IP based cameras and Video Analytics set to take the next leap

Video surveillance in present day is more than just monitoring, recording and storage. With changing society and increasing threat scenarios video surveillance has gained importance across the globe.   According to 6Wresearch, India’s video surveillance market is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 13% from 2016 to 2022. The research also puts forwards that still the analog based surveillance systems capture a major portion of the market but it is also visible that with declining prices of IP based surveillance cameras is gradually penetrating into the market.  

At the same time Video analytics is also gaining momentum in the market as people are looking for increased security. This is now been adopted majorly by critical segments like government, city security, Oil and gas etc but it will also be accepted by smaller segments like Retail, SOHO etc. to understand customer pattern.

Surveillance Market
Security has always been an important part of every individual’s life. The need for surveillance is as old as time itself.The increasing rate of crime, terrorism and also initiatives like Smart City, infrastructural growth etc surveillance has become the need of the hour. 

“With smarter cities, comes smarter responsibilities and Video surveillance is one of them. Not just video surveillance, the industry is moving towards video investigation too which helps in quick decision making. Like recently the government came up with the smart city project which is an urban development vision to integrate multiple information and communication technology and IOT solutions in a secure way to manage city's assets, which proves that undoubtedly, Surveillance in India has improved its venture into verticals, like the, government, SMBs and SOHOs which played a major role in enhancing it. This market will keep on growing as associations and the favourable circumstances that IP-based observation carries with it,” opines Ashish Mutneja, Director - Quantum Hi Tech

Not only infrastructure, another major factor which is acting as a catalyst to the growthis awareness of security. With the increase in crime and terror threat, the urban life is nowadays endangered and this has led to the rapid adoption of security surveillance in urban life. The industry is witnessing the pull from both government and private customers and also from urban to tier II and III cities. 

“Infrastructure growth and safety awareness is driving investments in the Indian market for surveillance expenditure from both the government and the private customers. Rapid urbanization is increasing the demand for surveillance solutions from Tier II and Tier III cities. The market is fast changing with new technologies being introduced coupled with the technological advancement being more towards integrated, and software based solutions. Digital is raising requirements with focus on connected offerings,” explains Sharad Yadav, General Manager, Honeywell Security and Fire. 

Through there is a growing rate of awareness but still there are few factors where the alertness needs to be created. The factors that are affecting the market are lack of technical awareness, analytical ignorance, adoption of analog cameras etc. These are the few factors that needs attention and awareness.   

“Surveillance Market is growing very fast in India, but the challenges in India areless technical awareness, analytics knowledge and product positioning not reached at certain level. The Video quality are inferior due to old technology adaption of Analog CCTV, even IP camera recording and video archiving not standardize as per government guidelines- due to less budget VS requirement and  deployment . India is very much potential market for surveillance business for 15-20 years,” highlights Sanjay Biswal - Country Head, QNAP Systems. 

When it comes to adoption of technology in surveillance analog cameras holds the major part of the market but it is expected that IP cameras will gradually gain ground in coming years. Till now a great demand comes from the government sector but the private sector also indicates good potential. 

“The total Indian video surveillance market which was reported to be around $1.58 billion in 2014 is expected to reach to $8.24 billion by 2022, while growing at a CAGR of 22.96% during the forecast period from 2015 to 2022.

Though analog based surveillance systems have accounted for majority of the share (68%) in the overall market, yet IP based surveillance systems are expected to increase in the next five years due to increasing IP infrastructure, declining prices and demand for remote access.

The government, in general, is the biggest segment in terms of volume demand. The private sector also shows vast potential. About 87% of surveillance needs are for commercial purpose, whereas 13% are for residential. There has been a handsome growth in demand for CCTV surveillance for use in a wide variety of location such as IT parks, banks, malls; public places like parks; and private places such as gated communities and residential corridors, over the last two years. City-wise New Delhi (25%) has the highest demand for CCTV cameras, followed by 16% from Bengaluru; 13% from Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai; 9% from Kolkata; and 7% from Pune.  Across the country, maximum searches come from Tier 1 cities (76%), followed by 22% from Tier 2 and 2% from Tier 3 cities.” says Ashish P Dhakan, MD & CEO, Pramahikvision. 

Shift from Analog to Digital

These days people are going Smart which means they are adopting Smart technology in their daily life be it smart TV or smart home or smart IoT etc. This means people are accepting IP based technology which makes it eminent that IP camera is going to rule the future market. 

“When we talk about Smart, meaning –intelligence (Smart City, Smart TV, Smart IoT, Smart Home etcall connect to networks & internet). So,we moving very fast towards IP (Internet Protocol) based technology. So there is no space for analog CCTV now a days (If we remember in TV, all consumer switch to LED /LCD from old CRT based TV). Here consumer want changes but problem is education and awareness. India’s economy is growing by good governess,FDI and people are moving to next level of adaption. So upcoming market is IP CCTV only,” explains Sanjay Biswal, Country Head, QNAP Systems.

The shift from analog to IP cameras has been very easy and it is also very prominently seen. The latest technology has acted as a beneficiary to everyone. 
“The paradigm shift has been a very smooth; there is transcendence for the customer as well as the integrator. Being a latest offering it has benefitted everyone in a certain way. The shift in the industry from analog based cameras to IP is very prominently seen, there are also other formats that have sprung up such as HDCVI, AHD, these address the question at hand of affordability, with a better and an advanced product as a package,” views Pulkit Punj, Director at AnG.

From another point of view, the three factors that have helped increase the adoption of IP cameras are cost, scalability and flexibility. Explaining the factors Sanjeev Gulati, Country Manager – India & SAARC, VIVOTEK says, “By the security threats continue to remain high on radar of both commercial and the public. Government sectors are spearheading video surveillance deployments especially in airports, seaports, highways, and rail networks. To guarantee the 24/7 security, here are three factors that indicate IP-based video surveillance replaced closed circuit analog systems.

Cost: Even the traditional closed circuit analog systems are less expensive than IP-based video surveillance. However, the accompanying costs of labor, storage and maintain of analog systems is much higher than IP-based video surveillance. The IP-based video surveillance systems are cheaper to build and maintain with reusability of existing IP network infrastructure, highly scalable with little incremental costs, low maintenance costs. It helps to reduce the total cost of ownership and increase the migration.

Scalability: IP-based video surveillance systems are based on open platform, and this could help to provide more collaborative and integration which can build a scalable network with enhanced and customized features. And there is no limit to the number of devices that can be added to the network. Analog surveillance systems are limited to centralized video analytics, which requires additional hardware, cabling and is difficult to scale.

Flexibility: Via the IP network infrastructure, the IP-based video surveillance systems are able to access from anywhere and anytime in the world. Users are benefit with its integrated system and faster response time, allowing instant operator control rather than review video footages post events. Nowadays, more business intelligence are enhanced in the IP-based video surveillance systems, providing business owners key metrics to effectively make operating decisions and increase ROI (Return of Invest).” 
Though India market has well accepted IP based cameras but there are few factors which are holding back the market. Lack of skill set among partners, consumer mindset, cost are few of the factors that are restraining the market to grow.  

“Although there has been a paradigm shift in the Indian surveillance industry, the Indian market is showing some resistance towards analog to digital transition all out because of various factors such as entrenched mindset, lack of skill set among channel partners, limited awareness, cost factor and bloated bureaucracy. Consequently, the transition from analog to digital cameras and also from traditional digital cameras to solution based services is taking place at a slower pace. However, digital is gathering momentum and in the next five years it will gain its due importance and prominence in the Indian security market,” says Ashish P Dhakan, MD & CEO, Pramahikvision. 

Video Analytics

In the Global Video Analytics Market Report of 2016, Research and Markets estimated the video analytics market to grow from the USD 1.69 billion of 2016 to USD 4.23 billion by 2021 (a nearly 21 percent growth rate). The sudden increase in popularity of the video analytics market comes from an increase in security threats and the need for intelligent surveillance. The market is also driven by the increased use of cloud computing, the growing demand for automation, the need for infrastructural safety and for securing computing environment. Technological advances will continue to also affect market growth significantly.
It is predicted that the video analytic market will grow at a CAGR of 20.6% from 2015 to 2023 and it will grow majorly because there will be a need for increased security and to accumulate customer data. In present world crime takes place every day andit plays an important role in any crime as it helps to get the basic evidences. 

“The video analytics market is slated to grow at a CAGR of 20.6% during the forecast period from 2015 to 2023. There are two main reasons for this- firstly, the need for enhanced security and secondly, to gather customer data. Video analytics is a key factor for law enforcement agencies across the world as it is a basis for gathering primary evidence for any crime. There are CCTV cameras installed in every area in every major city. Any crime committed in a public area gets recorded and with advanced tools, one can identify the perpetrators and license plates in an instant,” explains Sudhindra Holla, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Axis Communications.

In terms of gathering customer data, video analytics is used in market research. It helps to understand the customer behaviour and observe the footfall in any kind of retail outlet. 

“The most interesting application of video analytics is in the field of market research. Any retail outlet with this kind of technology uses it to observe foot traffic, identify consumer patterns. This data provides a realistic idea of the pain points which can then be controlled,” adds Sudhindra. 

Video analytics is not a new trend in the market. It has its existence since analog motion detectors. The improving features and capabilities are only new things. 
“Video analytics have been around for a long time, since the days of analogue motion detectors. What is new is the growing and advanced capabilities that allow city surveillance managers to monitor crime areas, traffic flow, intersections and high or larger gathering points all from a single system without the need for an operator to sit and watch a monitor. The video analytics will monitor without an operator, and if an incident were to occur, the surveillance system wouldnotify the operator to provide closer attention,” explains Tom Dodrill, Vertical Market Manager, Pelco by Schneider Electric. 

Nowadays almost every IP systems comes with analytics based software solutions and the scope of these systems and applications are wide. The merged analytics are now used in critical segments but it will have used cases in small segments also. 

“Today, most of the deployed IP systems implement analytics based software solution too. The future of these systems and their application in surveillance will be wide. The merging of video based intelligence with audio and sensor based analytics will enable policing agencies with more filtered vital information faster. Today the analytics is generally used by segments like Oil & Gas sector, Safe city and other Critical areas. The merged analytics (Video/Audio & Sensor Combined) will have used cases to larger market segments like retail and SOHO.  We, as Oncam, are promoting this merged analytic applications and are largely seen as the technology driving force in these segments globally,” saysAbhishek Kumar, Regional Director, South Asia, Oncam.

Similarly, PulkitPunj, Director at AnG also says that “As far as solution based services are concerned , it is  important that we understand that banks, financial institutions, corporates, retail stores etc require regular services and additional services by default after purchasing a security solution. Services such as CMS (central monitoring station) are very essential to banks and financial institutions as they provide real time data and crime deterrence. QRT (quick response team) is also an example of widely used solution based services.” 

Key Factors of growth

Being secured is the only factor that will always drive the surveillance industry. Security is a concern for all. With this the lowing cost of technology and cameras have boosted the consumers to adopt surveillance. Another major boosting element is Smart City project of India Government. 
“The surveillance industry will always be driven by one simple factor: the basic instinct to be secure. The technology has become cheaper and the cost of cameras have come down. This has been a great motivator to those consumers who do not want to invest in physical security, but need automated systems at a reasonable cost to secure their premises. 
The Smart Cities initiative has given a boost to the surveillance industry. The main reason why surveillance is critical to smart cities is to digitize the data collected through the CCTV cameras, which are strategically placed around the cities. This provides a deeper insight into the movement of citizens and also reduces crime rates. Smart cities are based on the utilization of ICT to reduce the cost of manual surveillance and support the government in urban planning,” opines Sudhindra.  

The need of automated security solution and applications by government is the driving force of the industry. Moreover, though Smart City is nascent stage but this project will definitely be a booster to the surveillance industry.  

“The dependency on technology and a severe need for security are the major key factors driving the industry. The need for automated security solutions and increased application by the government is driving demand for the new technology solutions. This would require the system integrators to ramp up investments in technologies and build capabilities.

The smart city initiative is still in its infancy, however it's a well thought out project for managing an entire city with command centres and appropriate hardware technologies. Pilot projects have been executed to show the government how effective the solution is, these have performed very well. However, the government needs to establish it as a planned defined process in order to achieve success,” opines Pulkit.

As per Kaushal Kadakia   Marketing Manager, IPVS, Matrix Comsec, it is the real-time security and automation are the two factors for which the adoption of surveillance has increased. He says,“The factors that are acting as a catalyst to this increased adoption are majorly real-time security, and automation. These analytics provide a proactive solution by preventing damage in real-time rather than reactive security. Added benefits are improved process compliance, productivity and employee discipline. These Intelligent Video Analytics help in providing productivity by saving huge time on investigations thereby leading to simplicity of management.At Matrix, we provide analytics with instant notifications like Calling from Mobile App, Email with Snapshot and SMS for enhanced automated security. 

Early adopters of this technology are firms like banks, manufacturing units, jewelry showrooms and enterprises where safeguarding expensive assets and human resources in real-time is of utmost importance.” 

To Conclude

It is quite prominent that surveillance market is growing and with time and development happening everywhere new and interesting problems will also come to surface. To address that industry will also respond to it with new and innovative analytics. 

“The future for surveillance and video analytics is in a single word – expanding.  As cities evolved their city surveillance platforms new and interesting problems will arise.  Industry will respond with new and innovative analytics, both video and big data based, to meet that need. The concepts of city surveillance – crime reduction and traffic congestion relief will quickly move from large urban environments for secondary and tertiary cities and eventually to smaller towns and villages,” views Tom.  

Reiterating similar views, Abhishek says, “In India, we are at the gasp of taking the flight into future of a secured smarter world in which Oncam will have to play its definite role. With less than 20% of our cities covered with basic surveillance, we have daunting task ahead in making our cities safer and a better place to live in. The opportunities and scope is tremendous, future is very promising and bright.”

The video surveillance market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13% which will be led by terror threat, crime, data theft etc. Also the shift towards IP cameras in sectors like government, transportation, banking etc will give a boost to it. 

“Indian surveillance market is poised for higher growth in India. Led by the ever increasing terrorist activities, increasing crime rates, data thefts, increasing it spending, the video surveillance market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13% during 2016-2020. Additonally, government and transportation and banking verticals are shifting towards IP video surveillance to prevent high security threats,” states Sanjeev. 
Video Surveillance has come across a long way and now it is more than just monitoring, recording and storage. It provides better features like greater visibility and control, simplicity of management etc. and these will take the surveillance market to the next level of growth.

   
“Modern world has become more perilous than it was in the past. Video surveillance is a vital tool for protecting people and property around the clock. Thus, the surveillance market is poised for higher growth across the globe. Earlier, video surveillance was all about monitoring, recording and storage, but now video surveillance systems have other aspects like Greater Visibility and Control, Simplicity of Management, Proactive Solution with Early Detection and Instant Notification, Higher Reliability against Breakdowns and Integration with other solutions. These are the dynamics, which will drive real business value in the surveillance market,” concludes Kaushal.

So at the end, with evolving time the threats will also evolve and new solutions will be required to curb them. Moreover, we are heading towards adoption of smart city where video surveillance and analytics is an important part of the project. Therefore, this gives a clear view that video surveillance and analytics market will expand.