The world market for perimeter security sensors is projected to exceed $440 million by 2014. The growth of this market will primarily be driven by proposed legislation in Europe, CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear plants), CFATS in the US and airport and nuclear power plant expansion across Asia. 

The perimeter security market can be described in terms of cabled and non-cabled sensors. Report author and market analyst Blake Kozak comments, “The preference toward non-cabled or cabled sensors in the Americas and EMEA regions is often a price consideration. To complicate matters further each environment and application within which perimeter sensors are used varies enormously. This unpredictability is leading to major opportunities for perimeter equipment suppliers”.

Kozak continues, “While non-cabled sensors provide a more covert form of detection, a line of demarcation is still required, this suggests that neither market will cannibalize the other.” In its latest perimeter research entitled the World Market for Perimeter Security Equipment, IMS Research estimate non-cabled sensors to account for the largest proportion of perimeter sensor revenues with an estimated 63.9% share of the market in 2010. 

In a related chemical security matter, a U.S. Senate panel voted unanimously to extend current chemical facilities security law to October 2013. The U.S. chemical industry worried about modifications to the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 (CFATS) which would make the measure more stringent — for example, by requiring the chemical plants replace the more toxic and volatile chemicals they use with inherently safer technologies, or IST Legislation that would extend existing chemical security standards won bipartisan support July 28 in the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Following a markup, lawmakers voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 (CFATS) (H.R. 2868). The chemical industry, worried about modifications to CFATS which would make the measure more stringent — for example, by requiring the chemical plants replace the more toxic and volatile chemicals they use with inherently safer technologies, or IST — welcomed the extension of CFATS.

Security Magazine’s articles archive has more at www.securitymagazine.com