Issue link: https://securitytechnologyexecutive.epubxp.com/i/870734
56 SECURIT Y TECHNOLOGY E XECUTIVE • September/October 2017 • www. SecurityInfoWatch.com INDUSTRY VOICE T he physical security industry is not wired like the IT industry. Despite the inf luences of IT on security, there remains a bias of belief that individual manufacturers should sell a jack-of -all - trades product portfolio. What is accepted and even expected in the IT industry – that a company should make a product family really well, which should also integrate really well with the rest of the products in the industry -- is instead the anomaly in the security industry. Perhaps it's the lack of common integration protocols and standards but it seems like there is this hidden gravitational pull in security to ultimately default to an end-to-end portfolio from individual manufacturers. Defy Gravity and Rise Above the Bias of Belief Physical security industry needs to take its cues from IT side If open is better, then the companies that focus on delivering best-of-breed products have a responsibility to make quoting, procurement, commissioning and support more seamless and approachable across various technolog y manufacturers. Image Courtesy of BigStock.com Why is This? If we look back in time, the security industry is littered with numerous examples of fully end-to-end solu- tion companies. Legendary names have built and/or acquired product after product and over time assem- bled an end-to-end comprehensive solution, all sold and supp orted under the umbrella of a singular brand. Never mind that many of these companies either made only a few things well or covered up otherwise average products with excellent support: the fact remains that companies have been built and fortunes realized with this end-to-end approach. As the security industry has transitioned from ana- log to IP network technology, some of this has changed, and many of the successful end-to-end brands have ultimately failed in the transition. But even today By Tim Palmquist Clearly, one of the appealing attributes for an end-to- end portfolio is control.