Don’t be clueless on wireless
Whether it’s Bluetooth for personal area networks (PANs), Wi-Fi for local area networks (LANs), or mesh for wide area networks (WANs), wireless networks are popping up all over the place. And that includes security applications.
Last week I finished writing an article about the latest in video technology and completed the text for a pullout poster titled, “Guide to Transmission.” Both of these projects reminded me that as we talk about “convergence,” “IP” and all of these other buzzwords associated with the increasing influence of computer networks on physical security, the one term that might not be getting emphasized quite enough is “wireless.” Of course, that will change as wireless technologies improve and become less expensive.
As the SIW article Wireless Technology to Drive Intrusion Alarm Market points out, security dealers will likely have more opportunities to profit on wireless in the near future. In fact, IMS Research in the UK predicts an annual growth of 6% for each of the next five years in the wireless intrusion alarm market.
While it’s hard to know if that 6% number will hold up for five years, all indicators are pointing to the fact that security dealers need to start taking a look at the wireless markets if they haven’t already.
Wireless is certainly going to be the hot technology….think of how it’s already taking over the computer industry and even internet access inside the home. It all gets down to simplicity…it’s a lot easier to do a config than to pull wire all around a building — and it’s probably going to make great in-roads for jobs that are retrofits, when the drywall is up, when the ceilings are already finished, etc.