Who is securing India?

The news of terrorists storming Mumbai's heritage hotels Taj Palace, the
Oberoi and the Trident sent shock waves down the corporate world. Never did the
corporate world look so vulnerable as it did on Nov 26, 2009. Prior to the
attacks, one felt a sense of security while walking past these buildings. Post
Mumbai, there is a sense of false security that most corporates are trying to
get rid of by seriously evaluating deployment of security products and
solutions.

There is huge scope in homeland security say industry pundits. Though
solution providers refrain from putting any numbers, there is little doubt that
there has been a lot of traction in the physical security infrastructure market.

“Security has now become a key strategic priority, corporates now realize
that they really need to ensure that their assets are secure,” said Vishwesh
Palekar, President and CEO, GE Enterprise Solutions while underlining the fact
that the need is certainly being felt.

Some sectors are obviously more vulnerable than the others: hospitality,
retail, travel, SEZs and so on. Interestingly, Taj properties is at an advanced
stage of evaluating the extent of security solutions required, while Oberoi too
is in the midst of doing exactly that.

Though solution providers refrain from putting any numbers, there is little doubt that there has been a lot of traction in the physical security infrastructure market

Some of the players that are betting big on the security industry include HCL,
GE Securities, Godrej, IBM, Resilant, Siemens, Rapiscan, TCS, and Wipro Infotech.

HCL Securities, which was in fact formed last year as a subsidiary of HCL
Infosystems, is treating security as a completely new vertical altogether.

HCL is offering various solutions under its portfolio like CCTV based
surveillance solutions and video analytics solutions, command and control
solutions, access control, metal detectors, boom barriers and so on.

The Dial-100 Police Control Room software for Delhi Police was designed and
developed by HCL. The TETRA network was set-up by Delhi based Thunderbird
Industries.

HCL explains that it is offering a wide range of solutions and has decided to
treat security as a separate vertical purely because now anywhere everywhere
security is becoming the buzzword. Wipro Infotech too is playing its cards well
by extending its security products portfolio, said Sanjesh Gupta, VP-System
Integration, Wipro. This has happened only in the last six-eight months, he
added.

No doubt that the interest is across industries, with a lot of MNCs looking
at security products-Genpact, Unilever, Yes Bank, SAP, ICICI-but solution
vendors feel that right now, the level of interest maybe higher in the hotel
industry, and may vary in others. What is positive is that the perception that
security is not just about putting metal detectors is undergoing change.

“Some are doing it on a standalone basis and others are going for
integration-it purely depends on what one requires,” says V Rajendran,
VP-Security, HCL.

Implemented at a cost of Rs 2.08 crore, the technology deployment at Gurgaon
saw Indian software firms at the forefront, providing customized solutions over
hardware platforms by British and German companies. The AVLS system was designed
and developed by Geotrackers, an Indian start-up venture founded by IIT and IIM
graduates. With this, Geotrackers becomes the first and only Indian company till
date, to successfully 'implement an indigenously developed' location tracking
solution integrated with the advanced TETRA or digital trunking radio
communication technology.

No one denies that there is a paradigm shift in how security is being
perceived now. Colonel Sandeep Sudan (Retd), Regional Head-North India, Mahindra
Special Services Group, only hopes that the momentum lasts. “We are a very
reactive nation, we are talking of security in piecemeal. When Tsunami hit us,
we just would not stop talking about having warning systems in place, but this
security subject obviously is of much greater significance. So we need to make
sure the market and interest continue to grow.”

Source: dataquest