The economic turbulence and consequent budget freeze as well as longer sales cycles in 2009 had dampened the rapid migration from analog to IP-based surveillance. As analog still holds a majority share of the shipment, the lack of competency and push from the traditional distribution channel make it harder for IP manufacturers to reach the market. However, IP is witnessing resurgence with users acknowledging its benefits of enhanced image quality and detail offered by megapixel and HD cameras and its use of the existing IP infrastructure.
The economic turbulence and consequent budget freeze as well as longer sales cycles in 2009 had dampened the rapid migration from analog to IP-based surveillance. As analog still holds a majority share of the shipment, the lack of competency and push from the traditional distribution channel make it harder for IP manufacturers to reach the market. However, IP is witnessing resurgence with users acknowledging its benefits of enhanced image quality and detail offered by megapixel and HD cameras and its use of the existing IP infrastructure.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan entitled "European Video Surveillance Cameras Market" finds that the market earned revenues of US$765.0 million in 2009 and estimates this to reach $954.9 million by 2015. The market sectors in the study are based on product type, by geographical region, by application and by industry.
There has been a marked preference for IP-based surveillance over analog cameras, as end users have become increasingly aware of the need for high-quality security and surveillance to prevent crime, vandalism and ensure the cost-efficient use of guards.
"Video surveillance solutions are becoming a norm in most security installations," said Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Archana Rao. "In addition, advanced integration and remote monitoring capabilities combined with falling prices is positioning surveillance as an affordable solution in security as well as non-security applications."
Camera components have taken considerable strides in recent years to make surveillance cameras more technologically sophisticated, feature-rich and affordable to all end users. IP technology's advanced integration with other systems has elevated surveillance from being a reactive tool to a proactive security solution, offering cost savings on resources and time required to retrieve data for meaningful analyses.
With the influx of IT companies, security industry landscape has transformed itself to the fast changing and complex world of networking and higher resolution images that offer vast amounts of information for business-intelligent purposes.
While the supply side has evolved, the lack of IT and security-based knowledge among traditional security and IT distributors respectively, has created a disparity between supply and demand.
"While forming the right business partnerships to complement security and IT know-how is important, educating channel partners and end users on the benefits of IP is critical for bridging the gap between supply and demand," Rao concluded.