civil Defense, and the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO). It covers the six key product sections of commercial security, information security, perimeter & physical security, homeland security & policing, fire & rescue, and safety & health.

Saudi is the Middle East’s largest commercial security, fire protection and safety market, and is estimated to be worth US$9.6 billion in 2020 according to analysts 6Wresearch.
Homeland security and policing will hold the lion’s share of spend this year, at US$5.4 billion. This is followed by information security (US$2.8 billion), commercial security (US$892 million), fire safety (US$309 million), and physical and perimeter protection (US$227 million).

More information is available at: www.intersec-ksa.com.

Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Post-Pandemic Growth Opportunity in the Global Security Industry, finds that the security industry has tremendous investment opportunities despite the economic slowdown witnessed due to COVID-19.

The research company suggests that under an aspirational recovery scenario, the global security industry is likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.3%, garnering revenue of $140.60 billion by 2025 from $109.30 billion in 2019. The conservative forecast scenario predicts that the industry will generate $131.01 billion between 2019 and 2025, at a CAGR of 3.1%. In the pre-COVID-19 forecast, the industry was estimated to increase at a CAGR of 7.1%, generating revenue of $164.97 billion over the forecast period.

COVID-19 will cause a brief slowdown in the security market after almost a decade of uninhibited progress,” said Danielle VanZandt, Aerospace, Defense & Security Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “Additionally, while some security sectors may find themselves experiencing a slower recovery than others, much of the industry will witness a shift to more service-based solution offerings after years of hesitance by customers to adopt these solutions.”

VanZandt added: “The key security markets such as disaster management, banking and finance, and airport security will recover at a different pace, and the time taken to return to pre-crisis spending levels will also vary significantly. Markets that will record higher-than-average CAGRs during the recovery period include ports (4.5%), disaster management (4.0%), first responders (4.0%), and mass transit (4.0%).”

Despite a marginal slowdown expected in 2020 and 2021, strong demand-side trends will present immense development potential for security market participants. Frost & Sullivan have identified a series of trends that are forecast to generate growth opportunities for the sector:

Digitalisation priorities: Remote/cloud-connected access to security systems and monitoring tools will witness a drastic rise in demand as manned guarding will become extremely limited due to stay-at-home orders issued by state or federal governments, and likely not recover once those orders expire.

Emphasis on contactless technologies: In the post-pandemic period, contactless technologies such as biometrics, remote access and authentication, and multi-use analytics solutions will attract investments.

Plug-and-play surveillance: Customer willingness to deploy plug-and-play surveillance equipment over permanent system additions due to cost-effectiveness will offer vendors repeat business opportunities.

Sensors-to-action: Vendors must prioritise the development/enhancement of data analytics and sensor networks’ capabilities to provide increased value to customers without having to purchase new solutions or equipment.

Answering widespread demands for new curbs on aggressive policing in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, Amazon is halting law enforcement use of its facial recognition platform for one year, the company said Wednesday.

The company has marketed its software platform, called Rekognition, to law enforcement agencies for years, and its short blog post announcing the shift did not provide an explicit reason for the change of direction. The post did note that Amazon supports federal regulation of facial recognition technology and that the company hopes the one-year moratorium “might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules.”

The move came two days after IBM announced that it was getting out of the facial recognition business entirely, citing ethical concerns over the powerful technology. In a letter to Congress, the company’s chief executive, Arvind Krishna, wrote that “IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any [facial recognition] technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms,” or any other purpose that goes against the company’s core principles.

Cities around the country, including Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco, have banned the technology’s use by public agencies outright over fears that the software, which employs machine learning algorithms to automatically detect human faces in digital video and match them to names, presents too great a risk to privacy to be used responsibly.

A 2019 California law banned the use of facial recognition software — and any other biometric surveillance that can identify people by tattoo, gait or other individually distinguishable characteristics — on photos or video collected by law enforcement agencies.

Motorola Solutions and Avigilon Corporation, a Motorola Solutions company, announced that they have been selected to help protect Marino’s Market in Alabama.

With over 18,000 customers shopping each week at its two store locations, it is crucial for Marino’s Market to protect its business from customer theft, false liability claims, shrinkage and procurement issues. To address these concerns, Marino’s Market deployed a security system that provides greater visibility throughout their stores to help ensure that employees follow cash handling procedures correctly and track down deliveries. Since deploying a comprehensive Avigilon and Motorola Solutions system, Marino’s Market has seen an improvement in the efficiency of its security operations by 75% and its shrinkage has been reduced by 50%.

The new system features Avigilon Control Center (ACC) video management software, an Access Control Manager system and a suite of Avigilon cameras including the H4 Mini Dome and H4 Pro models as well as the H4 Multisensor, H4 Fisheye, H4A Bullet and H4 IR PTZ cameras, which feature self-learning video analytics.

Marino’s Market also uses Motorola Solutions CLS1410 two-way radios to enable efficient communication between store managers.

“Having an Avigilon system is like having a virtual security guard; it gives me so much more freedom because I don’t have to do all the work myself — the analytics and search functions of ACC takes a lot of that work off my plate,” said AJ Marino. “And you can find information so fast that you can respond in near real-time before the perpetrator even leaves the store so that you can intercept them and address the issue.”

“We are pleased to offer Marino’s Market technology that helps them provide a safe and positive shopping experience to their customers, while also ensuring the proper handling of goods,” said John Kedzierski, senior vice president, Video Security Solutions at Motorola Solutions. “The system has enabled the market to operate more efficiently and demonstrates the potential of Avigilon and Motorola Solutions security offerings within a busy retail environment.”

Hikvision, a world leading supplier of innovative security products and solutions, has been awarded CNPP Certified certificates for 15 of its thermal cameras as heat detection systems.

CNPP is an international player in risk prevention and management in the fields of fire and explosion safety, security and malicious acts, cybersecurity, environmental issues and occupational risks. Among the portfolio of CNPP activities, the certifications issued by its subsidiary CNPP Cert. are recognitions and passports of trust. As a third party, CNPP Cert. awards certifications as part of a collective approach where all stakeholders are members of the certification committee: security professionals, users, technical consultants, insurance companies and public authorities.

“I am very happy that after several months of work, we have obtained CNPP certifications for our thermal security cameras”, says Franck Carette, Thermal Product Manager at Hikvision Europe. “In addition, we are the very first manufacturer of security products to obtain this certification.”

Three certificates were issued following conformity tests carried out according to the technical specification CNPP ST LPMES – DEC.19.005 of February 1, 2019. The certificates were awarded to thermal security cameras belonging to the following series:

Bullet series (32.20.221): DS-2TD2136T, DS-2TD2137T, DS-2TD2166T, DS-2TD2167T, DS-2TD2636T, DS-2TD2637T, DS-2TD2667T

Dome Series (33.20.221): DS-2TD4136T, DS-2TD4137T, DS-2TD4166T, DS-2TD4167T

PT series (34.20.221): DS-2TD6236T, DS-2TD6237T, DS-2TD6266T, DS-2TD6267T