2010 Mid-Year Video Surveillance Review

Published Jul 11, 2010 00:00 AM
PUBLIC - This article does not require an IPVM subscription. Feel free to share.

At the halfway point of the year, a few trends stand out from a relatively quiet 6 months in the video surveillance industry. In this article, we overview key developments and provide a 170 page PDF report for our corporate members.

Preview of 170 Page PDF Report

We have published 150 updates and 70 reports in the last 6 months, editing the most relevant of them into a Mid-Year Video Surveillance Industry Report. While these items are available online for all members, we are providing a PDF version for our Corporate members to make it easier to share inside their companies and read off-line. Review the Table of Contents to see what is inside the 2010 Mid-Year Video Surveillance Report.

The video below provides a preview of our 170 page PDF report:

Top 3 Trends for 1st Half 2010

The "big 3" trends we saw develop over the last 6 months were:

  1. Acceleration of Shift to IP from Analog
  2. Sharp Increase in Interest for Managed/Hosted Video
  3. Price Pressure on Entry Level VMS Systems Upcoming

Below we provide obervations on each trend.

Acceleration of Shift to IP

In the last 6 months, IP video vendor sales have increased sharply and analog vendors have significantly expanded their IP products and promotions. At the same time, across the board, the major analog incumbents have disclosed deep drops in revenue. This is in stark contrast to early 2009 when the recession was hurting both sides (analog and IP) with IP deaccelerating faster. Read our report on IP Sales Rebound, Analog Continues Fall.

Interest in Managed/Hosted Video Increases Sharply

The segment gaining the most interest is managed/hosted video. This is clear across the board from inquires we hear from both integrators and investors. Simultaneously, the number of providers launching such services has significantly increased.  That noted, adoption is still very limited but with options expanding and technology risks low, expect greater adoption going forward. For in-depth information, see our Managed/Hosted Video Competitive Comparison

Price Pressure on Entry Level VMS Systems Upcoming

Just a few weeks ago, one of the largest VMS software providers announced that it was reducing its entry level offering by 60%, breaking the status quo pricing structure of the VMS market by a large measure. The value of this move has been highly debated. However, we believe this will have a significant impact going forward as other providers in this very large and core segment match or face sales reductions. Read our anlsysis of Sharp Price Drop - Milestone Entry Level VMS

Other Trends

A few other trends we find of note:

  • Investments / Acquisitions Strong: The level of investment into IP video surveillance companies was strong. Additionally, a number of companies were acquired. Perhaps, the most interesting was a "monster" public offering by one of the largest Asian manufacturers - HikVision. For full coverage of all events, review our Video Surveillance Investment Directory
  • IP Camera 'Standards' Solid Progress: In the last 6 months, dozens of companies have adopted IP camera 'standards' in production products. That was a signifcant improvement from the end of 2009 where standards were more discussion and prototypes than real implementations.
  • HDcctv - Jury Still out: Last year, a new alliance proposed HD/megapixel without using IP. While a number of announcements of new members were made, production available HDcctv products remain limited. We expect to see clarification of real worl capabilities and pricing in the second half of the year. For background, review our HDcctv competitive analysis
  • Video Analytic Weakness Continues: Interest from integrators and investors we speak with remain weak, with most concerned about problems and shortcomings experienced. New product releases in the last 6 months remain limited with VideoIQ and BRS Labs being the only two companies aggressively marketing advances.
  • IP Video Testing Expands:  We now provide 65 video surveillance test results covering a broad range of VMS software and IP cameras. This is up significantly from the 22 tests we provided at the start of 2010. The broad testing we offer allows integrators and end users to make much better decisions. Review our Video Surveillance Testing Directory to review our test results.

What Do You Think?

All content in the report is aggregated from updates from the site over the last 6 months.