In conversation with Techitup ME, Andrew Elvish, Vice President of Marketing, Genetec discusses unification, customer expectations, responsible AI, and the growing role of software in modern security operations.
What shifts in physical security technology and customer expectations are becoming most visible at this year’s Intersec?
I’ve been with Genetec in this role for about 14 years, and over the last five to eight years we’ve seen a significant shift in customer expectations. This is partly due to the market maturing, but also because new players have entered the space and IT has taken on a much bigger role in physical security.
What’s interesting is that IT teams have learned from physical security professionals, and vice versa. As a result, we’re seeing a much higher level of sophistication in conversations. The industry has moved away from basic “speeds and feeds” discussions, megapixels, frame rates, and other table-stakes metrics to more strategic questions.
Today, customers are asking how physical security platforms can have a broader impact on the business. Organizations adopt our unified Security Center platform not just to monitor doors or protect assets, but to gain a deeper understanding of what’s happening across their operations on a day-to-day basis. This includes building greater resilience into their environments and extracting more actionable insight from security data.
A good example is airports. Many large global airports use Genetec to improve passenger flow, not just to respond to security incidents or protect infrastructure. The focus has shifted toward using security data proactively to better understand and optimize environments.
As a result, we’re now having more advanced discussions around cybersecurity, scalability, lifecycle management, and compliance. Customers want to know how platforms align with ISO certifications, SOC 2 Type II, and other standards. These are sophisticated, enterprise-level questions, and they represent a major evolution for the industry.
Why is unification becoming critical now, and how does it change the way organizations think about safety, operations, and resilience?
Unification has always been at the core of the vision of Genetec, but today it’s no longer just a differentiator, it’s a requirement. End users, security teams, and IT professionals are accustomed to working with unified software suites, whether that’s CRM systems or enterprise business tools. They expect to operate within a single environment.
Organizations don’t want to learn multiple disconnected systems and then try to stitch them together. That approach limits insight. When core security functions are developed by different vendors with different architectures, it becomes extremely difficult to gain a coherent, real-time understanding of what’s happening.
Unification allows organizations to see access control, video surveillance, license plate recognition, intrusion detection, and alarms within a single platform. This is especially critical during investigations. When an incident occurs, teams shouldn’t have to jump between systems and manually connect the dots. They need all the data in one place.
This becomes even more important as artificial intelligence enters the picture. AI doesn’t perform well across fragmented systems. It needs structured, unified data that it can analyze across multiple dimensions. AI needs to know what’s happening at the door, inside the room, or across intrusion sensors to deliver meaningful insights to operators.
It’s also important to distinguish between integration and unification. Many solutions on the market are integrated, but integrations can break when vendors are acquired or strategies change. When that happens, end users are left with systems that no longer communicate. Unification avoids that risk and delivers long-term resilience.
Genetec has been emphasizing unification through innovations like Cloudlink. Can you tell us more about this approach?
Cloudlink is a major step in our appliance strategy. Genetec is fundamentally a software company, we don’t build hardware unless it genuinely makes life easier for our channel partners and end users. Cloudlink was designed with exactly that goal in mind.
It’s a Linux-based, headless appliance that’s managed through the cloud. There’s no monitor attached, and it’s designed to be remotely managed, updated, and maintained. This is especially valuable for integrators and enterprise customers who need systems that stay current without complex on-site maintenance.
In the Middle East, data sovereignty and data residency are critical considerations. Cloudlink acts as a bridge between on-premises infrastructure and the cloud. Customers don’t have to send their data to the cloud, but they still benefit from cloud-driven advantages like continuous updates, enhanced cybersecurity, and access to the latest features.
What’s also exciting is how the Cloudlink family is being designed. Customers can scale horizontally by adding multiple Cloudlink appliances that communicate with each other and provide failover. This flexibility is particularly important for large-scale deployments. And while we’re showcasing Cloudlink today, there’s more to come in this product family.
How are customer expectations around physical security software evolving, particularly in terms of flexibility, scalability, and long-term value?
Even five years ago, many end users and IT teams viewed physical security as largely hardware-driven, essentially a DVR with cameras attached. Enterprise customers have always understood the value of software, but today that awareness has become widespread across the market.
Innovation in this industry is now clearly driven by software, whether it’s the platform software, firmware in cameras, or software in access control devices. Customers are asking far more sophisticated questions about how software is developed, who develops it, and how it’s governed.
They want to know about secure development practices, privacy-by-design principles, code lifecycle management, and certifications like ISO 27001. This shift is largely due to IT playing a bigger role in physical security, which has professionalized the industry and raised expectations across the board.
At the same time, physical security professionals have helped IT teams better understand the operational realities of security environments. Software has become central, and customers want it to continuously improve, much like consumer technology.
People expect regular updates, new features, AI-driven capabilities, and security patches without disruptive upgrades. With Security Center, we now deliver frequent updates, often weekly for customers to continually gain new capabilities. This significantly extends the value of their investment compared to the past, when updates might happen once or twice a year.
With the growing volume of data, how important is software in managing analytics and decision-making?
Software is absolutely critical. It manages data archiving, device orchestration, and real-time access across large-scale environments. When you’re operating facilities with thousands of cameras, doors, and sensors, the complexity is immense.
The platform must efficiently manage video streams across the network, arbitrate access for hundreds of users, and ensure fast retrieval of information. While the data volume is enormous, the end user shouldn’t experience that complexity.
Our role is to abstract that complexity away so operators and IT teams can access the data they need instantly, without friction.
What unique requirements or opportunities do you see in the Middle East compared to other global markets?
The Middle East is uniquely positioned to adopt advanced technologies, particularly around AI and cloud. Countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar are investing heavily in local data center infrastructure and designing systems with fewer legacy constraints.
Data sovereignty remains important, but customers are now able to balance those requirements with cloud scalability and innovation. This has accelerated adoption across the region.
The Middle East is also home to some of the world’s largest and most ambitious projects. End users here are highly demanding, in a positive way. They want to maximize the value of their investments, and that pushes us to innovate.
Unification has resonated particularly strongly in this market. Having a single platform, a single pane of glass dramatically simplifies operations for large, complex environments. It reduces cognitive load and enables organizations to scale more confidently.
How do you balance innovation, transparency, and trust when it comes to AI-driven security technologies?
Transparency is absolutely essential when it comes to AI. Frankly, much of the AI innovation discussed in this industry exists primarily in press releases. When customers actually use the products, the reality often doesn’t match the promise.
Genetec has always taken a measured, responsible approach. We’re not cheerleaders for technology for its own sake. Our focus is on solving real problems for end users in meaningful ways.
That means being transparent about training data, addressing bias, implementing guardrails, and ensuring AI decision-making isn’t opaque. Most importantly, humans must remain in the loop. That’s why we refer to our approach as intelligent automation. AI delivers real value only when humans can understand and act on its output.
For example, investigations that once took five to twelve hours can now be completed in minutes using intelligent search and automation. AI excels at finding patterns and anomalies across vast datasets, something humans simply aren’t good at. But once the insight is surfaced, it’s the human who decides what action to take.
This balance between innovation, openness, and trust is critical. Our customers are CISOs, CIOs, and global heads of security. They don’t want hype. They want solutions that work, deliver outcomes, and stand up to scrutiny. When Genetec introduces innovation, it’s because it’s ready and it delivers real value.
Any final thoughts on AI adoption in the industry?
AI should be used where it’s genuinely useful, not as a marketing prop. Overhyping it only cheapens a very powerful technology. A healthy level of skepticism is important, but so is a willingness to engage thoughtfully.
AI will do a lot for our industry, but only if it’s implemented responsibly, transparently, and with real operational value in mind.
