As we approach the height of the presidential election season, much is being made of the differences in party policy as to who can better protect America from terrorist attacks. Some might think the government has sole responsibility for our safety, and we’re depending on whomever we vote for to handle this critical issue.

However, while we know only the government truly has responsibility for the infrastructure of our country’s airports, seaports, rails, etc., there is still more to be done in the private sector to assure our safety and well-being in the workplace.

Network Video Is a Vital Investment
Commercial, institutional and industrial security users with no political guidance have also examined their obligations and determined network video to be one of the most vital investments they can make during the next two years.

In the research for my 2005 “Worldwide Network & IP Video” report, security users (or “professionals” in the chart below) told me exactly what they plan to buy to protect the facilities for which they bear responsibility.

The digital video recorder is the lead horse in the race to video networks. On a 5-point scale, with 5 being the highest rating, professionals give a powerful 4.4 to the purchase of DVRs. There was a possibility this year that DVR sales might start to give way to NVRs (network video recorders, also called video servers), but that’s not how market demand is breaking down right now.

Since stories abound that even today’s DVRs can’t satisfy a steadily rising appetite for the storage of video frames, the second most popular item for professionals is large video storage systems. This is interpreted to mean either larger DVRs, the alternative of tying into an IT server system, or the purchase of a dedicated NVR to handle the demand for more and more video archiving.

Video Monitoring Falls Behind
The sharing of video networks with IT systems comes in third. It’s been said video security will eventually become just another node on an IT system. Judging by what professionals say, this trend will continue to rise for a while. This trend is often associated with the use of the Internet, so it is no surprise that the next most popular item is remote IP cameras.

The relatively low rating for central station (CS) monitoring is a surprise, however. At 3.0, this service is rated only 68 percent as high as the demand for DVRs. Professionals appear to believe that video monitoring is not yet the type of established business that traditional alarm monitoring is.

Why isn’t video monitoring stronger? We’ll be looking at that in future research.

 

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