Axis and Milestone on the Recession's Impact
As the largest manufacturers of IP cameras and open VMS software, Axis and Milestone are key forces in the video surveillance market. Recently, Axis and Milestone provided interviews to Security Products on the economy:
- Q4 2008 growth was soft: slowed to 35%
- January 2009 slowed further to 25%
- Sales pipeline for Q1 2009 looks solid
- Seeing slowdown in some new buildings
- Municipal investments should increase due to stimulus
- Video surveillance is not recession proof
- Retail, banking, casinos are being hit hardest
- Analog affected more than IP
- IP is benefiting from lower Total Cost of Ownership
- Expect to see consolidation with larger providers come out stronger
I am puzzled by Axis' contention that analog is more affected than IP. Considering Axis steep drop in growth (only 9% in Q4), their own results do not support that. Moreover, analog companies are not reporting drops anywhere near as steep as the IP video companies.
I find Axis' claim of lower TCO to be especially unbelievable. Last year, Axis claimed that systems of 40 cameras or more has a lower TCO [link no longer available] (based on a study they paid for). In this interview, Axis does not even make that qualification. How did IP cameras TCO suddenly become so strong?