IP video surveillance, VSaaS market worth $18b by 2020

PORTLAND, Ore.—The combined North American market for IP video surveillance and video-surveillance-as-a-service is forecast to expand dramatically in the near-term, rising from $2.4 billion in 2013 to more than $18 billion by 2020, according to a report from Allied Market Research, based here.

By the end of the forecast period, the market for VSaaS will be the highest revenue-generating segment of the global IP video market, worth a projected $57.3 billion, according to Sathya Durga, who coauthored the report.

In North America, growth of this magnitude has been held back in part by public concerns about privacy, but that's becoming less of a restricting factor, Durga said. “There's been increasing awareness of the benefits of getting IP surveillance systems in place, and that's bringing down the skepticism over privacy concerns among the general public,” Durga said.

The public and private sectors are both playing critical roles in the increased adoption of IP video surveillance. The government is taking the lead with efforts such as “simple traffic rule monitoring,” using cameras to surveil roads, intersections and stoplights, and installing surveillance cameras to “control crime and terrorist activities,” Durga said.

Adoption for critical infrastructure and high-security government applications is being spurred by the use of IP video surveillance in conjunction with advanced biometric applications, such as facial recognition technology, she said. Airports, for instance, are especially big players in this vertical, Durga noted, citing recent large-scale IP camera system upgrades at the Los Angeles International Airport (a $29.7 million expansion of the IP camera system) and at the Tampa International Airport (a $10 million project that overhauled the facility's analogue system).

On the residential side, the proliferation of home automation technology has proven a crucial catalyst of broader IP video surveillance adoption. “The concept of smart homes has brought the adoption of IP surveillance to the consumer level,” Durga said.

Technologies that allow for better cloud-based storage will thrive during the forecast period, Durga added, especially as corporations continue to expand their businesses to other countries, thereby placing a greater onus on cloud-based solutions that can facilitate better coordination. Developers of IP cameras, video analytics and VMS systems stand to benefit, as governments and high-security areas look to adopt IP surveillance systems to “reduce the time required to evaluate data.” Markets for solar and wireless IP cameras could see further expansion as well.

As far as factors that could hinder market growth, Durga said inadequate channel partnerships could be a limiting element—especially given the rapid technological development in the market. “There is a huge need for effective technical partnerships to provide integrated services to the end users,” she said. “Any lack of technical assistance from channel partners may have a negative impact on the market.”

To that point, success in the market will also depend on consistent upgrading of technology and of training processes, Durga noted, both steps that could set apart the more technologically savvy partners who can “identify the requirements of the end users and provide integrated services.”

In addition to looming data privacy concerns, the bandwidth demands of real-time data monitoring and management are another ongoing challenge with potential to limited market growth, according to Durga. “The practical issue, she said, is that high-resolution cameras are designed to “capture required details and to support evidence. However, high resolution means a need for higher bandwidth.