2N hosts distributors from around the world at annual summit in Prague
James Thorpe
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The international 2N Distributor Summit was held on 26 and 27 September 2019 at the headquarters of 2N Telekomunikace in Prague. During the summit, the company’s new CEO, Michal Kratochvíl announced to over 70 global distributors the ambitious strategic goal of becoming the largest intercom manufacturer on the EMEA and North and South American markets by 2025 in cooperation with Axis Communications. 2N will continue focusing mainly on products and solutions for residential and commercial buildings.
2N, which is based in the Czech Republic, has been a part of the Axis Communications Group since 2016, a Swedish IP camera manufacturer. It has more than 330 employees and in 2018, its turnover was €43 million. 2N mainly produces IP intercoms, which are door communicators with web connectivity. The goal to be the largest western intercom manufacturer announced at the distributor summit would mean maintaining an annual sales growth of 25% and attaining a share of 25% of the markets of North and South America and 17% of the EMEA market. According to an IHS survey, the greatest demand for installing intercoms is in residential property (detached villas or apartment buildings) or commercial sites, such as office buildings. 2N’s direction in product development also corresponds to this trend. “Our objective is to deliver the best IP intercom in the world from three aspects: the best video, the best audio and the best entry control,” said CEO, Michal Kratochvíl in his introductory presentation on Thursday at the 2N Distributor Summit. As well as intercoms for outdoor use, 2N produces a range of indoor answering units, reliable cloud administration for equipment and more advanced integration of its solutions.
Users in flats and offices are demanding more
In his presentation, 2N Product Development Manager, Tomáš Vystavěl indicated the basic trends in residential and commercial property. While video is already standard in door communicators, the development of services such as Airbnb is leading to a demand for keyless access to buildings or flats using a mobile phone. Delivery services for online shops are convincing residential building administrators to establish special rooms for goods delivery with electronic access for couriers. As a result, entry systems are becoming a component of security, but also a feature that improves living convenience. Tomáš Vystavěl also offered another vision of revolutionary technologies for this market segment—according to 2N, these are wirelessly connected intercoms using the 5G network, the use of super-robust, attractive touch pad displays and the option to securely share authorisation to enter a building just with a mobile phone. According to a survey of participating distributors, entry using a mobile phone has a greater future than the use of biometric data.
New products planned
This is the 14th year that 2N has held the 2N Distributor Summit. This year, more than 70 distributors from around the world participated. Over two intensive days, participants could attend 26 themed presentations and discuss trends. They also had the first glimpse of products planned for launch next year. These included the indoor answering unit, 2N Indoor View and luxury door IP intercom, 2N IP Style with a glass surface and ten-inch touch panel display.
