The world market for cloud based video surveillance, or video surveillance as a service (VSaaS) grew 25% to $500m in 2011 compared to 2010, according to IMS Research estimates.

The growth in the VSaaS market was primarily due to increasing demand from consumer, small-to-medium businesses (SMBs), and government end users, IMS said.

IMS Research Market Analyst Sam Grinter said an increasing number of entrants to the market has also accelerated growth of service development, marketing presence, and is also creating a more competitive environment.

VSaaS solutions can include self monitoring, real time alerts, integrated analytics, and off-site storage.

The infrastructure cost required to provide a VSaaS solution remains relatively expensive, and act as a key inhibitor in the development of this segment.

Grinter said, "For VSaaS to become more widely adopted, the market needs to resolve a number of barriers. For consumers and commercial users, the price per camera needs to drop significantly and installation must be simpler.

"Additional requirements for commercial users include new features and technologies, such as business intelligence functions, that increase the return on investment of using a VSaaS solution."

The VSaaS providers ability to overcome the previously product barriers will be a key factor to determine the success of the market, the report said.

IMS Research predicts that the world market for VSaaS could $1bn by 2014 if VSaaS providers are successful in overcoming these barriers.