Primion Technology is celebrating its 20th birthday

primion Technology is celebrating its 20th birthday in 2015. The specialist company for integrated solutions in security technology, access control and time recording was established back in 1995 with just five employees under the name of AZS Datentechnik. The company was renamed in 2000 as part of its program of internationalization and today, as the primion group, is an internationally operating group of companies.

With around 400 staff, regional offices across Germany, subsidiaries in France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands and a widespread international network of system integration partners, primion Technology has successfully expanded its areas of operation and opened up new markets during the past two decades through targeted acquisitions and the successive development of new technologies.

Amongst the highlights over the last 20 years were receiving the Baden Württemberg State Innovation Prize just one year after the company was founded as well as being the first company in the world to receive Class C Certification in access control from the VdS (Verband der Sachversicherer), Germany's prestigious Association of Property Insurers, which has been developing advanced security concepts for the industry for decades. Further milestones in the company's history were the iF Design Award for terminals and readers from the Crystal Line range and winning the prize for Innovation Product 2008 with readers from the same series. primion was one of the first companies from the industry to develop a fully web-based solution for managing time recording and access control.

Spreading Its Wings
The strategy of internationalization started just four years after the company was founded with the conversion to a Joint Stock company. The first subsidiary was established in France. Many large companies who were amongst the early adopters of the primion solution are still customers today: twenty of Germany's Top 100 listed companies are on the customer list.

As the company moved into the 21st century, further large projects followed, for example Toll Collect, whose motorway toll-gathering installations across the German motorway network are secured and monitored through a primion system. New, intelligent biometric and mechatronic systems and applications were developed and successfully launched onto the market. 2005 and 2006 stand out as a period of acquisition and wide-reaching changes. primion Technology bought the Time & Access Division of Dr. Städtler in Nuremberg and the Spanish company Digitek, one of Spain's leading specialists for access control systems. Large orders from well known companies from the chemical and pharmaceutical industries underpinned the primion business model. On 13th February 2006, the company was floated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, initially with a listing in the Prime Standard and then with a move to the General Standard in 2009.

The acquisition in 2006 of the GET Group, market leader for time recording systems in Belgium and the Netherlands, extended the company's area of influence in northern Europe. This was followed by a large order for the Finance Tower project in Brussels. primion continues to be successful on the domestic market with large projects at the Free Universality of Berlin and the Hamburg-Eppendorf University Hospital.

As part of the company's ongoing focus on the security area and the applications connected with security, Jans Sicherheitssysteme in Ludwigsburg was acquired in 2007. And in the next four years, further large projects followed, including one from Fraport, the operating company for Frankfurt Airport. This is one of the largest projects in the industry and, as well as covering access control, the system also encompasses the installation of a gate management application especially tailored for the airport and systems for time recording and credential management. Following the launch of the psm2200 security command center, primion was able to win Telenor as a customer, one of the biggest players in the telecommunications market with companies in 13 countries around the world. Access control and security systems have already been installed in four countries - India, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria - across the company's many locations. Further orders are expected to follow.

Solid Basis for the Future
The showcasing of new, innovative and intelligent products at the Security 2014 trade fair represents the latest highpoint in the company's history. The intelligent prime Visit visitor administration application, the innovative ADT 1200 terminal, a new mechatronic escutcheon reader and a new access control panel have underpinned the reputation of the company as one of the most respected suppliers in Europe. The introduction of a new group logo further demonstrated this claim in a striking way.

The company is looking forward to the future with optimism as it continues to focus on the strengths and synergies to be found within the group; in France through primion SAS, in Spain through primion Digitek and in Belgium and the Netherlands through primion GET. The solutions from the group will significantly influence the way the market for security solutions, access control and time recording develops over the years to come.