It’s interesting how often a mass of emerging market requirements will converge to drive a technology in a particular direction. The video surveillance market is a good example. The big push in video analytics really calls for a shift to high definition cameras, at which point bandwidth becomes an issue. A big concern to installers is system reliability. For organisations looking to grab market share in an increasingly global business, ease of support on the ground is a key factor. And there is the high value that integrators and installers place on the likes of reliability, future proofing, ease of integration and, let it be said, price.
All of these issues are driving the market at full pelt towards IP-based video solutions, and this is rapidly becoming the de-facto standard in surveillance and security.
HD cameras have rapidly superseded traditional analogue products as the technology of choice in surveillance applications, for their vastly superior image quality. This is enabling a whole new raft of video analytics applications, providing anything from business intelligence for retail outlets to transport infrastructure planning. And next generation video surveillance systems will be networked, intelligent, multi-camera co-operating systems. But all of this has huge implications for bandwidth and data rates, and Ethernet provides the only realistic option.
The latest research from IMS highlights how reliability is another factor driving the decision to use IP-based security technology, with the survey of European integrators and installers also finding that customer requirements and the ability to future-proof installations were also important considerations. Further, a North American study identified as ease of training and availability of multi-vendor support as being key drivers to IP-based solutions.
The IP video surveillance and security market defied the global downturn of 2009, and actually grew by 3%. Growth for 2010 looks set to boom, with new players entering the sector, lower cost products coming to market, and big events such as the World Cup and the 2012 Olympics requiring ever greater infrastructure development and security spending. So it looks like being a very interesting couple of years.