It felt like a ton of smart locks and access control solutions @ CES2020...

...well, because in fact there was. Not sure if you noticed but I think the next #IoT darling is upon us and it is the #smartlock and #accesscontrol. Walking the halls at #ces2020 amongst all the other technology being showcased, I was blown away at how many booths were showcasing smart locks and/or access control services.

There were an handful of flavors:

1. Incumbents that focus on safety and security products and as an offering have smart locks. Think Allegion, Assa Abbloy, Spectrum Brands and others. Typically more of a security product with smart lock offerings.
2. Start ups either in Eureka Park or who have graduated to the Sands Hall and have a booth. Typically more of a gadget for your home, office or multifamily dwelling.
3. EcoSystem players that either have their own locks or partner with Incumbents and/or Start Ups. Think Google, Apple, Amazon, etc.
4. Access Control as a Service who are focused on the services around locks.
5. Taiwanese and Chinese OEM and ODMs. There were a ton (kind of shocking). For this article I am not focusing on them and didn't include them in below.

All in all, by my calculation and from what I saw, I counted 23 companies showcasing 1 - 4 above. If I missed any, apologies... as you will see, there were a lot and I was there for 1 day only. Let me know in the comments who was also there.

Below is a list, in alphabetic order, of who they were, example of news coverage and any insight I may have from visiting their booth, reading articles, or conversations in the halls.

1. Alfred Lock https://alfredinc.com https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/7/21053980/wi-charge-alfred-locks-long-range-wireless-charging-smart-lock ; https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/secure-one-touch-control-with-alfred-smart-lock-touchscreen-deadbolt/ Alfred is interesting as they have a history of OEM'ing for some of the largest brands in the business but now have vertically integrated with their own branded line of smart locks (for consumers, commercial buildings, and multi family). They were also showing wireless charging with Wi-Charge (something Allegion showed with Alarm.com last CES) and the ability to retrofit mortise locks and make them smart. The retrofit mortise smart lock got my attention as its an attempt to go after existing commercial interior locks. HUGE opportunity.
2. August and Yale Linus https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/august-yale-present-new-locks-smart-storage-solutions-at-ces-2020/ and https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/01/08/ces-2020-hands-on-with-august-wi-fi-smart-lock-with-homekit They rolled out a ton at CES this year. August showed a Wifi included lock, smaller size, a package lock box, and EMEA offerings. They were also in a bunch of other booths. It looks like they have shifted to using CES as the show where they introduce new products (vs ISC West and other shows).
3. BenjiLock by Hampton https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200108005027/en/BenjiLock-Hampton-Expands-Line-Debuts-Biometric-Bike If there is one person I root for its Robbie Cabral (Inventor, CEO, and Founder of BenjiLock). True American Dream story. We met years ago when he was in Eureka Park and it's been fun to watch. I will always remember following up with him and meeting at a Starbucks outside of LA where he told me his passionate story of where he came from, why he's risking it all for his family, and his dream of what Benjilock could (and will) be. Yes, he was on Shark Tank but that's just one part of his story. The guy is legit and it is impossible not to root for him. Super proud of him and it's clear he isn't slowing down. At CES they showed a new U-Locks for bicycles, cabinet & drawer locks for homes and offices -- each open with a fingerprint.
4. Brilong by Brainchild Electronic https://www.brilong.com They were showing a biometric lever lock amongst other offerings. Very slick industrial design.
5. Chamberlain https://www.cnet.com/news/liftmasters-myq-smart-garage-suite-chamberlain-opener-camera/ They partnered with Yale to integrate a lever and deadbolt into their MyQ in garage delivery use case. When your garage opens, you can have it lock the internal door to your home as an added peace of mind. And when the garage door closes, the lock can stay locked or go back to unlocked. Pretty slick and an example of empathetic design in a use case. 
6. Danby Appliances https://www.danbyparcelguard.com/en-us/ Package locker for your home. Pretty straight forward. Feels like something that's relevant now but I am not sure long term if Amazon, UPS, and FedEx want to get into that business. But for now...go get it.
7. MyColisBox by Decayeux Group https://us.mycolisbox.solutions Smart electronic parcel boxes. Same as Danby above.
8. DEN Smart Home https://www.densmarthome.com They are showcasing the ability to install a lock into every single door. Curious to see if it's true as the lock types vary all over the world but from what their website shows and the message in their booth, it is.
9. BrightLock by Havr https://www.havr.io European eCylinder for home and work. They have a well designed application.
10. igloohome https://www.macobserver.com/cool-stuff-found/igloohome-ces-unveiled-2020/ Like Robbie at Benjoilock, Anthony Chow is just a great human. He is the definition of what a good start up CEO should look like and be. He has a vision and he's executing on it. They showed a connected deadbolt, a padlock, and a keybox that doesn't use Wi-Fi but uses your phone as the connectivity. Its a great example of a product built with consumer security and privacy in mind. They only go to the cloud when they need to. Otherwise, your data stays local. Love it. This will be common practice in the near future. #edgecomputing
11. Kwikset Halo Touch https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/6/21050746/kwikset-halo-touch-wi-fi-connected-smart-lock-fingerprint-scanner-price-specs-ces-2020 Nice looking lock with a keyhole and fingerprint scanner. It will be interesting to see if this takes off, as historically, fingerprint locks have been underwhelming and fickle at best. But that was yesterday...maybe they have figured that out and we will all be surprised.
12. Level Lock https://www.slashgear.com/level-lock-gives-your-existing-deadbolt-a-secret-smart-upgrade-07605935/ After making a big splash with their recent launch, Level was showing off what they've been talking about. Great design. Now comes the hard part... delivering at scale.
13. Lockly Vision https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/lockly-vision-smart-lock-video-doorbell-ces-2020/ Lockly got a ton of attention last CES with its "5 ways to unlock" and has been capitalizing on it. At CES 2020 they showed an integrated camera along with all the other bells and whistles. Curious to see how the long the batteries lasts.
14. Netatmo Smart Door Lock https://www.macrumors.com/2020/01/06/ces-2020-netatmo-homekit-smart-door-lock/ They showcased a NFC key based consumer lock. Interesting and different, but realistically, not sure it will make a splash with consumers as the trend is more towards mobile vs another key type. That said, going mobile is going to take time and for some multifamily where they use NFC tags already for the common spaces, maybe there is a need.
15. Porchster https://porchster.com See #6 and #7 above.
16. PASS Inc. www.passapp.com They have the same vision as many where the key goes away. They promote they do a lot. 
17. PassiveBolt’s Shepherd Lock https://www.techhive.com/article/3512150/passivebolt-keyless-shepherd-lock-ces-2020.html PassiveBolt has gotten a lot of buzz at CES this year. Interesting tech and user experience. I will be honest, they have my attention. Feels like something an incumbent should partner with and bring mainstream. I will keep an eye on them.
18. Philips Digital Door Lock https://z-wavealliance.org/philips-smart-locks-will-debut-in-american-market-at-ces-2020/ My biggest head scratcher at the show. I am guessing more of an APAC focus based on their designs. Definitely will get some traction in multifamily in APAC but outside of that...not sure.
19. Ring Access Control https://www.cnet.com/news/rings-new-gate-control-device-lets-rich-people-bestow-access-with-an-app/ Promoted as a gate controller, this is a great example of access control as a service or a company looking to make an industry a feature. I look forward to getting my hands on one. For those that have gates at the end of their driveway, this is a no brainer. There are incumbents in this space, but none have really innovated or made this seamless. Ring has.
20. SECURAM Systems https://www.ces.tech/Innovation-Awards/Honorees/2020/Honorees/S/SECURAM-Touch.aspx Another fingerprint reader for your front door. Like the new Kwikset Halo lock, we will see how it plays in the market.
21. Somfy Door Keeper https://en24.news/2020/01/ces-somfy-presents-a-smart-motorized-lock.html Focused on the European market (France and Germany), Somfy continues to turn themselves into an whole home automation company (along way from a motorized shade company). Good looking product with a ton of promises. They had an earlier release on the show door where they were demo'ing the product and it was less than impressive (door positioning is hard. Especially those final centimeters before it closes. Thats the difference between real and just marketing. It's also why a lot of companies don't have it as a feature. Yet). If they work the kinks out, they may have a winner.
22. Tapplock Corp https://tapplock.com Fingerprint padlock (like BenjiLock). I'm bullish on the connected padlock market as soon as 5G and other far range/low bandwidth networking services like Amazon Sidewalk become mainstream. Until then, neat gadget.
23. Ultraloq https://www.u-tec.com/blog.html I like that its a lever lock. We need more in the market as it makes interior locks more approachable.

Edit addition:

24. Salto and Danalock are in the Z-wave Alliance Booth.

Wow...thats a ton of smart locks and access control solutions at CES!

See anything I missed? Let us know.