Ajax Systems 2025 overview and manufacturing expansion
Ajax Systems has published a 2025 update covering product releases, manufacturing capacity and platform development.
The company expanded its portfolio by 100 unique devices during the year and opened a new manufacturing facility in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The 8,300 m² factory produces the full range of Ajax devices and is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs in its first year, increasing overall production capacity and regional supply options.
Product and platform updates from Ajax Systems
The update centres on product launches announced at the seventh Ajax Special Event, held on November 21, 2025, with the main presentation in Frankfurt, Germany and offline premieres in 35 countries.
Fifty five new devices were unveiled across intrusion protection, video surveillance and fire and life safety, alongside the introduction of additional product lines.
Among the headline releases was a wireless intrusion protection system certified to EN 50131 Grade 3, supported by Superior Jeweller radio technology.
Ajax Systems also introduced EN54 Line, a fully wireless commercial fire detection and alarm system built around EN 54 Fire Hub Jeweller.
The touchscreen control and indicating equipment is certified to EN 54 and EN 50131 Grade 2 and is designed to support fire detection, intrusion protection and video surveillance within a single system.
Additional releases included Superior Hub Hybrid 2, supporting up to 250 wired and wireless devices, and Superior MegaHub, capable of managing up to 999 devices.
The outdoor range was expanded with curtain-type motion detectors, while Hub BP Jeweller was presented as an off-grid option with up to four years of operation in battery power saver mode.
The video portfolio was also broadened across Baseline and Superior lines, with new motorised varifocal cameras and AI-powered network video recorders featuring dual hot-swappable hard disk drives.
Events, training and wider activity in 2025
Ajax Systems also reported on its global engagement activity during the year, including the third Ajax Roadshow, which visited 140 cities and welcomed around 10,000 industry professionals.
Training and education activity expanded through Ajax Academy, with student numbers increasing by 124 percent year on year and total certificates issued exceeding 64,000.
The update also covered the Ajax Next education initiative in Ukraine, which has supported projects with leading universities and involved around 2,000 students in engineering-focused programmes.
Other activity highlighted included continued development of the Air Alert app, now downloaded more than 46 million times, alongside security installations supporting cultural and heritage sites in Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Ajax Systems grouped its 2025 activity across commercial fire and life safety, intrusion protection, video surveillance, partner tools, training and manufacturing as it enters 2026.
Hyfire has announced a partnership with Hertek that will see the company’s wireless fire detection technology introduced to the Netherlands through Hertek’s fire safety offering.
Hyfire said the agreement supports its wider European expansion and gives it a route into the Dutch market through Hertek, which it described as a market leader in the Netherlands.
The partnership will bring Hyfire’s wireless solutions, including the Taurus system, into Hertek’s existing portfolio of conventional and addressable detection systems.
The companies said Taurus will be integrated with the Penta control panel and connected to Hertek Connect for remote system management.
Hyfire said the offer is intended for settings including healthcare, education and industrial environments where fire detection upgrades may need to be installed with limited disruption to the building structure.
Hyfire sets out Dutch market plans
Ollie Murray, Hyfire’s International Director, said: “As Hyfire continually establishes and grows our brand brand globally, selecting a partner whose own values mirror ours and shares the desire to move life safety systems forward through the power of technology is an exciting opportunity.
“Hertek as the market leading brand in the Netherlands is the perfect fit for our market leading products of today and the future.”
Hyfire said Hertek brings knowledge of Dutch regulations and customer requirements, with the partnership combining that local market position with Hyfire’s wireless fire detection products.
The company said Taurus meets European CPR standards and Dutch NEN 2535 requirements, with EN 54-13 certification currently in progress.
Hyfire said the system’s remote management capability through Hertek Connect is intended to give installers and building managers real-time system insight and improve availability in sectors such as healthcare and education.
Murray said: “Hertek is a household name in the Dutch market.
“With Hyfire’s global success we are able to share the benefits of wireless technology to Installers, Consultants and End Users.”
Hyfire and Hertek describe a strategic alliance
Hyfire said the agreement is intended as a strategic alliance focused on innovation, local development and long-term market growth rather than a standard distribution arrangement.
The company said Hertek will use Hyfire’s wireless systems to support projects that need fast installation with limited building work, especially where project timescales are tight or structural conditions are complex.
Murray said: “For those that see the benefits in Wireless already and those who are yet to experience the power of Hyfire, our collaboration with Hertek will provide you the opportunity to experience the power our Taurus products offer first hand.
“You will not be disappointed!”
The companies describe the partnership as a route to bringing wireless fire detection to the Dutch market through a combined offer built around Hyfire technology and Hertek’s local delivery model.
Derrick Hall – Director of Sales – Kentec Electronics, sheds light on the company’s extensive development of its fire extinguishing panels, and the rise of wireless systems.
The Sigma ZXT extinguishant panel was unveiled in 2019 and followed some interesting work behind the scenes thereafter. Shed some light on the launch path of the product. The ZXT was built to be a premium product for a wide range of complex and large-scale applications, with extended features in comparison to our market-leading and internationally renowned Sigma XT. With the ZXT we have an audit trail of all the events on the panel that can be downloaded, and maintained, by the end user. We collected extensive customer feedback which signaled that the market needed a panel that could automatically switch from primary extinguishing cylinders to a secondary supply.
In addition, end users also wanted clearer visibility of the events, which is why we introduced a dynamic event LCD display. The display is colour coded to the different operations taking place at that moment in time.
Beta testing of the ZXT was conducted with a handful of trusted installers across the world, who also put the product into their own training facilities. We wanted to make sure we got it right, as with an advanced extinguishing system such as this you are likely to be protecting high-value, even critical assets. Also important is that the extinguishing agent can be costly, meaning facilities managers and landlords require a system that minimises unnecessary activations.
The beta testing process meant that when the ZXT was fully launched to the market, all our customers were assured the panel was robust and worked to protect people and critical assets.
Derrick Hall.
You sell a widely popular XT model, what happens to that fire extinguishing panel with the ZXT’s launch?
The ZXT is a premium product, that has not replaced the XT fire extinguishing panel – they are very much complementary products. The XT has been in the market for approximately 15 years, with several thousand sales annually. The ZXT is built using the ultra-reliable and highly robust technology of the XT, useful as it well known by installers and end-users globally, but with extended features for added scale and capabilities.
Tell us about Kentec’s research and development department.
Kentec has more than 40 in-house engineers working in research and development (R&D) of new materials and life safety products and systems. Our team is based in Kent, in the southeast of the UK. The team benefits from being closely connected to Kentec’s manufacturing factory, also based in Kent. For nearly four decades, we have specialised in life safety systems, with a long-standing team dedicated to creating systems that deliver the utmost in safety, based on technological expertise, customer feedback and inputs we collect globally.
We spend 10-15% of our revenues annually on R&D, which is a high percentage of spend and relatively unusual for manufacturers. Our products and systems focus on the two main markets for certification and compliance for standards: the EN standard for Europe; and UL standards for the American and Middle Eastern markets. Our business is divided 50-50 across both sets of products.
Globally, we have worked hard to achieve a vast suite of global standards, especially in the countries where they use a combination of EN and UL standards. For us it is important that our customers have the flexibility to change between those standards without having to learn a completely new technology, which is why our products are based on the same technology, essentially using one set of technology for both EN and UL. This means the installation engineers can work between the two seamlessly – that is different to our competitors.
What new markets have your products been used in?
The world has become much more IT connected, meaning the global importance on data storage has never been greater and will only increase as more and more systems become cloud-based. The way we use and store energy is also changing. And it is in these applications, as well where public safety is paramount such as in hospitals and transport hubs, that the ZXT is coming into its own. For instance, energy storage solutions that are linked to clean energy generators, facilities such as these have no room for fire safety error.
As such, there is a boom towards, not just protecting data centres, but also critical energy storage facilities. These energy storage units can range from the size of a shipping container to a large building, and it fills us with great pride that our panels are protecting such key infrastructure.
What has Kentec’s financial year performance been like for 2021?
Kentec had a record-breaking financial year in 2021. Which was mainly due to the expansion into new global territories and the launch of new products and systems. A big driver for that growth came in the form of a new wireless fire detection system called K-Mesh, which was launched in April 2021.
The installation of wired fire alarm systems can be a lengthy process. It inherently requires installing cables, which is sometimes problematic depending on the age and fabric of a building, and can involve complex planning, commissioning, and installation. With a wireless detection system, however, cabling challenges are of course removed. Using wireless technology, we are now able to reduce installation and set-up time to a matter of hours, which previously took several weeks – and often much longer when considering planning and commissioning.
The brilliance of the K-Mesh system is its ability to communicate with several translators and expanders, and its self-healing and configuring Mesh technology also means it is quicker in its response time when compared to many other wireless systems. It delivers optimum levels of reliability and performance, and importantly is easy to use, install and commission – and ultimately provides robust assurance that fire incidents are detected and communicated immediately.
Historically, installers have been concerned about reliability and redundancy of wireless systems, but this has changed dramatically over the last decade and will soon be a concern of the past.
The K-Mesh system allows you to have up to nine redundant paths going back to a panel, which overcomes any signal path failure issues. In terms of application, wireless was a natural solution for Chester Cathedral, where K-Mesh was recently installed by the Charles Thomas Heritage Fire Protection. It’s a building that dates back more than 1000 years and where thick walls and lead-lined roofs posed unique installation and connectivity challenges. It is the inherent robustness of K-Mesh’s technology that made it the best system choice for the project.
What trends are you witnessing in the domestic and residential housing sectors?
There have been major changes regarding the installation of fire systems in residential buildings following the Grenfell tragedy. Previously, not all residential developments required a fire alarm or evacuation alert system.
However, the BS 8629 standard introduced in 2020, which is a code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of evacuation alert systems for use by the fire and rescue services when attending incidents in buildings containing flats. It means buildings need to have an evacuation system installed, and the much discussed ‘waking watch’ round-the-clock patrols are not required if a fire detection system is also installed.
An important factor to consider during evacuation is people living with disabilities. It’s one thing to evacuate able-bodied residents from a building, who find it easy to respond to an alarm, and evacuate the building accordingly. However, it is vital that solutions are provided to residents who are blind or partially sighted, hard of hearing or suffer neurological impairments.
The K-Mesh system has also been able to bring innovation in this area. In addition to sounding an alarm, K-Mesh is also programmable to give a clear spoken message and to integrate with emergency lighting systems to provide visual prompts for evacuation. Industry research has found that, in fact, all people are more likely to respond quickly to the spoken message, so this functionality is proving impactful across a number of K-Mesh installations. Ultimately, we believe the K-Mesh system has been designed with the utmost in safety at its core and aligned to Kentec’s guiding philosophy of making the lives of its installers and end users easier and ultimately – safer.
The challenges facing the fire industry are global, wireless offers a worldwide solution, Tom Crane, Business Unit Director, Hyfire explains
As we have seen with recent high-rise residential fires in Italy and the USA, the challenge of meeting fire safety requirements in high-rise buildings is by no means unique to the UK. Globally, a renewed focus on fire prevention, limitation and effective evacuation is causing fire systems manufacturers, specifiers and other industry professionals to look for new ways to deliver effective solutions as simply and efficiently as possible.
The old ways are not always best
While fire technology is always developing and the capabilities of the modern fire system are far beyond what could be offered even 20 years ago, the basic concept of individual devices connected by wired loops to fire panels has not changed in decades. Projects generally follow the same process of risk assess, design and quote. Then, if won, they move onto installation commissioning and maintenance. Professionals will be competing with largely the same technology, offering systems that are largely identical except for a few differences in cause and effect.
Even once the tendering process is over, installing a fire system can take months to plan and complete. These might range from changes to the building that weren’t included in the plans, to asbestos and external factors, such as the availability of other contractors and trades. This whole process takes time and does not offer any innovative solutions to the problems of inconvenience and collateral damage caused by any wired system installation.
With a wired fire system there are many uncertainties that we have learned to live with, which mean the fire installer, project manager, or end user do not have full oversight of the situation. This makes it difficult to allocate staff resources effectively, particularly when you need different skills at different times, and creates a much greater logistical challenge. All of this generates uncertainty for fire professionals, end users and often the occupants of a building, as well as adding to costs.
With the onset of Covid installations were affected due to physical distancing. In the past, fire systems were usually empty when new systems were installed, but with new regulations and legislation demanding urgent upgrades and renewals, this is no longer always the case.
Wireless fire detection and alarm products hold an answer to many of these challenges. The technology is mature and widely accepted with the best commercial systems and devices, such as the Targus range from Hyfire, having the same sensing and performance approvals as the best wired systems, and a specific performance approval (EN54-25) for the wireless infrastructure.
Wireless Choice is Growing
Wireless devices have traditionally been used in sites where wires cannot go, such as historic buildings. They are now becoming mainstream, installed in all manner of sites from industrial sites to schools. In fact, over the past decade, rapid advances in technology and manufacturing have made wireless a viable and cost-effective alternative for many fire systems, eliminating the need for cable and all of the problems it can bring. For example, a recent Hyfire project in London saw a high-rise residential install and commissioning take less than four weeks, with minimum inconvenience to residents. Contrast that to a traditional wired system, which would have taken up to three months, plus all of the cost, disturbance and intervention in the fabric of the building it would have entailed.
Some systems such as Hyfire’s can offer the best of both worlds, functioning either in fully wireless modes, or in hybrid configuration with wireless devices mixed in any combination on wired loops. There are no surprises with a wireless system, the exact devices required are defined in the initial survey, the system can be pre-programmed quickly and easily off site and installed by less skilled workers, in less time. Disturbance to tenant businesses and the need for fire watches are all but eliminated and costs and timescales are guaranteed, plus the time savings mean that many more projects can be completed. The result is that the vast majority of installation firms have at least installed wireless ‘add on’ systems and a significant number are wrapping their businesses around the wireless model.
The list of suppliers and range of available wireless fire alarm and detection devices is comprehensive, but it is worth working with a leading commercial wireless company. It is also worth choosing a supplier that is a specialist in fire devices that are wireless, not simply wireless devices. The definition is subtle but profound when performance considerations come into play.
A serious commercial wireless manufacturer will have the best chamber designs with dual angle detection, multiple sensing technologies, all the relevant input and output devices and often, like Hyfire high performance EN54-23 devices, specialist control modules such as wireless door holders, and even very specialist devices such as Intrinsically Safe.
Advances in battery technology and LED lighting mean wireless systems can run for many years without a battery change, a period that’s likely to extend further in the future. Battery choice, lifetime and the cost of batteries becomes a key differentiator in wireless systems, some manufacturers use ‘off the shelf batteries’ that can be bought in a supermarket, others specialist batteries, and so more expensive, potentially locking in maintenance suppliers and costs.
Assurance and adaptability
All wireless fire systems begin with a pre-installation survey, taking a detailed look at the building, identifying any potential issues to be overcome, pinpointing the exact location of each wireless device and working out an exact schedule for installation and testing. It will ensure that the completed system will perform as specified, which is a guarantee that wired systems, with their susceptibility to loop faults, can often struggle to maintain, and will also certify the cost of the project, which means no hidden surprises that can change installation projects and even system design and performance.
The basic topology of a wireless system remains the same, using standard addressable or conventional panels connected via the fire loop to wireless translators. These build up the wireless communication network, on which the input and output devices sit. Systems can grow from very small to very large, easily and reliably. The extent of these high-performance systems is limited only by installation standards or the number of devices that a fire panel can control.
Wireless and hybrid systems can be scrutinised and controlled remotely in the same way as any wired installation, offering a round-the-clock view of system status. In terms of monitoring and control, while some wireless systems limit the communication with the panel, the best, such as Hyfire’s, deliver rich data over the loop and are indistinguishable from a wired system in configuration, performance and control terms. This means that all cause and effect, such as false alarm management and monitoring, are readily available.
Wireless is the Future of Fire Systems
Industry bodies such as the UK’s FIA (Best Practice Guide to Fire Safety) have acknowledged the value of wireless technology to help meet changing standards in the fire industry and it can also help to address some of the other challenges we are facing. With less time needed to install or update each system, it’s possible to deliver improvements quickly and efficiently, with short lead-in times and less manpower.
In terms of outlay, because there are no nasty surprises to be found during the installation of wiring loops, installers and specifiers of wireless can guarantee installation costs, and radically reduce commissioning costs, making their businesses stronger, offering certainty to the end client, and allowing jobs to be scheduled more reliably.
