With increased cash flow, pent-up demand for security is rallying in 2011. Critical-infrastructure applications, as well as education projects, are going strong. In product adoption, IP smoothes the way for enhanced interoperability, indicating a good year to come.
With increased cash flow, pent-up demand for security is rallying in 2011. Critical-infrastructure applications, as well as education projects, are going strong. In product adoption, IP smoothes the way for enhanced interoperability, indicating a good year to come.
US security demand reached a boiling point after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Homeland security boomed, as states and municipalities rushed to secure citizens and critical infrastructure. The detection market for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear and hazardous material decontamination technologies is expected to reach US$1.5 billion by 2016, according to the Homeland Security Research Corporation.
A need for a unified response drove access control demand. “Access control is growing in government, utilities and health care,” said Paul Everett, Research Director for Access Control, Fire and Security at IMS Research. “The government has federal Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 and personal-identity verification mandates, which drive growth.”
Critical infrastructure continues to heat up, as the market rebounds from the economic downturn. US government installations are stringent about IT and will specify standards for hosted video and access control in the cloud, said Matt Barnette, VP of Sales and Marketing, AMAG Technology.
Rising Verticals
Transportation and City Surv eillance
The transportation market is witnessing strong growth as air and rail hubs remain on high alert. “Critical infrastructure is growing, such as for city surveillance, airport, transport and roads, seaports and railways,” said Kim Robbins, Director of Marketing Communications for DVTel. These verticals are sustained by continued grant funding to meet specifications.
State spending for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) was expected to reach $1.4 billion in 2010, said IMS Research. California and Florida lead in spending, with another 26 states increasing the scale of their ITS deployments by $10 million to $100 million each.
City surveillance is well underway in large US cities. “Just about every major metropolis is adding traffic cameras for analytics,” said Lance Holloway, Director of Technology Strategy, Stanley Convergent Security Solutions.
Analytics can speed up video searches, identifying objects as people or vehicles, as well as classifying colors. “More system integrators request real projects,” said Zvika Ashani, CTO of Agent Video Intelligence. “We see demand in critical infrastructure and city surveillance.” Integration of large camera deployments in critical infrastructure requires better integration, making PSIM providers hotly in demand. “It's why we acquired PSIM provider Rontal to expand our technology into critical infrastructure and the enterprise space,” said Courtney Jaret, Marketing Director for Verint Systems. 
Adoption of PSIM is growing to streamline operations. “We have massive buildings and corporations spread across the U.S., making the addressable market enormous,” said Matthew Kushner, President of the Americas, CNL Software. “That has largely come about because of the economic tone. As more budgets are released, integration problems that haven't gone away since 2008 mean more demand for PSIM.”
End users look for fully integrated solutions. “Customers want to sit down in front of one software package and one interface to control their facility or multiple facilities,” Barnette said. 
Comprehensive solutions need to deliver true value beyond equipment. “Users look for a full platform that can control heating and cooling, count people and monitor displays,” said Gadi Piran, President of On-Net Surveillance Systems.
However, America's large installation base of analog equipment is slowing network uptake. “The smart-city market outside the U.S. is massively larger,” said Steve Collen, Director of Business Development, Physical Security Business Unit, Cisco Systems. “Cisco has about 500 smart-city deals worldwide.”