Some of us just aren’t as clean and organized as others. You can tell how immaculate a person is by their closet.

For those who may be a little messy at home, there has been an explosion of custom closet companies like the California Closet Co. Its white metal rail shelves can be configured any way you want within your closet. The company is doing its best to give you the flexibility of making it easy to be neat and organized, and this could provide a lesson for the video storage market.

Analog Replacement Still Slow
Would you believe that 40 percent of all video surveillance users in the United States are still using analog recorders at some level?

Users have to replace each one as it wears out and as new money becomes available to upgrade their video storage systems.

However, senior management has been hesitant to provide this funding. Users sometimes need help making a clear case for the type of storage.

In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has created a gun-shy attitude toward financial recordkeeping and businesspeople everywhere are conserving cash for other capital investments.

Yet, users are continually in the changeover process and steadily moving up the modernization scale each year. As they do, their choices keep expanding.

DVRs are replacing, and being mixed with, analogs every day. At the same time, DVRs are in the very early throes of being replaced with NVRs. In addition, entrepreneurs and IT storage companies are developing plans to attract video users to offload their files into remote facilities that can be used for either primary or redundant storage.

Choices Clear Up CCTV Closet
With more cameras being sold every day, the amount of video being produced is growing everywhere.

Naturally, it’s the job of dealers and integrators to help users organize the way they arrange these files. The California Closet version of today’s user choices range from an analog recorder to an embedded DVR, a PC-based DVR or an NVR. Add to that the option of the cost-effective, remote facility and the challenge of storage configuration with a regularly upgraded network is considerable.

As shown in the chart on this page, market demand for digital storage is still strong. Yet, no video surveillance supplier in the industry today offers a full closet of digital choices. At present, we are seeing the onset of the DVR vs. NVR war in which users are trying to assemble spending plans to determine the best time to convert their analog cameras to IP cameras. They are also deciding just how much of this transition will be accompanied by NVR, rather than DVR, storage and how much the transition will be a hybrid analog/digital design.

There’s even the question of what, if any, storage impact will be generated by the emerging intelligent video and smart camera business.

In the end, the answer may lie in the California Closet strategy — a supplier offering a full digital video storage product and service line. This will give any user the ability to get things organized as they choose.

 

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