Today’s 2025 security industry reflections come from Tim Palmquist, vice president Americas at Milestone Systems. He looks at the state of the industry as we close out the year, the most surprising development across the security industry and the change that could have the longest-lasting impact.
Security Sales & Integration: What kind of year has 2025 been for the electronic security and physical security industries?
Tim Palmquist: 2025 has been a year of fundamental transformation for our industry. We’ve moved beyond thinking of ourselves as purely in the security business to recognizing that we’re increasingly in the business intelligence business, with security as a crucial component.
The year brought steady growth amid continued evolution toward hybrid and cloud video management systems, while major technology players like AWS, Azure and NVIDIA deepened their commitment to our space, validating the immense value locked within security data.
SSI: What has been the most surprising development in the security industry this year?
Palmquist: The speed at which end users have embraced the idea that their security data has value far beyond traditional security applications has been remarkable. We anticipated this shift would take longer, but organizations across sectors are now actively seeking ways to extract business insights from what they once considered disposable footage.
This mindset change is happening faster than many of us predicted and it’s opening doors to entirely new revenue streams and use cases that weren’t conceivable just a few years ago.
SSI: What has been the most important change we’ve seen this year in security?
Palmquist: The most important change has been the explosion in the availability and acceptance of AI-powered tools, smart cameras and sensors, open digital evidence management and specialized software applications that are fundamentally reshaping what’s possible in video security.
What makes this particularly exciting is that open platform video management systems have emerged as the essential hub connecting all these innovations, giving end users the freedom to deploy the specific capabilities they’re hearing about without being locked into a single vendor’s ecosystem.
This empowers customers to build tailored solutions, while integrators who understand open architecture are perfectly positioned to deliver the value today’s market demands.
