Ajax Alarm

Can a Ukrainian business emerge as the most intriguing in the sphere of professional and domestic security? Looking at the extremely quick path taken by Ajax Systems, it would seem so. The business received a $10 million investment from Horizon Capital on March 29, 2019, to further its international expansion. After a relatively quick rise, Ajax Systems now generates more than 70% of its revenue from exports, mostly to markets in the European Union. Recently, the business employed fellow countryman and former AC Milan player Andriy Shevchenko to market its products.

Ajax and Andriy produced a number of comedic videos using the teleshopping format to clearly demonstrate the benefits of the company’s ecosystem. We spoke with Aleksandr Konotopskyi, CEO of Ajax Systems, to better understand the brand’s advantages as it expands across the continent, keeping in mind the rising concern for people in the Covid-19 period and the rise in thefts as a result of the world economic crisis.

The narrative started in 2008. At the time, a friend and I founded Secur, a distribution business that brought alarm and video security systems into Ukraine from China. Secur developed into a global distributor and integrator with contracts with leading security brands as a result of the company’s tremendous success. However, back then, we primarily dealt with Chinese goods, whose quality was frequently subpar and caused us problems. I was in the university with other brilliant engineers, so we decided to try making our own alarm.

Ajax Security

Eight years ago, we adopted technology and concepts that were far from ideal and targeted the Ukrainian market with our initial product. Our top aim was being able to compete with and sub in for imported goods. By copying and imitating, we were able to pick up a lot of knowledge the hard way. We also realised that we required more than just an upgrade to succeed on a global scale. A revolution was essential. We had a chance because we were newcomers with a clear vision.

“We spent three years creating a brand-new product from scratch. In 2015, we finally introduced the Ajax product line in its current form, complete with a hub, detectors, cloud server, mobile apps, and unique product design. Ajax Systems is a global company today. They currently employ about 1600 people. The company’s headquarters, R&D facilities, and manufacturing facilities are located in Kyiv, but we have already begun establishing local teams in the focus markets of Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, the Nordic and Benelux countries, the DACH region, and South Africa.

“At the moment, we protect more than 830 000 individuals worldwide and export our product to 120 countries. In addition to working to make the world a safer place, Ajax aspires to advance and promote Ukraine’s technical culture. As a post-Soviet nation, we have a top-notch engineering programme. We take pride in the fact that Made-in-Ukraine hardware products successfully compete with German and Chinese products on the market and are chosen for their excellent quality and cutting-edge innovations by professionals and end customers.

What benefits do your systems have over ones that are typically sold? “First and foremost, it’s critical to comprehend that there are two distinct types of security system solutions available: DIY and professional alarms. DIY alarms like Google Nest or Ring Alarm are intended to be installed by the end user, however more sophisticated alarms like Ajax need be setup by a professional.

Ajax Home alarms

What is the distinction? Functionality, adherence to standards, and most importantly reliability, make a difference. The anti-sabotage capabilities that professional solutions include, such as backup communication channels, jamming detection and prevention, encryption floating key backup, etc., are what set them apart from amateur solutions. It’s also not a question of simplicity; Ajax, for example, is incredibly easy to use. The system’s behaviour in erratic circumstances—such as when the electricity or Internet are cut off, for instance—is what is in doubt. How soon will it notify me of the connection loss?

Additionally, DIY solutions depend on you to respond when an alert is activated. In an emergency, they don’t dial the police or a security firm. The central monitoring station can only be connected to by professional and registered alarms. Insurance companies frequently demand these as well.

“The privacy concern is equally important. Just think back to the relatively recent significant breaches with Ring home security cameras to understand how vulnerable DIY solutions are. Ajax takes the privacy of its users very seriously. Take our motion detector with a camera, MotionCam, as an illustration. To help the owners determine if the incursion is real or someone simply forgot to disarm the system, the detector is built to only take a sequence of pictures when triggered. Since MotionCam doesn’t continuously record, privacy is improved. Additionally, none of the parties—Ajax, the security firm, or the users—have the option to create the photographs using MotionCam upon request.

In addition, DIY alarm producers typically offer a relatively limited selection of security items, such as straightforward motion, opening, fire, and leakage detectors, doorbells, smart locks, etc. Ajax’s product line is significantly larger and more varied than theirs in comparison. At the moment, it includes 33 security devices, such as integrated detectors, glass break detectors, curtain-like detectors, outdoor security devices, and so on. Ajax can give more alternatives for countermeasures and address more use cases thanks to the variety of devices.

Speaking of the European advanced security industry, we can state that Ajax has completely transformed it by introducing previously unheard-of market standards for system configuration depth and mobile app-to-server communication speed. This covers adjustable polling rates, signal strength evaluations, and remote device settings. And all of this is done without endangering the system’s dependability. As the first mobile-only professional alarm that can be fully configured with just a smartphone, Ajax has significantly sped up and simplified the installation procedure.

Ajax Wireless alarm

Ajax Systems’ CEO Alexander Konotopskyi Additionally, you created your own internal operating system. “Right. Ajax is a component of the Internet of Things, therefore we wanted to utilise its greatest features, like regular polling, speed, over-the-air updates, constant contact with the server, and the ability to control the system via an app from anywhere in the globe.

“At the same time, IoT has significant security challenges because of its susceptibility problems. And the operating system is the most typical IoT failure point (OS). As an illustration, let’s say you have a smart camera with an OS. Anyone, even those without access permissions, will be able to retransmit traffic through your camera, gain access to the video, or do anything else if there is a “hole” in the OS that enables other parties to remotely install something on your IP camera. According to the theory, your smartphone has a “hole” in the OS that allows hackers to meddle with its operations.

“Software is the beating heart of Ajax. It was essential that we avoid using a weak sort of solution. We identified a solution in the form of patented technology, which we equipped with the essential protections against IoT vulnerability problems.

We created our own real-time operating system, OS Malevich, for our hub, the system’s brain. It neither needs binary components from third parties nor permits installation of anything because all of the memory and CPU resources are supplied beforehand with the firmware. Even for us, there is no backdoor because it is completely closed.

The same is true of our exclusive protocols. ZigBee and Z-Wave are not used by us since they don’t adhere to European security standards. Sure, employing a well-known, ready-made solution is considerably quicker and less expensive from the perspective of development. It’s not the ideal choice, though, in terms of security.

Ajax Business Alarm

Nobody can guarantee that their system won’t be hacked, after all. It just depends on how the threat-reduction process is set up, how much you spend on anti-sabotage security, and what sort of technology you employ. Security is a significant priority for us at Ajax. We investigate every solution, ask questions, and critically evaluate each potential course of action before deciding if we can utilise it or whether we need to design our own technology if the widely adopted one is insufficiently secure.

What distinguishes Jeweller and Wings, your wireless communication protocols, from conventional signals?

“Jeweller’s anti-sabotage features and conformity with professional certification bodies’ criteria, which again neither ZigBee nor Z-Wave meet, are the primary differences. Ajax is shielded from sabotage by data encryption, frequency hopping, and device authentication. Only by jamming all nearby wireless signals—which is extremely difficult to do—can the operation of jewellers be stopped. However, even in this scenario, the system wouldn’t be hacked because it would promptly alert users to the problem.

Ajax detector batteries can last up to a record 5-7 years because of jewelry’s excellent energy efficiency and wide communication range of up to 2000 m. For the purpose of sending visual data from MotionCam to a hub, another protocol called Wings was created. It is based on Jeweller technology and sends the first snapshot of the scenario at a distance of up to 1700 m in less than 9 seconds.

What is your main sales channel in Europe?

“Ajax has a distribution approach based on partners. We have authorised distributors in every nation who supply installers and security firms with Ajax products. Then these installers and security firms offer Ajax for sale to the general public. They might also offer professional monitoring or system maintenance in addition to the installation service.

Our company is professional security systems that are distributed by professionals; we never sell the system directly to clients. The market for professional security systems dominates DIY security systems in Europe. Because certifying organisations, insurance firms, etc., seek to regulate the market.

Has the heightened risk of intrusion brought on by the recent economic crisis enhanced citizens’ interest in sophisticated security systems?

Of course. One the one hand, it’s simple to slip into a false sense of security, believing you’re protected just because you’re inside the house, considering that we’re all spending so much more time at home than ever before due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, if you look at the statistics, you’ll discover that, for example, 64% of burglaries in England and Wales happen while the residents of the property are at home, proving that thieves aren’t hesitant to try a burglary even while people are inside.

“As a result, the market for enhanced security is currently expanding. Because of the rising demand, more and more fiercely competitive players are emerging. They make investments to expand and accelerate the market’s growth.

“Because Ajax is a disruptor, we are expanding quickly by taking market share away from our rivals in every nation. For instance, from outmoded producers who are no longer relevant and don’t keep up with the times. There, we are able to expand even more quickly than the market.

What are your growth prospects for the future?

Our goal for this year is to double our size as well as double the size of our R&D team. Our engineering department will grow to 1,000 personnel in two years. Our R&D team has been split up into three groups: one group will continue to develop our line of anti-intrusion devices; the second group will work on developing a professional fire solution; and the third group will be involved in developing smart homes.

Additionally, 2 more teams have been formed; unfortunately, we are unable to provide any information at this time. Ajax Systems will also keep growing its geographic reach in 2021. North and South America, Australia, and the Middle East are all included in the expansion plans. And by continuing to run our business in a quick and effective manner, we hope to solidify our position as the biggest Ajax security system maker in Europe and United Kingdom.