Last month the world's number 1 lock manufacturer Assa Abloy published a new report titled, 'The Wireless Access Control Report' full of very useful information, surveys and analysis about wireless access control. You can download the report here https://www.ifsecglobal.com/exclusive-download-the-wireless-access-control-report-2018/
We've carried out an analysis of this report, to see what it means for NB IoT wireless access control and all its opportunities.
REPORT FINDING: Access Control Market is growing at a rapid pace.
Transparency Market Research1 has forecasted robust growth in the global wireless access control market between now and 2025, when revenues will reach US$1.66bn at a CAGR of 7.9%. North America, which accounted for 31.3% market share as of 2016, is expected to be the largest revenue contributor. Published in January 2018, Wireless Access Control Market – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2017– 2025 notes demand growing strongly in the residential market, although the commercial arena is still expected to account for 56% of revenues by 2025.
REPORT FINDING; Not many commercial businesses have wireless access control systems installed.
This report — the third edition of the Wireless Access Control Report sponsored by ASSA, based on a poll of hundreds of professionals involved in the procurement, operation, deployment or maintenance of access control systems, set out to gauge perception of, and demand for, wireless technologies in a market where hardwired systems still have an edge in the installed base. The report reveals only 6% of installed electronic access systems are fully wireless. However, a further 31% include a mixture of wired and wireless systems, and a significantly higher proportion of organisations have wireless systems installed compared to those surveyed at the tail end of 2015 for the 2016 report.
NB IoT smart access control opportunity: The market for wireless access control systems is wide open. Little penetration has occurred in the marketplace with existing wireless access control systems including mostly Wi-Fi/BLE solutions. NB IoT wireless access control solutions are more secure, more reliable, more convenient, more affordable and require no onsite network infrastructure. With the market still very immature, there is a huge opportunity for NB IoT smart access control to step in as the technology of choice for wireless access control.
REPORT FINDING: Facility Managers/Security Managers have a more positive view of wireless than five years ago.
With the global wireless access control market growing briskly at a CAGR of 7.9%, such benefits are increasingly recognised by facilities managers and security departments. Wireless is “the next natural step in fire safety/security,” in the words of one professional who responded to our survey.
Mirroring the usual trajectory of emerging technology, wireless systems have over time become less expensive, more reliable and more versatile. Nearly two thirds (63%) of respondents “have a more positive view of wireless than five years ago because the technology has improved”.
NB IoT smart access control opportunity: The decision makers for access control systems in commercial buildings are slowly beginning to accept that access control can be wireless - this is despite the low market penetration discussed earlier. A main reason offered for a more positive view is that technology has improved, however, the choices of technology currently in the marketplace have all been exposed as insecure and hackable in the last couple of years. The people surveyed in this report, probably would not yet be aware about NB IoT access control, as we've only just released it onto the market in June 2018. Therefore as attitudes change towards wireless access control with less superior technologies, NB IoT smart access control stands in a good position to swoop in with its more superior wireless product offering and take advantage of changing attitudes.
REPORT FINDING; Existing Wireless access control systems are 20% more expensive than their wired counterparts.
Wireless locks are around 20% more expensive than their wired counterparts on average. However, the cost of the additional labour required to make cuts into doors and wire a system can increase the total project cost per door by up to 40%. These labour savings are the main reason behind wireless locks’ popularity in developed economies, as wages are higher on average.
NB IoT Smart access control opportunity; Existing wireless access control is more expensive than their wired counterparts, as you need an array of modems, routers, gateways, controllers, bridges, mesh access points, programmers, and the install is complicated requiring a complex mesh network.
NB IoT smart access is around 50-80% cheaper than existing wireless access control systems as there is no onsite network infrastructure whatsoever. The smart locks contain SIM cards, and NB IoT modules enabling them to connect to the local NB IoT networks on the telecommunication companies mobile networks. And the connectivity costs are very low too - as low as 10 Euros for 10 years.
Check back in next week for more analysis of wireless access control and NB IoT.