More and more, video surveillance and IoT are tied together. Against this backdrop, ABI Research recently released a report citing VSaaS and analytics as two major drivers that will further fuel the linkage between video surveillance and IoT.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a big phenomenon, with Gartner estimating that 6.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide in 2016, up 30 percent from 2015, and will reach 20.8 billion by 2020.
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More and more, video surveillance and IoT are tied together, as equipment such as cameras and recorders go IP and are connected together on the Internet. Against this backdrop, ABI Research recently released a report citing VSaaS and analytics as two major drivers that will further fuel the linkage between video surveillance and IoT.
The company cites three trends in the video surveillance market that clearly depict the convergence of IoT and video surveillance: VSaaS or video surveillance as a service (VSaaS), the integration and unified management of video surveillance within other systems, and the use of video analytics as a business intelligence tool. According to ABI Research, VSaaS is specifically an emerging business model that enables access to the system and its services from virtually anywhere, while relieving user organizations and enterprises from service management.
Despite the attractiveness of VSaaS, several challenges are associated with it, the biggest of which is the bandwidth issue, as most users don’t have the network infrastructure to upload huge amounts of video to the cloud. “If one location has 16 high-definition IP cameras capturing 1080p video at a rate of 10 images per second, it would need an astounding 32 Mb/s to upload all of the video and roughly another 14 Mb/s to download and review video from four cameras,” said Dan Cremins, Global Leader of Product Management at March Networks, in a white paper.
While large-scale adoption of a fully cloud-based VSaaS model may not yet be viable due to its high bandwidth requirements, many leading vendors, like Genetec, Milestone Systems, Honeywell Security Group, and Aimetis, are incorporating VSaaS functionalities into their traditional video management solutions, ABI Research said, adding that the vendors are then integrating and connecting them with other security systems like access control, fire detection, and building management.
Another driver for video surveillance and IoT convergence is video analytics, which analyzes and makes sense of data generated by the cameras, thus helping end users drive their operational, marketing, and merchandising decisions forward. ABI Research anticipates that an increasing number of vendors will offer solutions that integrate operation data from a variety of sources, including cameras and control systems.
“The use of video analytics as a business intelligence tool in addition to providing security and loss prevention will be a major driver for growth in the sector. The general desire to achieve a higher ROI from video surveillance systems will push more customers to implement such solutions, particularly in the small-to-medium business segment in which security budgets are typically limited,” said Eugenio Pasqua, Research Analyst at ABI Research.
And while the majority of surveillance cameras currently installed in the enterprise environment still use fixed line analog connections, this will not hinder the overall market, cited the report, adding that both wired and wireless IP connections will continue to grow at a double-digit CAGR for at least the next five years.
"The increasing demand of IT and physical security convergence and video integration will provide a fertile ground for players with a good IP understanding," Pasqua concluded. "This will ultimately push many firms to closely collaborate and reduce the complexity in delivering a viable end-to-end solution."