CDW: We Love You Axis But Here is Samsung for 50% Less
By John Honovich, Published Jun 12, 2015, 12:00am EDTAxis steering end users to CDW has been a hot topic on IPVM recently.
Unfortunately, that admiration is not exactly mutual.
Our new Online Surveillance Sales Trends 2015 report uncovered a fascinating dynamic that underscores Axis marketplace challenges.
In this note, we explain what happened.
IPVM received quotes and recommendations from 11 well-known online surveillance providers for an 8 camera system.
The CDW rep started with Axis, emphasizing that it was their 'go-to' and 'what they mainly use'. The rep first gave a quote for all Axis, featuring (8) Axis M3005 (1080p / indoor / no IR) domes. Total price of that was ~$2,500. It required using Axis Camera Companion and separately buying a NAS or SD cards.
Funny enough, not more than an hour later, the CDW rep came back with a quote for Samsung that was 50% less expensive, including a recorder with a 2TB hard drive and 1080p cameras with IR. This is Samsung's HD-SDI variant kit, the SDH-P5081.
[Update: the kit includes (4) 1080p cameras and (4) 720TVL SD analog cameras.]
The Axis Challenge
This perfectly demonstrates Axis challenge at the low end. What is CDW supposed to do? Samsung has close to the same offering, plus IR, plus a recorder, plus a 2TB hard drive, for 50% less.
And unless and until, Hanwha is forced to give up the Samsung name, it has a comparable, if not stronger, brand.
Yes, Axis clearly wants to lead with their own 'end to end' solutions especially in the low end but this shows how hard it is.
It Gets Worse
Even though Samsung was 50% less than Axis, Samsung was not the least expensive, by far, in our analysis. At nearly 50% less expensive than Samsung, B&H Photo offered a 720p HD-CVI kit from FLIR / Lorex (with the main drawback that this was 720p, not 1080p as the other two were).
Yet this still underlines the pressure megapixel video surveillance is now under, with 8 camera MP kits, including IR, including recorder and 2TBs of storage, now go for.
Related: The $100 MP Era is Here.
