by Ana María Restrepo
The electronic security market in Latin America has improved in recent years, many manufacturing companies from other countries of the world have opened offices in the region and Latin American manufacturing companies have positioned themselves in other nations.
One of the main countries that contributes to the development of the region is Brazil, which has the largest economy in Latin America and is a leader in the industrial, agricultural and export sectors of the south of the continent.
According to the study conducted by the British research center, Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), published in December 2008, the global economic crisis could take Brazil from the tenth to the eighth position in the ranking of the largest world economies.
The reason for this fact is that the Brazilian GDP would surpass those of Spain and Canada, since the latter countries are strongly impacted by the crisis; however, it should be noted that the Brazilian economy continues to grow, although at a lower rate.
And despite the situation, as of March 31, 2009, the Brazilian industry confidence index (ICI) rose 2.2 percent, closing at 77.9 points, the third consecutive month that the index marked an increase, according to the online newspaper Folha Online.
These data present an encouraging outlook for the country as far as the global economic crisis is concerned, and although Brazil's growth is not as good as that of other years, the government is implementing measures to overcome the recession such as the opening of 34,818 formal jobs.
A country that breathes security
In the case of the electronic security sector and especially in the segment of intrusion alarms, Brazil is one of the most developed markets in the region, and not only imports this equipment but also exports it because it has a good number of manufacturing companies.
In 2007, the Brazilian Association of the Electrical and Electronics Industry (ABINEE) released data showing that electronic security activities in Brazil would grow, on average, by 16.2% over the next five years.
Also, according to data published in the specialized portal The Datamyne (www.thedatamyne.com), Brazil imported in 2008 more than 10 million dollars in intrusion and fire alarms and similar devices, with August being the month that recorded the most transactions, reaching US $ 3.2 million, and as of February 2009 the country has made imports for US $ 732 thousand.
In 2008 more than four million dollars were exported, with December being the month that presented the largest movement with US $ 572,465 and february 2009 transactions have been made for US $ 386,455.
As can be seen, the security segment in Brazil is important and the teams focused on residential and commercial security such as alarms are stomping in the country, since they reinforce the protection provided by government agencies and private security companies.
Brazilian alarm market
New technological developments in devices, the reduction of prices in the installation of devices and the different ways of transmitting alarm signals have intensified the use of this equipment in Brazil.
One of the most important benefits of the alarm sector is the possibility of transmitting events from anywhere in the country thanks to transfer means such as telephone cable, TCP/IP, GPRS/GSM and radio frequency; this issue is reinforced by Mauro Alves, export manager of Eletroppar/PPA, when he affirms that the alarm market in Brazil is already at an interesting point of maturity and that in turn the available technology is being taken advantage of, since different types of solutions are demanded from the classic alarm via telephone line to recent solutions such as IP and GPRS/ GSM.
The interesting thing about this topic is that the market trends that have been formed in the last three years and that point to a massification are IP / GPRS solutions, since every day that passes these solutions are more present in the day to day of people, as is the case of broadband, which is already found more frequently in homes and offices, however small.
Increased demand
The development of the security market in Brazil is different from the rest of the region due to the qualities of its economy and culture; However, there are three facts that have been decisive for the growth of the demand for alarms in the country in the last five years, such as the growth of household income and therefore their greatest concern for security, the production of alarm equipment in the nation with an interesting reduction in prices and the increasing availability of means of communication for the transmission of alarms, as Mauro explains.
Conditions that improve safety
It should be noted, as mentioned above, that of the market for monitored alarms in Brazil, 50 percent are domestically manufactured and 50 percent imported. Additionally, among the most demanded panels, according to the analysis carried out by PPA, which include event transmission systems, it is found that 50% is attributed to GPRS, 10% IP / Ethernet and 40% telephone cable.
Although in Latin America some nations still do not have a very solid infrastructure in terms of Internet, Brazil presents a high growth in the use of the network, because according to data presented by the Datafolha Research Institute, the number of citizens who use the Internet in the country is 64 million.
The above is of vital importance for the alarm market in this Latin country, because as Alves states, due to the popularization of the Internet and the GPRS network, user access to these technologies has been improved and therefore access to alarms with these characteristics is being allowed, especially in economic sectors such as commercial offices, sales stores, department and service store networks, industry and residential users.
A promising future
Although the global economic situation is not as it would like, electronic security presents a promising panorama not only in the evolution of alarms for homes and commerce, but in the entire electronic field, since in recent days the Commission of Constitution and Justice and Citizenship (CCJ) of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil approved the regulations for the operation of electronic security systems companies. The proposal requires that these companies be authorized and supervised by the Ministry of Justice or by the provincial secretariats of Public Security, which will allow companies to provide a safe and effective service and users to have guaranteed systems in their manufacture, installation and monitoring.
* To make this article, different manufacturers and companies with a presence in Brazil were contacted, but at the close of this edition we did not get all the answers.
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