J.P. Freeman Co. is in the process of preparing its 2006 report on the dynamic video surveillance industry, which is expanding at better than 20 percent per year. The key issues on the minds of manufacturers in the midst of this growth are worth talking about, since they’ll inevitably affect the way in which dealers, integrators and end users operate.

At the end of 2005, manufacturers were asked to rate the most important issues on their minds when it comes to the video security market. The single most important issue to those surveyed concerned network video recorders (NVRs).

It will take a few years before there’s any tipping point that establishes the NVR as the preeminent storage device, but profit margins on DVRs have been squeezed to a point at which replacement is not a bad idea.

Need for NVRs Means Need for IT
The NVR is all about the enterprise switchover to IP systems, which brings up the second most important issue according to manufacturers — the sharing of IT networks.

This trend has special meaning to the security industry as a whole since it suggests that more sales and marketing effort will need to be directed at IT executives that have a say in the design of video networks. Joint security/IT presentations will become the order of the day.

This increases the need to understand the modus operandi of IT systems as well as video and access systems, which leads to the next issue: the merging of IT and security systems. Will IT departments take over security departments as security becomes more network-oriented? If this happens, expect changes all around with respect to distribution, as well as marketing and sales.

Intelligent Video Has Momentum
Equal to the possibility of newly formed IT/security departments is the emergence of the intelligent video software market. Intelligent video suppliers have been fighting to stay afloat until their market engine revs up from idle to full throttle. This now seems to be happening.

Open architecture has long been an issue among manufacturers that have generally been reluctant to break the barrier to true openness that now exists in the IT industry. Will this reluctance finally be brought to an end by the competitive necessity to compete with new innovators?

Analog Counting Its Last Days
Only a tick behind intelligent software in importance among manufacturers is the growth of network cameras.

The rise of IP cameras correlates with the expansion of IP networks. Everything analog is under pressure now as network cameras and NVRs draw attention to the next generation of digital innovations.

It seems only a few years since DVR systems took off and led to the development of hybrid video systems. Already, users are looking for the latest in digital video systems. Sales forces everywhere will have to bring themselves up to speed on digital, intelligent and open architecture video networks.

 

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