For more than half a century, Commend has developed and manufactured Security and Integrated Communication systems that protect people, buildings, and assets.
The company has grown steadily since its 1971 launch in Salzburg, Austria. “Over the course of those 50-plus years, we have really expanded to cover the globe and expanded in a couple different directions from a technical, innovative perspective,” says President of Commend Americas, Tom Reilly. “We have expanded to cover the world in a very entrepreneurial way, where we have local leadership and local presence to cover and support our customers. So, we have maintained a very responsible way of scaling so that we can be very consultative and present with our end users.”
Commend’s global headquarters, R&D, and production remain in Salzburg, while the American division is run out of Mahwah, New Jersey.
Cybersecurity experts
Commend “established cybersecurity as one of our core development and organizational principles, frankly before it was really the buzzword it is today,” says Reilly. “What we realized is our devices are uniquely positioned, in that we were one of the first companies to really offer IP-based network audio communication for enterprises. Essentially, it’s intercom devices on unprotected parts of buildings, on the outside perimeter, to control restricted access. We decided to take a very, very firm stance in establishing privacy and security by design.”
After developing an expertise in cybersecurity, the company has “pioneered advancements in the years since then,” Reilly says. “We were one of the first manufacturers—definitely the first in our market segment—to obtain ISO 27001 certification and also IEC 62443, which demonstrates our very rounded and principled base focus on cybersecurity for the way we run our business and the way we develop our products. This commitment to cybersecurity is integral to our operations, from securing our supply chain to developing our go-to-market strategy. So, we have the ability to demonstrate cybersecurity from the start of product consideration into the final development and deployment on our customers’ networks.”
Cybersecurity is paramount because Commend supports critical infrastructure around the world, including international corporate campuses, leading education campuses, healthcare institutions, correctional facilities, and data centers. “All critical infrastructure with really high network security requirements,” Reilly says. “We want to not only be compliant; we want to be the manufacturer that can lead with best practices, and that is the focus of what we have established.”
Commend also boasts a “powerful presence” across a variety of sectors that are not considered critical infrastructure. There is a “need for high-quality, cybersecure audio in every other professional use case beyond that,” Reilly points out.
“What we really want the market to understand is that we take a hybrid approach of focusing on certain markets where we can be that consultative partner, but we have also developed our product line so that it can be that professional audio solution for everything in between,” he explains. “Think from one device or one public address speaker all the way up to a networked collection of facilities together.”
The team has “developed a unique cloud hybrid methodology,” Reilly shares. “So we have a cloud technology that can be deployed seamlessly from one device to thousands—all one managed system—but we also have on-premise solutions that can be seamlessly networked together into the same solution.”
Artificial intelligence
As with cybersecurity, the team made the decision to focus on AI early in the game, “especially compared to other players,” Reilly says. “We felt like it was important for the value proposition we provided.” This has led to “continuous evolution” with the goal of “delivering the highest quality, most secure and trusted audio communication for our customers.”
One key challenge that AI helps resolve is clarity of communication. Commend products are placed in “tough acoustical environments,” from noisy train platforms to bustling city streets, “all areas that have really challenging acoustical profiles,” Reilly points out. “So, we have always been a leader in developing traditional audio algorithms to enable clear communication.”
The team recognized that, with the help of AI, they could elevate the audio experience for the client by removing background noise. “We have deployed AI in a really exciting way for that use case,” says Reilly.
The U.S. Security Industry Association (SIA) recognized this achievement in 2024 with the Best in Communication and Networking Solutions award. This was awarded for Commend’s “AI Cleans Voice from Noise,” the game-changing solution to the background noise problem. The previous year, Commend won SIA’s New Products and Solutions Award in the Communications and Networking Solutions category. This recognition was for Ivy, the world’s first conversational AI-based intercom voice assistant.
Ivy assists call center operators in fielding calls. “It allows them to focus on the ones that actually need their intervention,” Reilly says. “It is very important for them to prioritize calls.” The technology determines which calls need human intervention and, among the ones that do, determines the level of importance, separating urgent calls from routine ones.
“It is not a prescriptive chatbot,” Reilly explains. “It learns the intent of spoken language, so it adapts over time. And it automates calls that don’t need human intervention.” If the automated calls are not quickly resolved to satisfaction, the technology will reroute them to a human agent.
Ivy also has the ability to translate language. Say, for example, “somebody approaches a help point at a subway platform and they speak Polish, but they are in New York. There is a barrier of effective communication there, and it is a language one. The traditional solution would be to route calls to different call center operators that are multilingual, but that is obviously restrictive.” Commend’s technology bridges that gap with real-time translation on both sides of the conversation into virtually any language. “You can literally come up and say, ‘please speak Spanish to me,’ and it will speak Spanish,” Reilly explains.
The technology also serves the hearing-impaired. “Our devices can be multisensory, so it is not just audio,” he says. “It is also a touchscreen display on the device that can do live, real-time transcription of the live communication with the operator or with the Ivy conversational AI engagement. So not only will it give audible help, but it will also give text help, either for hearing impaired people or for people to have a record of what was discussed.”
Looking ahead
The team is eager to keep building on the company’s strengths and successes. “Commend internationally has continued to realize market leadership and growth,” Reilly says. “We see the security and communication market continue to expand and our percentage of market share continues to outpace that growth. So, despite the fact that we’ve been in business for 50 years internationally and 20 years in the states, globally we are still in growth mode.”
The team plans to continue to challenge themselves to develop better ways to solve problems. An ongoing goal is to help customers “really understand the evolving challenges that are in front of them.” Company leadership is actively “identifying the market drivers that are really going to be impacting our customers and investing the time to learn those drivers,” says Reilly.
Certainly, the company is nimble enough to react quickly to these drivers. “We are big in our market in that we are the largest professional intercom provider globally, but we are still a small company. That is enabling us to be very receptive to those changes and drivers [and] respond in a positive way.” With a foundation this strong, a positive future seems as clear as the company’s audio.
Call to action
Commend is poised to lead the future of secure, innovative communication solutions. To learn more about how Commend can enhance your infrastructure with cutting-edge technology, visit the company’s website or contact the team directly for a consultation.
