According to a research report published by Marketsandmarkets, the smart cities market is expected to grow from USD 511.6 billion in 2022 to USD 1024.4 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 14.9% during the forecast period.

The smart cities market is growing due to the rising need for public safety and advanced communication infrastructure, growing adoption of connected and smart technologies, rising energy optimisation requirements, and intensifying citizen engagement.

Smart transport

By smart transportation solution, passenger information management is expected to register the fastest growth rate during the forecast period. The passenger information system is an important link between passengers and transit service providers and keeps travellers updated quickly and precisely. It focuses on the current location of the bus, estimated arrival time and departure time, and vacant seats and keeps the passenger updated. It is an electronic operating tool that provides its passengers with, at any given time, visual and acoustic information to passengers on a route, both automatically and programmed manually.

Building automation

In terms of the actual smart buildings, it is the commercial sector that the analysts estimate will account for the largest market share in 2022. The HVAC, smart lighting, and monitoring are some of the important factors affecting the comfort and productivity of employees in commercial settings. HVAC control systems provide precise temperature control and improve the air quality in commercial buildings. The automation of building temperature, security, and maintenance increases the overall efficiency of commercial buildings. The energy performance of commercial buildings is a major challenge for the commercial sector as these buildings consume higher energy and generate more waste in the form of carbon and other solid wastes. Therefore, appropriate and tailor-made solutions are needed for optimised energy performance to reduce building energy consumption without compromising comfort or security.

Dynamic urbanisation

Geographically, Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing market for smart city solutions due to the adoption of new technologies, rising investments in digital transformation, and growing GDP in the Asia Pacific countries. Developed economies, such as China, Japan, and South Korea, which are the most technologically advanced, are the highest contributors to the smart city market in the region. The region also constitutes major economies, such as Singapore, Australia, and India. As the world’s most dynamic region for urbanisation, Asia Pacific is home to a majority of developing Asia Pacific members experiencing rapid urbanisation. Major vendors such as ZTE, Huawei, and NEC Corporation have already invested huge amounts in telecom infrastructure, and this spending is expected to increase. Due to the large number of 5G deployments and initiatives taken by major Asian mobile operators to resolve the problem of high bandwidth requirements, the smart cities market in the Asia Pacific is expected to have enormous growth in the coming years.

Main market players

The major vendors covered in the smart cities market include Cisco, IBM, Siemens, Microsoft, Hitachi, Schneider, Huawei, Intel, NEC, ABB, Ericsson, Oracle, Fujitsu, Honeywell, Accenture, Vodafone, AWS, Thales, Signify, Kapsch, Motorola, GE, Google, TCS, Nokia, Samsung, SAP, Tomtom, Appway, Ketos, Gaia, Takadu, Flamencotech, Xenius, Bright Cities, Maydtech, Zencity and Ixden.

The world’s population has now reached the landmark figure of eight billion people, according to the United Nations. However, one billion people still have no legal identity and are thus excluded from social participation and the opportunities of the modern world. About 237 million children under the age of five do not have a birth certificate. With this having serious implications for those individuals, Veridos is committed to supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of giving all people a legal identity by 2030.

“A legal identity is the prerequisite for modern life in a connected world. Only a legal identity enables to uphold fundamental rights and participate in social, political and financial life,” explains Marc-Julian Siewert, CEO at Veridos. “We firmly believe that a legal identity is a human right. That’s why we are striving to develop both secure and innovative identity technologies that enable governments to guarantee this right to their citizens.”

Official identity documents, such as passports and birth certificates, do not only establish a sense of belonging for individuals, but they also guarantee them access to social benefits and services such as healthcare, education, humanitarian aid and financial support. They also enable them to exercise fundamental rights such as the right to vote or inherit.

Internationally recognized documents enable people to travel across borders for business and tourism. But they also allow them to receive medical care abroad or pursue specialized or technical education in  foreign countries. Finally, identities give citizens secure access to important services for economic growth, such as setting up a bank account.

For these reasons, Veridos supports the UN Sustainable Development Goal 16.9, which calls on all countries to provide all citizens with a legal identity by 2030. Veridos is a member of the United Nations Global Compact, a worldwide pact between the UN and companies for the social and ecological shaping of globalization.

Following initiatives from the European Commission regarding legislation promoting the data economy, Euralarm has raised concerns over specific provisions in the proposed Data Act that may generate security risks.

In particular, Euralarm notes chapter II of the proposal that makes the sharing of data with third parties mandatory.

Euralarm’s position is as follows:

“Data related to security activities are linked to critical and very sensitive operations and procedures. With access to this data, it would be possible to gain a very deep understanding of the installation and performance of the system or service. This would result in a very high risk of security breaches, including cyber security breaches, both to a given customer installation and to the whole security system itself.

“Furthermore, the criticality of data generated by security systems (such as video surveillance systems) is already recognised by national laws regulating private security and the installation of video surveillance systems. These laws limit the right to share information related to or generated by these systems. The data sharing provisions of the draft Data Act are therefore in conflict with these national laws.

“Finally, access to pure operational data/metadata does not provide any benefit to the end-user, neither allows a smoother switching of provider. Therefore, there is no benefit in allowing/imposing any requirement in the way the data has to be accessed or managed.”

In a recently published Position Paper Euralarm proposes several amendments, as well as a new article to the draft Regulation in order to exempt security-related data from the obligation of sharing. Services Directive 2006/123/EC excludes private security services from its scope via Article 2(2)(k). Euralarm therefore believes that a similar exemption in the Data Act should be feasible.

A copy of the Position Paper can be downloaded from the Euralarm website here.

Data security for companies is critical: the legal and reputational risks and the harm caused to individuals when it falls into the wrong hands can be significant. Impressed by its global footprint, a data centre company chose G4S to design, install and maintain a security solution for its new site in Oman.

G4S has been active in Oman for over two decades and is a known name in the fire and security sector. Its customers range from banks and hotels to defence and energy companies, and specialises in introducing new technologies. In 2019 a Nasdaq-listed data centre company called on G4S’s expertise to design, install and maintain an integrated security solution for its new site located 65km from the capital city, Muscat.

G4S’s brief was to cover building and perimeter surveillance as well as staff and visitor access control. Crucially, this all needed to be accessible on a single platform for use by the company’s in-house security team.

Sumit Arora, Managing Director of G4S in Oman, said: “We created a state of the art security solution by bringing in multiple products under one single software platform for monitoring and control. This includes different types of cameras like thermal and infrared, as well as a gate automation and alarm systems.

Top of the range equipment was sourced from across the world, while Amag Technology, a manufacturing company owned by Allied Universal, supplied the access control and video management systems – the backbone of the integrated security solution.

The data centre is now used by some of the most recognisable tech brands in the world. G4S continues to carry out periodic maintenance checks and also provides 24/7 support to reduce downtime in case of any system faults.

Reflecting on the project, Sumit said: “Our involvement in the project began when the data centre was still a greenfield site, so we really were involved in its whole life cycle. Coordination and project management is key when you’re working on something like this, which involves multiple teams and equipment; but we really enjoy it because it’s very collaborative and is as far away as you can get from being transactional.”

The mobile video surveillance market is projected to grow from USD 2.4 billion in 2022 to USD 3.6 billion by 2027; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.7% during the forecast period. This is according to researchers at Marketsandmarkets, who also say that a number of factors, including increased camera resolution, increasing AI capabilities, and remote monitoring, are making it easier for mobile surveillance integrators to meet the demand from end users to meet their security and operational needs in various types of vehicles including transportation vehicles, police vehicles, and drones.

Increased demand for storage

A general fall in prices of surveillance cameras over time has also resulted in increased adoption worldwide, which, in turn, has created significant demand for storage solutions. The high demand for storage devices can also be attributed to the greater adoption of IP cameras. IP cameras record videos at higher resolutions and framerate. Some cameras simultaneously record sound alongside the video. These factors have increased the storage requirements; hence, storage devices are projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

IP video offer greater flexibility

IP cameras excel in capturing high-definition, high-framerate video. They also offer greater flexibility for interconnectivity with different cameras and expansion in the number of connected cameras. IP security cameras transmit data through encryption and authentication methods, such as WEP, WPA, WPA2, TKIP, and AES. IP cameras can also be connected wirelessly with an NVR. These cameras also offer remote access; they can be monitored from any computer anywhere in the world and many mobile devices, including smartphones and laptops. Owing to the increased capabilities of IP cameras and digital recording capabilities, many companies and organisations are switching to IP-based camera systems.

Strong demand in military & defence vertical

In military & defence, drones can be easily deployed and integrated into the Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) system. They have simple operational and maintenance procedures with high tactical capabilities. They are versatile and can carry out a variety of missions, such as mountain search and rescue, illegal traffic monitoring, support to ground forces, and intelligence operations. Mobile video surveillance is widely used in the military and aerospace segment for different applications, such as patrolling national borders (border security) and search and rescue missions. In addition, mobile video surveillance controls the entry of refugees in crucial areas, such as military base camps and border areas, monitors peace treaties, provides security perimeters around the base camps and embassies (perimeter security), and ensures resource exploration and target tracking.

Geographically APAC shows best growth potential

The market in the Asia Pacific is expected to be growing at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Early adoption of new technologies, such as cameras, wireless connectivity, and integrated analytics for DVRs and NVRs, has resulted in the rising adoption of mobile video surveillance systems in the Asia Pacific. Also, government initiatives toward making cities safer against terrorists; high expenditure on security equipment; availability of low-cost mobile video surveillance systems by local manufacturers; and high demand for IP systems in transportation, law enforcement, and military & defence verticals are driving the growth of the Chinese mobile video surveillance market.

Major vendors

Major vendors in the mobile video surveillance market according to the analysts and mentioned in the research include – Hikvision, Dahua Technology, Axis Communications, Bosch, Hanwha Techwin, Avigilon, Teledyne Flir, Briefcam, Pelco, Uniview, Agent Video Intelligence, CP Plus, Genetec, Huawei, Seon Design, Pro-Vigil, Strongwatch, Rosco Vision, Vivotek, Mobotix, Wireless CCTV, Strops Technology, DTI Group and Ivideon.

Uniview, globalni ponuđač IP videonadzorne opreme, zvanično je otvorio podružnicu u Ujedinjenim Arapskim Emiratima. Ured smješten u Jumeirah Lakes Towersu u Dubaiju rezultat je snažne posvećenosti i rasta kompanije na tržištu te zemlje.

Uniview je od osnivanja 2011. godine do sada kročio u više od 200 zemalja. Prvi međunarodni ured je otvorio 2018. u Južnoj Koreji, a zatim u UAE-u. Kompanija je 2020. ostvarila prihode od prodaje u iznosu od 830 miliona dolara, što je trostruki rast u pet godina zahvaljujući proširenoj paleti proizvoda: IP kamera, mrežnih snimača, uređaja za pohranu podataka, kontrolu pristupa i pametne domove te pametnih kancelarijskih proizvoda.

“Od istraživanja međunarodnog tržišta 2014. godine Uniview je, za tih otprilike osam godina, lansirao više od 1.100 vrhunskih proizvoda u 200 zemalja. Ponosni smo što smo na tržištu Bliskog istoka akumulirali snažnu podršku mnogih partnera i pokrenuli različite uspješne projekte”, rekao je Leo Liu, direktor Univiewa za Bliski Istok.

Mirasys, a Finnish pioneer in developing open platform video management software, has integrated ASSA ABLOY ARX access control solution into its Open Platform VMS.

A global leader in access solutions, ASSA ABLOY provides products and services related to openings, such as locks, doors, gates and entrance automation solutions. This also includes expertise in controlling identities with keys, cards, tags, mobile and biometric identity verification systems.

Mirasys’s Video Management System is offered as a preferred choice to collect, store, and provide data from IP cameras and other related sensors from small up to critical infra structures and installations.

“ASSA ABLOY ARX Security system integrated with Mirasys VMS software provides a smart and powerful solution to secure and improve from small up to large and complex facilities,” said Erich Kusuki, CEO of Mirasys.

New research conducted by Genetec shows that cyber security remains a top concern for physical security professionals going into 2023.

Based on insights from over 3,700 physical security leaders from around the world, the report revealed that almost half (49%) of the organisations surveyed had activated an improved cyber security strategy this year, and more than a third of all respondents (36%) are looking to invest in cyber security-related tools to improve their physical security environment in the next 12 months.

When asked about the challenges faced when managing employee and visitor safety, more than half of the organisations selected cyber security as their main challenge. This was particularly evident for organisations with over 100,000 employees, with 62.3% of them indicating that cyber security was their top challenge, compared to 52.1% for companies with under 100,000 employees.

Of the many capabilities related to cyber security and data protection deployed by physical security teams in the last year, cyber-hardening of physical security hardware and access control management were the most popular, with 40% of respondents implementing new measures targeting those capabilities.