A latest report by IMS Research reveals 2013 will be the tipping point when global network video surveillance equipment sales would overtake analogue video surveillance equipment sales.
The research firm says the arrival of IP-based technology has instead bought its own questions, and simultaneously changed the shape of the market place.
With the emergence of IP-based technology, IT distributors and IT integrators are now, increasingly, competing with traditional security distributors and security integrators.
The report, IP Trends in Security – A Survey of Systems Integrators and Installers, revealed currently 80% of North American systems integrators and installers buy certain IP-based video surveillance equipment from IT distributors, and this figure will increase to 90% in three years’ time.
Bandwidth for IP-based technologies is still a limiting concern, despite this; broadband speeds are likely to continue to increase, leading to greater capability and greater expectations from the technology.
Within North America, the US has an average broadband speed of around 5.8Mbps, and is ranked 12th in broadband speed for the world.
Further, IT managers were ranked ahead of other key influencers like physical security managers, chief security officers and consultants in their ability to influence which IP-based video surveillance products are selected.
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One reason for this is because IT budgets are typically larger than the associated security budgets.
Instead of security managers buying an IP-camera and speaking with the IT department about how to incorporate it into the network, increasingly the IT department will buy the security equipment from their budget and incorporate the device into their network, IMS added.
The report found that increasingly IT distributors are looking to add video surveillance products to their product range in the next 18 months.
On the other hand, many IT integrators, who are also looking to enter the video surveillance industry, are not looking to their distributors for the security knowledge they lack and are instead going directly to the manufacturers of the cameras they are using.
