Hardware is being reinvented as security technology refresh cycles finally begin to accelerate toward IT-style frequency, explains Geoff Kohl, Senior Director of Marketing, Security Industry Association (SIA).
Every year, following research, focus groups and sessions at Securing New Ground, the Security Industry Association (SIA) releases its guide to the top 10 Security Megatrends for the following year.
Partly a crystal-ball-style look into the future and partly a practical look at changes just over the horizon, the report has become one of the guiding documents for many in the industry: Technology-makers, integrators and corporate security leaders alike.
For 2026, in this special summary produced exclusively for International Security Journal, we look at two trends related to security technology advancements and refresh cycles.
These changes are good for business – but they’re also defining trends important for corporate security teams making security technology buying decisions.
Megatrend: The security hardware layer is reinvented
Much of the industry’s attention has been focused on the recent dramatic improvements in software and AI-enabled solutions, which is forcing hardware to reinvent itself – or else be left behind as a simple sensor.
From juicing up edge processing to do AI lite tasks to capturing more data, hardware has responded by taking leaps of progression in the last few years – as evidenced in how the defining features of security cameras today are not just pixel counts and low-light performance, but in-camera analytics that you might call “AI lite.”
“What’s changing is the evolution of hardware,” says Allegion Vice President of Global Software Platforms Devin Love. “AI is disrupting all sorts of pieces of the industry, including software.
“We recognise AI is moving so quickly and hardware becomes this foundational element that really needs to keep up with that momentum.” Hardware, says Love, has to deliver the necessary data that AI-enabled software requires.
“Without that essential data and the context that hardware provides, even the most powerful, AI-enabled software will be limited.
“If AI is the brain, the hardware that wins is the hardware that gets information across the blood-brain barrier between hardware and AI,” adds Love.
Besides the move toward becoming intelligent, that hardware must be able to live on for years to come.
“You can’t change the hardware nearly as quickly as software. So, what do you need to do now to make sure that you’re future proof as well?”
Megatrend: Security technology life cycles finally accelerate
Although this is an industry of innovators, budgets of companies for securing people and property haven’t always matched the pace of technological change.
One only has to look closely in an urban environment to see aging equipment hanging on the sides of buildings. But that may be changing.
As discussed in the previous trend, security technology is getting a major refresh as edge processing has robustly supported advanced analytics and, yes, AI, at the edge.
Greater awareness of the cybersecurity vulnerabilities presented by outdated equipment, combined with buyer interest in new advanced functionality, is driving a more IT-like technology refresh cycle of five years versus the previously common cycle of 10-15 years or more.
Concern over compliance, particularly in regulated industries, has also driven security technology replacement, and the near ubiquitous involvement of IT leaders in security technology purchases has also driven this more frequent refresh of Internet of Things devices and software.
But even with the move to a more frequent refresh of physical security technologies, buyers still exist within budget constraints; they can’t just spend without concern and can’t always adopt the most bleeding-edge technology.
At SIA’s Securing New Ground conference, Peter Boriskin, Chief Technology Officer, Americas at ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions, summed up the thinking that business IT and tech leaders must have when reviewing new technologies.
“We map the tech readiness level to see how close to implementable and securable it is,” said Boriskin. “Can we test it? Can we work with it? Is the technology there, and are the tools to work with it there?
“Is it even possible to work with this technology yet? And then failure modes analysis – what’s the worst thing that could happen right now as you implement a technology? Could it be insecure? Could it create security gaps? Ask these questions as you consider when technology is ready.”
Download SIA’s full Megatrends Report. Click here.
