At first sight, Hall 2 at Security Essen 2026 feels like a different trade show. Move away from the halls dominated by familiar European and global security brands and the geography of the industry changes abruptly. Chinese manufacturers are particularly prominent, joined by companies from Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and other Asian markets. Many of the names will still be considerably less familiar to European security managers than the established brands elsewhere at Messe Essen. That, however, may be precisely why Hall 2 deserves attention.

For years, Asian participation at European security exhibitions was easily categorised: cameras, locks, metalwork, cables, power supplies and a large number of OEM manufacturers looking for European distributors. That description is becoming increasingly inadequate. The companies exhibiting in Hall 2 still demonstrate Asia’s formidable manufacturing base, but many are moving much further up the technology stack.

The striking point is that their development is following essentially the same trajectory as that of the industry elsewhere at Security Essen: from products to platforms, from conventional electronics to AI-assisted systems, and from fixed installations to connected, mobile and increasingly autonomous security infrastructures.

In other words, Hall 2 may look different. Technologically, it is becoming much less different.

From smart lock to smart building

Access control provides perhaps the clearest illustration.

Zhuhai Mitaly Innovation Technology is no longer content to present itself simply through electronic locks. Its KEYPLUS AIoT Smart Space Platform brings together access control, video security, space and energy management, staff workflows and a central management dashboard. Its commercial access platform extends the concept further, connecting electronic locks, facial recognition terminals, controllers, lift management, fire and water sensors and mobile credentials.

That is a considerable shift in ambition. The lock becomes only one physical endpoint within a wider digital building environment.

The same movement appears elsewhere. Huanya Intelligent Technology combines facial recognition and RFID with Wi-Fi connectivity, SIP intercom, time attendance and MQTT and HTTP interfaces, adding cloud software and mobile administration. Secukey is bringing OSDP readers alongside Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Tuya and TTLock solutions. Jixin Core Lock takes the traditional cylinder into an IoT environment in which credentials can be managed electronically and lost access media blocked without replacing the mechanical cylinder.

AEI Protect-On is taking another route towards networked access control. Its DK-6812 combines fingerprint identification, MIFARE and TCP/IP communication and can operate locally while multiple devices can be brought together over an IP network.

Shanghai Gato demonstrates how the platform principle extends beyond doors. Its SAM100 environment combines electronic perimeter protection, alarms and video, allowing events from fence systems to trigger corresponding visual verification.

Nanjing Hanlong Technology, with its Htek solutions, brings IP telephony and video communication together with access control, surveillance and emergency communications. Voice and video are no longer treated as isolated communications functions, but as elements within wider security processes.

These are hardly exotic Asian side trends. They mirror the central discussion taking place throughout Security Essen: physical devices are increasingly valuable because of the data, software and integrations surrounding them.

AI is no longer confined to premium video systems

The second major development is equally familiar from the rest of the exhibition. Artificial intelligence is migrating from central servers into cameras, sensors, access terminals and specialist inspection systems.

Zhuhai Glory Technology’s AI-NEXGEN camera platform is designed to run several intelligent functions simultaneously, including universal object recognition using large-model technology, fall detection, dynamic masking and smoke and fire detection.

Hangzhou Zanuo combines AI network cameras, thermal cameras and PTZ systems with AI NVRs, its own VMS and application software. Its target applications range from smart buildings and industrial parks to banking, energy and smart-city projects.

Meari Technology applies visual AI to low-power outdoor video. Its V7 SSL camera combines person detection with battery operation, solar power and 4G connectivity. Viewpro takes Edge AI into EO/IR surveillance and unmanned systems, combining optical cameras, thermal imaging, laser ranging and AI-based person and vehicle recognition.

MAXVISION pushes the concept further into automated inspection. Its under-vehicle surveillance robot moves beneath vehicles, creates high-resolution imagery, associates inspection results with number-plate data and can flag suspicious areas. The company also works across facial, iris and palm-vein recognition.

Smart-lock manufacturer Smartek, meanwhile, is adding 3D facial recognition and HD electronic viewers to products that already combine fingerprint, NFC, PIN and smartphone authentication.

The significance is not that every implementation is equally mature. Nor does the label “AI” itself guarantee useful intelligence. The more important observation is structural: Asian manufacturers are increasingly integrating analytics at product level rather than waiting for a third-party software layer to provide the intelligence.

That reduces the distance between the OEM factory and the system manufacturer.

Wireless security becomes infrastructure-independent

A third theme is particularly relevant for European retrofit markets: reducing dependence on fixed cabling and power infrastructure.

Guangdong Roule shows solar-powered Wi-Fi video with AI person detection, battery storage and TuyaSmart connectivity. Meari combines solar, battery and 4G operation with continuous recording. Roombanker’s wireless security architecture includes a dual-technology PIR and microwave detector using encrypted radio communication over distances stated at up to 3.1 kilometres in open space, while its hub combines cellular communications, Wi-Fi and Ethernet.

Starrysea approaches the same problem from the power side. Its LiFePO4 systems for mobile surveillance towers and off-grid CCTV use CAN and RS485 communication, allowing battery condition and state of charge to become remotely monitored parts of the security infrastructure itself.

For Europe, perhaps even more interesting are the retrofit concepts.

Yimmet View Trading integrates cameras with existing LED luminaires and mounting points, reducing the need for additional drilling and separate power cabling. Zhuhai Rongtai uses existing two-wire infrastructure to introduce IP-based video intercom and smartphone remote access into older buildings. Guangdong Sangong Hardware is developing NFC locks without their own battery and systems capable of generating the energy required for operation themselves.

In a European building stock where replacing infrastructure can cost considerably more than the security device itself, these ideas deserve more than a passing glance.

The component suppliers are changing too

Hall 2 has not suddenly ceased to be a sourcing hall. Far from it. Visitors will still find specialist suppliers of camera housings, motors, network technology, power supplies, cables, cylinders, safes and barriers. But even here the specifications increasingly reveal where the industry is heading.

Teamsworld, for example, is designing IP66/IP67 and IK10 camera housings while optimising thermal management for increasingly powerful electronics and AI processors. Guangzhou HEAD Technology integrates an AI watchdog function into PoE switches to supervise connected IP equipment. ONV develops managed industrial PoE infrastructure, fibre uplinks and redundant architectures for larger security networks.

Keli Motor Group may appear further removed from the software discussion, but its increasingly accurate and low-vibration motors are designed for the PTZ and dome platforms on which more intelligent video applications depend. The digital transformation of security does not eliminate hardware engineering; it increases the demands placed upon it.

Nor is traditional mechanical security disappearing. EOS Secure continues to develop modular high-security cylinders. Beijing ZhuoAoShiPeng focuses on hostile-vehicle mitigation. Hunan Jinzheng brings vault doors and modular vault structures. Yongfa combines physical safe construction with electronic and biometric locking.

The distinction between “old” and “new” security technology is therefore becoming less useful. Mechanics, electronics, sensors and software are increasingly being designed as one system.

Europe is becoming part of the target market

There is another reason European visitors should look more closely.
Some Asian exhibitors are making increasingly visible efforts to align products with standards and certification regimes relevant to international markets. Keywood presents an optical beam smoke detector to EN 54-12. Jixin refers to SKG testing for drilling resistance. WUXI GMB lists TS007 testing through BSI for high-security cylinders and also points to EN and SKG requirements within parts of its electronic portfolio. Teamsworld offers enclosure protection up to IP66/IP67 and IK10.

None of this means that every product in Hall 2 is ready for immediate deployment across the EU. European requirements covering cybersecurity, data protection, conformity, product liability, documentation, long-term software maintenance and after-sales support remain substantial barriers. But those barriers should not be confused with permanent technological superiority.

Many Asian suppliers that once concentrated on producing somebody else’s hardware are now developing their own interfaces, applications, management software and ecosystems. They are moving closer to integrators and, ultimately, the end customer.

For European manufacturers, that may prove more important than another inexpensive camera appearing on the market.

Essen or Dubai: where is Asia’s security industry more visible?

There is, finally, an uncomfortable comparison to be made.

Security Essen remains one of Europe’s key security exhibitions and continues to provide a concentrated view of the European security market. Hall 2, in particular, has become an important showcase for manufacturers from China, Taiwan and other Asian markets – including many companies that are only beginning to establish their own brands and system strategies in Europe.

Intersec Dubai, however, operates on a different international scale. Asian manufacturers are not a peripheral element of the event; they form a highly visible part of its global exhibitor structure. Chinese, Korean, Indian and other Asian suppliers meet customers from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia in a market environment where major infrastructure investment, new construction and rapid deployment of security technology continue to generate strong demand.

That gives Dubai an advantage which is difficult to ignore.

For visitors looking primarily for the largest and most confident international presentation of Asian security technology outside Asia itself, Intersec may currently offer the broader stage. Established Asian brands appear alongside ambitious newcomers, while the geographic position of Dubai places the exhibition between some of the world’s fastest-growing security markets.

Security Essen’s strength is somewhat different. Hall 2 can feel more like a discovery zone: manufacturers still establishing themselves in Europe, OEM suppliers moving towards their own brands and technologies that may only now be entering the European mainstream. That makes Essen particularly interesting for buyers and integrators looking for suppliers before they become widely known.

The distinction also tells a broader story about the global security industry.

For decades, European trade fairs could reasonably assume that manufacturers seeking international recognition would eventually come to Europe. They still do. Hall 2 proves it. But they no longer have to.

The Middle East has developed into a market, investment centre and exhibition platform in its own right. Asian manufacturers can now build international partnerships in Dubai without first proving themselves in Frankfurt, London, Paris or Essen.

So if the question is which exhibition currently offers the stronger Asian showcase, Dubai may well have the edge in scale, visibility and market momentum. Essen, meanwhile, remains the more intriguing place to discover manufacturers still moving into the European mainstream.

There is a certain irony in that. Europe spends a great deal of time discussing how the centre of gravity of the global economy is moving towards Asia. The security exhibition business appears to be offering a rather practical demonstration of the same trend.

Asian technology is still moving west. It simply does not always need to travel as far as Europe anymore.

(CN/ML)