Manufacturers Identify Most Pressing Barriers to Growth

September 30, 2006 SSI Staff

Can there be obstacles to growth? Even with the fast-paced growth that IP video is currently enjoying? You bet!

Our new 2007 report on the IP and network video market details the conditions surrounding the IP trend – both positive and negative (anything referred to as “negative” we call a “limiting factor”). Listed in the diagram below are the latest challenges video manufacturers say need fixing in order to maximize today’s IP video growth.

Integrators Slow to Embrace IP?
After years of installing analog systems, manufacturers say integrators are only slowly absorbing the idea of IP video. If integrators had a deeper understanding of IP, manufacturers contend, their success would be even greater than it is now.

To be sure, integrators are presently coping with first-time IP customers, hybrid analog/IP customers, analog replacement IP customers and customers who simply prefer analog video.

Cost Effectiveness Vital to Success
It can clearly be demonstrated that IP video systems are more cost-effective than analog systems when the IP system reaches a certain size. But this fact appears to be misrepresented in the field, according to manufacturers, which say there is a lack of return on investment/total cost of ownership (ROI/TCO) models to demonstrate the true cost effectiveness of an IP system.

Cost effectiveness is an important component of any sales presentation. This is especially true now because security users are increasingly cost-oriented as corporations buy back their own stock, the U.S. economy relaxes after the strong growth trend during the past five years, and as executives from IT departments become involved in purchase decisions.

Because IP is a network medium, IT executives are involved more now than ever in the buying decisions for IP video systems. This is one of the top five limiting factors according to video manufacturers, which are now struggling with the challenge of converged buying on a daily basis. Since IT influences are regarded by video manufacturers as a limiting factor at a fairly high level (3.3), manufacturers may see it as delaying sales or placing special obligations on factory support services that complicate the sale.

This matter of a converged marketplace is affecting the distribution strategies of manufacturers; some are moving steadily toward a balance of IT, as are security integrators and distributors.

Product Quality a Major Concern
Manufacturers deem the image quality of an IP camera to be significantly inferior to that of an analog camera. They are also concerned with what they view as a field-level perception that reliability of an IP system is a problem as well.

The source of this perception is unknown. However, as shown in our report, usage of IP video systems is still quite low as a percentage of the installed base of video surveillance systems. It is not unexpected that there is still a conversation in the marketplace about the advisability of IP vs. analog video systems.

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