The last year has really been an interesting year when it comes to the continuing industrial development within the security market. Not only have the larger companies not stopped their feeding frenzy on the acquisitions trail, but also we have seen much consolidation among the companies that have been intensively buying other companies during the first five years of the new century. Cleansing their acquisitions, and closing down factories in Europe seems to have become a common trend. Assa Abloy and Gunnebo are two good examples of that.

The most interesting larger players within the European Security technology market are Bosch and Siemens. Bosch has probably been the most focused recently, through their well balanced acquisition strategy and it was certainly a surprise to me that the access security company, Bewator, did not become a part of that group. Instead, Siemens Building Technology has demonstrated its firm intention of remaining one of the leading lights in security technology through this acquisition.

In my opinion, Bewator represented the missing link in the one-stop-shop concept for Bosch, as the company would have been able to enter the access control market with the Bewator products. On the other hand, Bosch has a strong conventional CCTV portfolio and would be less dependent upon the Bewator CCTV portfolio.

Now it will be interesting to see where Siemens Building Technologies is heading with this new acquisition. But it will also be interesting to see what happens next, in terms of acquisitions. For example, the giant American CCTV manufacturer, Pelco. How long can it remain private? In Europe one of the key questions must be... How long can Dedicated Micros remain an independent CCTV manufacturer? And... Who, amongst the giants, will take the big step into network video surveillance through an acquisition of Axis? These are just a few examples of potential acquisition prospects for European companies like Bosch and Siemens or the constantly expanding American players in the security market, such as Tyco, GE and possibly even Honeywell. In some ways many of these things seem almost predictable. Well, more or less. But what if Cisco or IBM took one huge step directly into the security market through an acquisition of - for instance - Axis! That certainly would create for a more exciting market.

On the other hand, I personally hope that these companies remain under their present ownership structure. The market needs entrepreneurs, driven by a single focused goal, to supply the market with the best possible video surveillance products, based on customer needs, rather than compromising strategy with the investors' expectations on how the business should be run.

One thing is for sure, it is exciting to see some Europeans challenging the Americans in the contest for the title of Fat Cat of the security industry.