Interoperability and Ease of Installation

The business segment Security Products is part of the Siemens Building Technologies Division and offers a broad range of access control, intrusion detection and video surveillance products. The segment sells its products to distributors, external system integrators and installers but also to the Siemens Security Solutions unit. At the Security Essen show, Heiko Baumgartner did get an update from Peter Hawksworth, Head of the Security Products business segment, about the company's plans and developments in the market.

GIT-SECURITY: When we met last time, your plan was to centralize your business and to accelerate the development in the access control and intrusion detection markets while keeping a core CCTV portfolio. How has this plan developed?

Peter Hawksworth: The turn-around we talked about two years ago is complete now. We have centralized a good part of our business in Sollna, Sweden now. Accounting, finance, the product management and R&D are located there. On the product side our objective was to develop an attractively priced, professionally supported selection of excellent security products in the three market segments you mentioned. I think we have achieved this goal. Our re-organization has accelerated the development of new products. Our intrusion detection portfolio consists now of a complete range of systems and devices for detection and monitoring, control and operation, alarm transmission, alarm verification and remote services. Both our Sintony and SPC controllers and their wide range of system components provide installers and end users with great flexibility and scalability. The easy integration with our SiPass integrated access control system ensures that full interoperability is built in as standard.

You have always emphasized that interoperability is in the focus of your developments. I assume that it is of the same importance for your video surveillance and access control products?

Peter Hawksworth: Yes, easy integration is equally important for our video surveillance products and systems. They are designed with both installer and end-user requirements in mind and to complement our access control and intrusion detection portfolios. Our offering consists of dome and bodied cameras with IP variants, lenses, digital video management systems, matrix systems, pan & tilt heads, housings and accessories. We have developed access control to link up with industry standard CCTV products using open protocols. Our SiPass products and systems are designed to suit a wide variety of different kinds of organizations around the world - large, medium-sized and small. While security is of utmost importance for access control products, interoperability is too. The SiPass range has also been designed to provide a high level of convenience. As a result, our products are not only robust and reliable - they are also very easy to install, use and maintain. All of our systems have become more flexible and scalable, which means it's easy to modify or expand them at any time to meet changing needs.

At Security Essen and other shows one could see that remote access via internet or smart phones is certainly a trend in the industry. How do you ensure that your customers are always in control, even when they are on the move?

Peter Hawksworth: At Security Products we have made substantial investments in our customer support systems. My intention is that our products should be available and accessible and they should be supported in the best way possible. One of our latest developments is an app for smartphones and tablets developed to provide instant support for installers. It is an app for smartphones and tablets developed to provide installers with 24/7 access to our range of CCTV, intruder detection and access control products. Our experience is that our customers, the majority of whom are installers, need support most often when they are on site in the middle of a job. And they need that support quickly. With this app, wherever they are - provided they have a mobile data or Wi-Fi connection - installers can not only pull up data sheets for products they are using, but also seek advice from the entire installer community. That‘s going to make their lives much easier as well as saving them a lot of time and money.

It is remarkable that two other product highlights you present here at Security Essen are also on the software side.

Peter Hawksworth: Yes, for video surveillance we have developed a new network video software that combines performance with scalability. It was developed specifically for high-performance network video surveillance systems that use full HD image quality. The Vectis HX NVS software package allows monitoring and recording of images from up to 64 IP cameras per network. For IP cameras from Siemens, the software also provides full remote control capabilities, including PTZ control. In addition, ONVIF support allows the connection of third-party cameras that are compliant with this widely used open standard. On the intrusion detection and access control side, we have introduced the SPC Manager software that facilitates the administration of multiple SPC intrusion detection and access control systems at one or more locations. SPC Manager supports up to one thousand SPC panels that can be located anywhere in the world. The software offers powerful features, including real-time monitoring of installed systems and the ability to modify the user settings of more than one SPC system in a single command.

What can we expect for 2013?

Peter Hawksworth: The most significant new product introduction for us this year will be the new ‘Magic' motion detector. We believe this will be our key differentiator in the intruder market in 2013. It utilizes a new reflex mirror (double mirror) technology which means that the overall depth of the unit is much less than competitor models. The result is a small and very attractive detector that will suit any installation. Also new for 2013 is our Next Generation Access Card reader. This is the first in a line of exciting new Access Control developments in our portfolio for the future. This product will be our own branded MiFare reader and it also has an aesthetically pleasing and robust design. On the CCTV side, with the introduction of upgraded versions of our popular Vectis hybrid video recorders (HVRs) and our versatile CCTV cameras, plus the launch of a new HD low-energy monitor, plus new CCTV accessories, I believe we are now able to offer one of Europe's most comprehensive and up to the minute ranges of IP CCTV products. All of these products are designed to allow easy integration with other types of access control and building management systems. Finally, we are also adopting a more critical approach to the aesthetics of our products. The Magic detector is an example of this. A number of customers in different countires have commented that having products that perform well is no longer enough. Their customers are now as concerned about what the device looks like and this is a topic in which we have invested time and effort.