Security integrators’ business activity supports the research: substantial progress is expected in access control sales during the next four or five years. One of the segments currently experiencing very robust growth is electronic locks and electrified door hardware. While the coronavirus pandemic may have slowed end-user sales and installations due to the challenges of performing these activities only when it’s safe to do so, it hasn’t deterred end-user demand, integrators say. Yet, with this growth comes challenges both in the complexity of the technology and the way solutions are delivered to the marketplace. Security integrators handle these challenges in a great number of ways.

“Electronic locking devices and door hardware are mission-critical to the functionality of an access control system,” says Dave Sweeney, general manager, Advantech, a Cook & Boardman Company based in Dover, Del., and a Security-Net member company. “We’ve seen this market steadily grow over the past few years, and one of the reasons is because the price point of the battery-powered, integrated handled sets have come down enough to allow customers to deploy card readers and access control on secondary and tertiary doors,” Sweeney says. He notes that 10 years ago it would have cost $5,000 to do a wired card reader door versus $1,200 today, making interior doors much more economically feasible to secure.