Cloud-based video surveillance has become a hot topic in security. And it looks like the business model is here to stay, due to its various benefits. This article takes a closer look.
Cloud-based video surveillance has become a hot topic in security. And it looks like the business model is here to stay, due to its various benefits. This article takes a closer look.
Cloud has become a trend in various industries, including security. The benefits it provides, for example remote management and upfront cost reduction, have proved to be attractive for video surveillance users, many of whom have switched over to
cloud-based solutions.
A recent research report by Novaira Insights attests to this trend. The report forecasts the number of cloud-connected cameras will grow at an average annual rate of over 80 percent to the end of 2026.
“Demand for cloud-based video surveillance … is best measured by the number of cameras which are cloud-connected. We define these as professional video surveillance cameras (analog or network) connected to a cloud video management system and paid for with an ongoing subscription. The system may feature either true cloud video management software or cloud managed devices,” said Jon Cropley, Principal Analyst, and Josh Woodhouse, Founder of Novaira Insights. “There were over 2 million of these cameras in the U.S. by the end of 2022, and this is forecast to grow to over 25 million in 2026.”
It should be noted that adoption rate differs across industries and verticals.
“Cloud-based video surveillance systems were initially adopted fastest by both small organizations and by larger organizations with distributed sites, each with a small number of cameras. Examples of these larger organizations include fast food restaurants and small banks. Although some sites with a much larger number of cameras have started to use cloud-based video surveillance systems, this has tended to be by organizations in only some end-user sectors (retail and commercial are both examples),” Cropley and Woodhouse said.
They added: “There remain large organizations in other end-user sectors which remain resistant to this transition. Examples include many airports, many central government buildings, many casinos, and many critical infrastructure facilities. In some cases, regulations on data protection specifically prohibit the cloud from being used by these organizations.”
Two primary approaches
As aforementioned, Novaira cites two main approaches by which cameras are connected to the cloud. One is connections to a cloud-based video management software. The other is cloud-managed devices, which consist of a hardware purchase and SaaS contract for access to video management functionality.
“Naturally, proponents of each approach would argue that their approach offers numerous advantages versus the alternative. Ways in which they differ include price, whether they tend to be open or more closed regarding the integration of 3rd party hardware, how they approach cybersecurity and where data is stored,” Cropley and Woodhouse said.
Their differences notwithstanding, both approaches are seeing demand grow quickly. “
Eagle Eye Networks is a vendor of cloud video management software, and
Verkada is a vendor of cloud managed devices. Both these companies have been growing rapidly in recent years,” Cropley and Woodhouse said.
Benefits abound
Needless to say, cloud-based video surveillance attracts with its
various benefits. According to Cropley and Woodhouse, these include the ability to pay a recurring fee for video surveillance rather than a larger upfront fee, ease of maintaining system/servers across the network, ease of deployment, provision of automatic system updates and new features, enhanced remote monitoring capabilities, and the ability to help organizations deal with vulnerability/cybersecurity management.
Furthermore, the fact end user organizations have shifted various operations to the cloud has also helped accelerate the video surveillance cloud adoption trend. “A major factor in the accelerated trend to using the cloud is the transformative shift in organizations where the remit of IT departments have broadened, often incorporating responsibility for video surveillance and electronic physical security operations. Many IT professionals already default to cloud, so are pushing for the same in surveillance in their organizations,” Cropley and Woodhouse said.
Barriers increasingly overcome
While cloud-based video surveillance offers many advantages, there remain certain barriers to cloud adoption. According to Cropley and Woodhouse, these include cybersecurity, cloud solution costs, bandwidth cost, concerns about hosting data in a third-party server, concerns about hosting data outside of their country, legislation/regulation of their organization’s sector, and unfamiliarity with the cloud.
Yet increasingly, users are growing less wary about these barriers. Novaira Insight’s research found that just 14 percent of U.S.- or Canada-based respondents indicated that that there were future barriers preventing their organization from using more cloud solutions, down from 55 percent in the previous survey.
“Vendors of cloud-based video surveillance products have made cybersecurity and privacy protection a key theme when marketing these products. They have also invested heavily in educating the channel and end-users about their solutions. At the same time, familiarity of using the cloud both for security and for other purposes in organizations has increased and many organizations now actively pursue a ‘cloud first’ policy for their IT solutions,” Cropley and Woodhouse said.
“Also,” they said, “there now more vendors of cloud-based video surveillance solutions and a wider range of compatible camera types are offered. Furthermore, the availability and cost of high bandwidth has continued to improve. These could all be reasons why fewer respondents indicated that that there were future barriers preventing their organization from using more cloud solutions.”