Page 24 - Security Today, October 2018

Simplicity and Flexibility Wireless access control can now be your Plan A for integrations
BWy Peter Boriskin
ireless technology in the security space is on the cusp of becoming the new norm. For the past few years we’ve seen the adoption of the technology grow steadily as it continuously improves upon traditional security solutions.
the technology market: once a product or solution secures enough market penetration, adoption ramps up to a rapid pace.
Wireless products are reaching that tipping point thanks to mar- ket penetration in both the business and residential space—people have come to expect them as part of their lives. Further, wireless so- lutions are now faster and easier to install—thus saving integrators time and money. The technology gives building owners more control over their facility, and more flexibility in where and how they can implement security.
In short, wireless solutions are currently a driving force in our industry and everyone needs to be prepared for the coming demand. What does that mean for key groups in the security integration chain? How can integrators use this technology to their business’ benefit? What should end users now expect?
Benefits to the Integrator
The introduction of wireless as a more standard offering has altered things substantially for the integrator channel—and this almost uni-
ASSA ABLOY recently commissioned a survey into the opinions and trends in the wireless security space. We found that while only six percent of currently installed electronic access systems are fully wireless, 31 percent are now a mixture of wired and wireless technolo- gies. Meanwhile, fully wired systems have fallen from 57 percent to 41 percent over a three-year period.
The report offers some intriguing context for this type of adop- tion: cellular phones. In the 1980s, a marketing group projected that 900,000 mobile phones would be used worldwide by the year 2000. By the time 1999 rolled around, there were 900,000 mobile phones being sold every three days.
This is presented not to say there is causation between these events, but to reinforce the anecdotal reality many of us observe in
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WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
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