With governments, public sector organizations, corporate, and SMEs realizing the need to protect their interests from the diverse and prevailing threats, investment in video surveillance systems is on the rise.

Rapid advances and innovations in video surveillance technology are continuously transforming the industry while at the same time considerably enhancing its security capabilities. The need to be prepared for ever-evolving security threats is driving the growing demand for the latest in video surveillance systems to secure property and premises globally. Demand for the latest in video monitoring technology is also being felt, which is expected to be one of the key growth areas for the industry.

Market Dynamics

Video surveillance market is rapidly switching over to IP-based network surveillance systems from the CCTV analog systems that were used earlier. The global network video surveillance equipment sales are expected to reach the tipping point by 2013 and overtake analog video surveillance equipment sales.

Axis Communications, Bosch, Cisco, Karel Electronics, Mobotix, Panasonic, Samsung, Schneider Electric, Sony, Sparsh, Vicon, Verint, and Tyco Security are some of the leading vendors in the video surveillance. Flir, Hikvision, Zicom, and Infinova also have aggressive presence in the market.

Unlike the professional market, the consumer market is not predicted to see a significant revenue transition from analog to network video surveillance equipment in the next five years. Despite a shaky worldwide economy, the global video surveillance market is expected to grow by more than 12 percent in 2012.

Currently, the BRIC market is estimated to represent approximately 30 percent of global video surveillance spend. This is projected to increase to more than 40 percent of global spend in 2016. While only low single digit growth is forecast for some of the more established markets for video surveillance equipment, the aggregate BRIC market is forecast to grow in excess of 20 percent in 2012. This growth in demand from the BRIC countries is also anticipated to accelerate the tipping point.

Demand Verticals

The security of individuals, property, and information have become critical global issues with retaliations against terrorism and enhanced national cyber security being the major areas generating huge investments. The aforementioned sectors are one of the major opportunities for businesses with respect to technological advancement and services. The software-based solution for hosting and managing video on an IP network depends upon the number of cameras in a surveillance system. The major portion of a video footage captured by the surveillance cameras are put under archive and retrieved on demand following an incident or other studies like customer footfall in case of retail segment. The market for video surveillance as a service is, however, facing challenges with respect to the high infrastructure cost related to installations. Also, the bandwidth and corporate protocols governing the norms of the private organizations combined with the network security issues are proving to be a hindrance to market growth. There are numerous initiatives being taken by companies to enhance the awareness among the end-users and system integrators about the technicalities and clinical advantages of the cloud services being used for video storage and retrieval.

In a highly price-sensitive market, consumer network cameras are on average, double the price of analog cameras. Consumer analog video surveillance equipment is primarily sold in bundles as a complete system containing at least one camera and a DVR. Conversely, network cameras largely are not available in four or eight camera bundles. Whilst consumer network security equipment offers some interesting solutions, it is often not an equivalent product to analog equipment. Typically, network cameras appeal to a different type of end-users who initially install a single camera to monitor a particular area of their home.

Despite the difficult retail climate, the consumer market for video surveillance equipment has continued to perform well, with double-digit growth forecast for both analog and network product categories. It is a growing category that has not yet reached saturation. The faster growth seen in network equipment has not cannibalized sales of analog equipment; there is still organic growth in both product lines.

Among the various end-user applications under video surveillance as a service market, the classification was done on the basis of commercial, industrial, institutional, residential, and infrastructural applications. Among the commercial applications, the office segment is observed to hold the highest share. In the infrastructure market, encapsulating highways, streets and bridges, transportation, communications and stadiums, highways, streets, and bridges is expected to increase with the highest CAGR of 12.9 percent.

In order to achieve appreciable growth along with profitability, companies need to focus largely on three specific areas, namely a price-effective business model, HD cameras as in the resolution of cameras, and mass marketing, which incorporates dominant use of social networking.

Networked Video Surveillance

The proliferation of IP networks and the falling prices on IP video cameras and storage has made video capture and storage over IP networks faster, more reliable, simpler, and affordable; making these solutions an attractive option for many industry sectors, including retail shops, educational institutions, governments, and any business requiring security surveillance. With the emergence of IP-based technology, IT distributors and IT integrators are now, increasingly, competing with traditional security distributors and security integrators.

IP cameras can continuously record to a network storage device for the extended period. Furthermore, the capacity of many network storage devices can be easily expanded by adding additional hard drives on the fly.

IP cameras also enable the ability to view live and recorded video streams remotely and securely. IP networks integrate many features that prevent data loss, back up mission-critical data, and recover quickly from outages. Video footage recorded by IP cameras are often stored on network attached storage (NAS) devices, which have built-in drive redundancy and data integrity checks, greatly adding to the reliability of recorded video.

Analog cameras are limited in their deployment options, since they must connect directly to a DVR via a cable. In contrast, IP cameras can be deployed anywhere reachable by Ethernet cabling or a wireless access point, expanding deployment options to include longer reaches or even outdoor coverage.

Power over Ethernet (PoE), a feature unavailable in analog video systems, simplifies installation of network cameras/video encoders, reduces installation and maintenance costs, and improves reliability in IP video surveillance systems. PoE enables IP network devices to receive power from a PoE-enabled switch or mid-span through the same standard cable that transmits IP data. One does not need to hire a certified electrician to install separate power lines - a big advantage for network cameras, particularly in difficult-to-reach areas.

IP networks also make it easier to adjust surveillance coverage when needed. One can add, move, or remove cameras without taking other cameras or equipment offline. This simplicity and flexibility further ensures there are no gaps in recording.

Outlook

Building an IP surveillance system is fast becoming simple and cost-effective. However, some technical requirements need to be considered while installing an IP surveillance system, or transitioning from an existing analog system to a high functioning IP surveillance system. Considerations include network bandwidth and latency, network features and capacity (wired or wireless), hard disk storage capacity, and application software. Benefits including lower TCO, ease of deployment, and remote access are pushing more and more businesses toward the adoption of IP video surveillance. Organizations that used analog-based CCTV systems in the past are now migrating to complete network-based digital systems. Businesses which could not afford dedicated video surveillance rooms and expensive equipment are now deploying IP cameras for a fraction of the cost of traditional systems and take advantage of extra security that video surveillance brings.