Analog to IP
Frost & Sullivan recently modified its prediction that IP sales will top analog ones from 2013 to 2016, and several veterans offered similar estimates in respective regions. In general, analog product sales still dominate with at least 70-percent market share in all major markets. Despite this high percentage, the volume of IP products shipped is rising rapidly in all major markets, with the exception of Oceania.
More precisely, 90 percent of distribution products in the U.S. are still analog, and 80 percent of integration
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| Mohamed Mohideen, International Sales & Marketing, Cmos Dotcom |
projects opt for IP, said Suhaib Allababidi, VP of 2M CCTV. The market share for analog products in Australia and New Zealand remains high at 90 percent, where slow IP adoption is forecast to continue for a few more years. "Analog is still dominant, though IP will eventually become the norm because the market needs to leverage technology from other industries to achieve economy of scale," said Bud Broomhead, President of Intransa.
In Italy, most products used are still analog and not much IP, and it will likely take a couple more years before IP becomes more popular, said Alessandro Berio, MD of Eurogroup. With a market share estimated at 20 percent or less, IP products are currently used for large infrastructure projects only. "IP uptake is slow because installers are traditionally from an electrician background with little IT knowledge," said Alessandro Oliva, IT Engineer, Feniva.
For the emerging markets in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa, analog products also account for 70 to 90 percent of market share. "In many cases, if the project is managed by the CIO, IP products would be used; conversely, if it is managed by the security manager, analog products would be used," Alvarez explained.
Many contribute restricted IP expansion to frail and expensive national Internet infrastructure. "Granted, traditional
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| Alessandro Oliva, IT Engineer, Feniva |
installers still need a lot more education to drive IP growth, but IT-savvy distributors have got that covered," said Emre Yildirim, GM of Bilgi Technology. With new state-sponsored and large-scale projects in motion, IP products shall have no problem achieving greater traction in the few years.
In the Asian markets, sales of analog products have reportedly fallen by 60 to 90 percent, while the volume of IP products carried has increased dramatically for some. "Our revenue portion on IP has increased from 20 percent last year to 35 percent this year," said Sunny Mathew, Executive Manager of Autocop. For others, the growth in IP is hampered by a price-sensitive mindset. "Analog products such as DVRs are easy to find in Thailand, even in supermarkets, as they are cheap and easy to install in comparison," said Sakchai Somsuk, MD of TSolutions.
To encourage IP adoption, some local distributors and SIs hold seminars and invite end users to attend exhibitions to better educate the market on IP-based technologies, especially for those end users wanting higher quality and resolution products. For some, designing a pure-IP security system where different segments are interconnected by a network creates less integration problems, said Serguei Zagriatski, System Manager of Transportation Business, ST Electronics. "We use IP products for all new projects now."