PACOM Spain Celebrates 10 Years!
The article is a translation of the original article in SEGURITECNIA July – August 2017 issue
Founded in Australia almost 35 years ago, PACOM has now completed a decade in the Spanish market. According to Miguel Ángel García, Vice President of Business Development of the company for Southern Europe, the security market has changed dramatically during this time. And it will continue to change as a result of the company solutions such as the Graphical Management System (GMS), one of the novelties of PACOM for an activity, security, for which “prevention is the best quality,” says this expert.
– This year, PACOM celebrates 10 years in Spain. What is the bottom line for the company experience in the country during this decade?
It is difficult to summarise these past 10 years in just several sentences, as I have many memories and anecdotes. This project was launched by two of us with a lot of illusions and complete dedication. We simply knew that we had the best product and the best solution. The rest was a matter of knowing how to explain our technologies and solutions to the security market, and that the EN (European) standards, though imposing, would revolutionize the understanding of security management. After these ten years, PACOM España keeps growing and positioning itself in the market with the most advanced technologies. And, without a doubt, our main asset is our workforce. Without them, we would not be where we are today.
– How has the security market changed since the company was established in Spain up to this day?
Above all, we have noticed that this industry is becoming more professional above the rest of the countries and markets. This gives us a crosscutting perspective of the changes and concerns in the different security fields. It should also be noted that the transition from analog to digital security has paved the way for interpreting electronic security as an element for protection and prevention. This, in turn, adds value to the architecture of the current security systems, as well as develops a preventive and effective management through the use of technologies which, without a doubt, make our work easier with regards to security.
– What goals, both economic and strategic, has the company set for the next few years? What will your strategy be to achieve them?
In the short term, our goal is to work on the most cutting-edge platforms, such as the Internet of Things, and to create management and monitoring layers based on logical security. For this, we have made an initial investment of US$10 million. In addition, we intend to keep fostering the innovation and development of our clients, as PACOM’s commitment is and will be the provision of technologies and applications to facilitate the work of Security Departments.
– How do you think the security technology market will evolve in the coming years?
Considering the latest progress achieved by manufacturers and that technologies no longer “scare” us, and that they are, at this point, part of our daily lives and processes, it will keep growing on the path to digitalization, based on the current communications systems. With regard to the latter, we propose to protect them and keep them free from attacks.
– One of the novelties at PACOM is your Graphical Management System (GMS) for the integration of various security management operations. What exactly is this solution and what are its main achievements?
Our GMS allows us to compile all the information required at a simple interface on the control panel, thus providing a global and customised vision of all the security systems, both our own and of third parties. It provides at all times the information that our 8002 and 8003 Controllers are sending and receiving from servers and which, in turn, are sending to the user system. All this while ensuring a flawless synergy and synchronization of all events to achieve a dynamic and effective management of the security elements that make up the system.
– System integration is nowadays a requirement that virtually all manufacturers follow. In fact, standards have been created over the past few years to facilitate communications. However, what are the main integration challenges that are still being experienced both by suppliers and by installers?
In fact, the integration and interaction of the systems and subsystems should occur in a logical and standardised manner, thus facilitating the work of manufacturers, installers and security companies. This is a pending subject for us all that must be regulated efficiently. And this will be possible through regulations that address this segment within the security industry.
– What other type of novelties are you working on this year and when will these be released?
We are focusing on the fact that our full hardware range can connect via IP as well as with RS communication ports; all this while improving data performance. In addition, besides the R&D area, we are working on PACOM software innovations, such as the already known GMS and EMCS. We, as manufacturers, should be aligned with the new Security departments, which harbour a highly-specialised knowledge in cyber-security and logical security. As part of our innovations, we will develop a software called GMS 2020, which will be able to validate different security level layers and segments, both ours and of third parties, to audit systems and to work further on prevention.
– PACOM collaborates with different suppliers in our country. How do you work with the channel and what attributes and benefits does your model provide?
During these 10 years, our main achievement has been to reach customers in a clear and powerful way, to offer the most cutting-edge technologies in the industry. Obviously, the integrator channel has to be the one implementing these investments and which should possess a wide range of information and knowledge about PACOM to provide quality and service using our certification program by levels. I am one of those who thinks that, sometimes, one plus one plus makes three.
-Within the PACOM service portfolio, many of the solutions are targeted at users such as ports, airports, health, banking… i.e. infrastructures which, in some cases, are strategic for national security. What features should be included in the solutions aimed at these environments?
PACOM committed to creating a technology area to be able to provide solutions and services for this type of users. We obtained Grade 4 certification for all our products more than a year ago, and we have references for the critical infrastructures. In Spain, the leading companies are now installing these systems and applying the technological solutions provided by PACOM for prevention.
– Cyber-security is one of the main concerns for companies, especially considering the need to integrate different systems and that all these are safe. How does PACOMwork to ensure your solutions are robust and secure when they connect to the network?
Since its early beginnings, PACOM has developed a proprietary communications protocol between its systems. And when I say since its early beginnings, I am referring to almost 35 years of experience working in the development of communications in an international scope, which gives us greater peace of mind when working with our clients’ IT departments and when analyzing the solutions that best suit their needs. Due to the many forms of attack that we have seen lately, cyber-security has become our greatest concern. Therefore, we should always be on the lookout for potential attacks on security systems. In this regard, we at PACOM maintain a culture of continuous improvement and our entire team receives the appropriate training to know and understand this type of issues. Additionally, our clients have us undergo tests and internal and independent audits to guarantee all their systems. In this section, prevention, once again, is the best security quality.
SEGURITECNIA July – August 2017
