RIP Sanyo CCTV

Sanyo's video surveillance / CCTV business is being shut down, according to multiple IPVM sources. Sanyo offered a moderately broad and fairly inexpensive IP camera line. Since Panasonic acquired Sanyo in 2009 [link no longer available], industry people have wondered what would happen to Sanyo's surveillance line. While no official confirmation is available, other sources have shared a number of details :

• The Sanyo brand and Sanyo surveillance product orders will terminate at the end of Q1 2011.
• Warranty and support will still be provided. However, no details are currently being provided.

This is consistent with recent news reports that Panasonic is taking over all operations and discontinuing the Sanyo brand across all business lines.

Analysis

Sanyo was relatively early in the big 2009/2010 landslide of new megapixel cameras. We tested their flagship 1080p camera and the results were fairly impressive at a solid price.

However, in the past two years, development had essentially ground to a halt - a very bad sign.

The overlap between Panasonic and Sanyo surveillance lines is significant. We do not see this as one line being good or bad. The main problem was that the lines were fairly redundant. The most notable product offering that Sanyo offered that Panasonic did not was the integrated zoom lens cameras - a nice option but not essential.

Given that Panasonic's market share and brand in surveillance is much bigger than Sanyo's, it makes sense to us that Sanyo would be phased out. Indeed, there is enough confusion with Panasonic already having overlapping consumer and business lines.

We do not see this having any major structural impact on the market nor do we see this as a sign of surveillance industry consolidation. This appears to us as an indirect and minor consequence of combining two giant electronic companies.