Alarm, intrusion, and perimeter protection have been part and parcel of South African society for years. Many years ago, a home alarm consisted of wires covering one’s windows, which caused an alarm when they were bent too far, thereby protecting against someone clambering in the window. When alarm companies started responding to alarms, the only communications mechanism for them was a VHF radio and a battery, which pales in comparison to what we have today.
Things have advanced significantly since then as technology has changed, and today, wires are not even needed to connect sensors to control panels. Of course, wired systems still form the primary alarm systems installed, but as we can see in this guide, wireless communication is growing rapidly, whether through cellular communications, Wi-Fi, or proprietary protocols designed to protect data in transit.
Wires are still a staple for perimeter security, whether for homes or larger environments, due to the prevalence of electric fencing, but additional technologies have also crept into this market to strengthen perimeter as well as intrusion security. Some of these are featured in the guide, from surveillance cameras, complete with AI and the latest analytics, to acoustic alerting systems running on the same fibre your perimeter cameras run on.
As is to be expected, AI is playing a greater role in these markets as well, assisting with preventing false alarms and being able to differentiate between people, animals, and vehicles. The potential over the next few years can be quite daunting, but one can never rely only on AI and must always follow the principles of good assessments, design, installation and quality products.
As with all technical areas of the security industry, integration is crucial in the alarm, intrusion, and perimeter markets. These devices need to talk to a central management platform (more than simply a control panel) and communicate with all security technologies, surveillance cameras being an important one.
Increasingly, organisations that understand the potential of IoT are also integrating security into operational and management systems. The clearest example of this is in the smart home space, where security, lighting, air conditioning, and so forth are being integrated into a single platform – pretty much a mini-version of where building and facilities management is going.
This is our first guide focused on the alarm, intrusion, and perimeter market, and we welcome comments and criticisms from our readers. If we missed anything you believe is important to this market or focused on the wrong things, please let us know at andrew@technews.co.za.
Look out for news about our final conference of the year, the SMART Estate Security Conference, which is set for the end of October in Johannesburg. The agenda is still being finalised, but we already have a few interesting speakers and topics lined up.
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