Managed video as a service is a force to be reckoned with as it stands at the forefront of next-generation video surveillance. A&S takes a quick pulse of the market status and approaches in light of global economic recovery.
Managed video as a service is a force to be reckoned with as it stands at the forefront of next-generation video surveillance. a&s takes a quick pulse of the market status and approaches in light of global economic recovery.
The revenues from managed video as a service (MVaaS) have experienced considerable growth since 2009. The momentum built is an indicator of overall acceptance of MVaaS solutions and market adoption across segments, said Carlos Perez, VP of Product and Marketing for Envysion.
“Businesses, stores and homes have found that the need for security has increased as the economy has weakened and cases of shoplifting and theft have increased as a result,” said David Shucavage, cofounder and Chairman of Rogo.
Even in developing countries like India, MVaaS's advantages to end users, such as no need for upfront investment and complete managed service with easy setup, are readily picked up by large telecoms such as Airtel, Tata and Reliance. “Many telecoms and ISPs realize that they can generate recurring revenues from selling bandwidth and surveillance services to their existing clientele,” said Vivek Bagri, MD of Livedarshan. “Large telecoms have about 90 million subscribers or more with security awareness, and the number is increasing.”
Broad acceptance also means more demanding users. Solution providers are upgrading their service offerings to stay competitive, which will vastly grow the market, said Gregory Roberts, VP of Marketing for iControl Networks. “We see this trend continuing for the foreseeable future.”
Significant Risings
In the next 12 to 18 months,continued revenue growth can be expected from the US market. As partnerships between telecoms and MVaaS providers are established, the emergence of next-generation interactive home security offerings will become prevalent, Roberts said. Segments of focus include restaurants, retail stores, convenience stores and service shops, Perez added.
The European market is catching up by pursuing similar solutions. “It appears that this is the beginning of a worldwide expansion of MVaaS solutions to support this new broadband home management industry,” Roberts said.
3-G licenses are heavily invested by Indian telecoms. With the coming of 3-G in late September, India's revenue is showing signs of promise. MVaaS will be able to dominate the market and enable providers to sell bandwidth and increase market penetration with a new, innovative network camera monitoring service. “I see a significant rise in adoption of MVaaS by operators this year,” Bagri said. “Hot verticals will be retail, residential, SOHO, city surveillance projects and any distributed environment with two or three cameras per site.” Overall, the result is a more economical and convenient solution compared to an end user buying and maintaining his own NVR and bandwidth.
Challenges
As MVaaS applications pick up, so do development challenges. Companies will find themselves facing more integration problems as the service-based model is inherently different from legacy approaches. “Companies across the ecosystem are still figuring out how to best work with MVaaS providers,” Perez said. “A key focus is how to accelerate adoption and growth across through partnering.”
Bagri agreed by saying: “It's very important for the operator to work with the right partner. It's essential that the MVaaS provider offers an open-ended solution that doesn't restrict the operator to use certain proprietary hardware on-site.” The solution also needs to evolve with the demands of the growing market as bandwidth is so widely available and low in cost, it is no longer a constraint.
For the mass market, plug-and-play architecture is an important system feature required of hardware providers. “The operator should be able to offer off-theshelf, plug-and-play cameras which can easily work behind standard routers and firewalls that don't require any configuration,” Bagri said. “For more complex solutions, IP system integrators can be robed in and offered reseller logins, such that they can purchase MVaaS i n bulk and resell services.”
While major service providers and home security companies are either launching or actively pursuing broadband home management solutions for their customers, the current economic environment may hinder sales and put household penetration on hold in the short term. “On the other hand, once consumer spending increases, companies that are already offering these solutions are in the best position, making it difficult for competitors to catch up,” Roberts said.