Market research conducted by Agility PR on behalf of Axis Communications (UK) Ltd at International IP Security Exhibition & Conference (IIPSEC 2004) last month, found that 40% of attendees ranked remote surveillance via the network as the most attractive application for deployment of IP surveillance rather than traditional analogue CCTV installations.
The second largest reason for selection of IP surveillance over CCTV (with 20% of the vote) was the superior quality of camera output and recordings offered by networked solutions, according to the wide cross-section of the security and IT community-attending IIPSEC this year.
Respondents saw the public sector as the largest deployer of IP surveillance today (50%), while retailers were the second largest deployers with 20% of the vote. Those offering telecommunications infrastructure are also seen as a strong market for IP surveillance with 16%.
But deployment is still being held back by lack of education amongst many end users although this is seen as much less of an issue compared to IIPSEC attendees in 2003, dropping by half from 52% last year to 26% this year. More complex reasons were seen as impediments to rapid adoption of IP surveillance, including the perceived lack of bandwidth/network capacity available to be used to transmit and collect surveillance data (24%); widespread deployment of analogue-based systems (20%) which now need to be displaced; and lack of networking knowledge among CCTV installers (22%).
The IP surveillance community wants to have more information about IP surveillance technology (voted as the key priority by 56%); but is also hungry for information about the business benefits of selecting IP surveillance over traditional CCTV installation (according to 20%).
Roy Alves of SCS Distribution, local distributor for Axis Communications, said: "The message is clear: feature-rich IP surveillance technologies are already looking more attractive than their traditional CCTV counterparts. But much more work is needed to educate the market and installers about the merits of going the IP route. It`s clear from this that IP surveillance vendors like Axis will need to devote even greater energy and resources into communicating the business benefits of IP surveillance."
CCTV installer, IT integrators and resellers are seen as having an almost equal chance of reaping the most rewards from the anticipated IP surveillance boom in the UK. Some 50% thought CCTV installers best placed; while 42% thought IT resellers were better placed to take advantage of the growing market.
In the 2003 poll, 51% of respondents thought IT resellers were better placed than CCTV installers, which indicates that CCTV installers are starting to see the merits of going IP, while not enough IT resellers are adding IP surveillance to existing portfolios of networked products and services being offered.
The findings are based on written questionnaires completed by IIPSEC 2004 attendees on 28th January 2004.
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Axis increases the value of network solutions. The company is an innovative market leader in network video and print servers. Axis` products and solutions are focused on applications such as security surveillance, remote monitoring and document management. The products are based on in-house developed chip technology, which is also sold to third-parties.
Axis was founded in 1984 and is listed on the Stockholmsb"orsen (XSSE:AXIS). Axis operates globally with offices in 14 countries and in cooperation with distributors, system integrators and OEM partners in 70 countries. Markets outside Sweden account for more than 95% of sales. Information about Axis can be found at www.axis.com.
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