VIDEO SURVEILLANCE
Network video may have reached its tipping point in several regions, but analog is far from dead. HD-SDI provides a midway point with HD video over analog cabling. “HD-SDI is only available in the U.K. through a limited number of suppliers, so it's not really launched or established yet,” Pigram said. “However, there's a lot of end user interest, and more manufacturers will be launching products towards the end of 2011.”
For network video provider IQinVision, it consolidated its M-JPEG and H.264 product lines for greater efficiency. “In 2011 we converted all our cameras to multistream,” Bodell said. “We now have the largest portfolio of H.264 cameras and consolidated part numbers. Since the market would not allow us to increase the price of the M-JPEG cameras, we are selling the multistream H.264/M-JPEG cameras for the price of M-JPEG cameras and letting the users select the compression in the field.”
This year 's multimegapixel cameras generated plenty of buzz at trade shows. “There is a trend to use high-megapixel cameras, in standard format and increasingly more specialist 180-degree/panoramic and 360-degree fish-eye technology to capture a complete view from a single camera,” Pigram said. “This is proving to be a valuable addition to many video surveillance systems and in some cases, customers prefer to use them compared to traditional fully functional domes.” 
Among the high-megapixel solutions was a 51-megapixel multisensory system with a dozen lenses, capable of displaying background objects as clearly as ones in the foreground. “This makes it possible to identify people at a distance of 160 meters,” said Roland Feil, Sales Director for Dallmeier electronic.
UP IN THE CLOUD
More hosted offerings were launched in 2011, but not all sites have the infrastructure to support large bandwidth. “For the smaller commercial and residential sectors of the market, it's just starting and will grow in the next five years and expand to larger applications as greater bandwidth becomes available,” Pigram said. Norbain introduced a hosted access control solution, targeting multisite end-user companies.
And while megapixel counts might be climbing, few networks have the bandwidth to transmit enormous video files at real-time frame rates. “Distributed storage is a key component to intelligently manage data to a cloud service,” Gally said. “HD video into the cloud will require customers to invest so much in the infrastructure that it's hard to cost-justify.”
ACCESS CONTROL AND INTRUSION
Managing access can now be done through integration with other physical security systems, such as video door phones for remote monitoring. “The integration of video surveillance with biometrics is gaining traction,” Sahayan said. “This growth in biometrics is expected to create the need for end users to utilize more advanced surveillance systems, particularly IP systems, which will be more cost-effective as a security solution.”
Mobile devices will also feature near-field communications (NFC) for access control. “HID Global sees significant opportunities in taking NFC technology beyond cashless payment into new, complementary physical access control applications,” Siew said. “The industry has made great progress in moving payment applications onto NFC smartphones.”
The global intrusion alarm market is expected to reach $2.4 billion in 2011, according to IMS Research. Opportunities were mainly in retrofit activities, as new construction has slowed.
CHALLENGES
CHANNEL
Finding new opportunities was a top distributor target in 2011. “The economic slowdown has us focus even more on presenting ways for our customers to diversify into new product areas and revenue streams,” Rothstein said.
Network video channels have been tricky to navigate in recent years, as traditional distributors may not understand IP issues. However, IT resellers may know about networking, but lack security experience.
From the experience of 13-year-old IQinVision, security distributors are the way to go, particularly in the high-volume market or sites with less than 10 cameras. “In the early days, we focused on IT integrators,” Bodell said. “But more security channel dealers are becoming network-savvy. Three to four years ago, I would have picked IT as the channel that would win, because the security channel was not embracing IT. But with turnover, you get a younger generation of security integrators who understand networking, because they have grown up with it.”
While IP uptake is seeing more acceptance, education is still a challenge. “It's a fact that the end user and system integrators are exposed to new network solutions and don't know enough about IP,” Amir said.
ECONOMIC WOES
Challenges in 2011 were spending and economic difficulties. “Western Europe has been greatly impacted by the recession, namely Spain, Italy, Greece and the U.K.,” Kozak said. “As governments look to balance budgets, there could be a slowdown in growth. The Americas is forecast to see slow growth in 2011 as a result of the high growth that returned in 2010 following the economic recession. Despite rebounding, the growth could not be sustained. The EMEA region is only forecast to grow by 2 percent in 2011.”
Market uncertainty forced installers and end users to reconsider their security purchases, even if they were satisfied with how they performed. “Economic pressures have forced companies to either consider whether they need to spend money on features they don't really need or conversely that the system they buy delivers more: not just in the security arena, but potentially in new areas which will drive economic growth of the end user,” Pigram said. “This has driven a trend to two different purchasing dynamics — cost-effective video and integrated IP systems.”
Regional buying behavior has further compounded market troubles. “Low levels of awareness on the importance of security and the availability of cheap manpower in emerging countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines are restraining the adoption of security solutions,” Sahayan said. “However, this scenario is expected to change in the next few years, as end users begin to gain more exposure to surveillance technologies through trade shows, media advertising, as well as success stories.”