The security industry is continuously evolving, as new technologies and business strategies exert their influence on the market. Every now and then we come across new developments that would change the course of demand. To some, this change and its pace would seem overwhelming, but it is a reality that industry players have to cope with.
A recent such development, for instance, has been the move from traditional security systems to cloud-based surveillance and access control systems. Often known by terms like video surveillance as a service (VSaaS) or access control as a service (ACaaS), these are beginning to become quite popular among a number of users.
According to MarketsandMarkets, VSaaS market is expected to reach US$2,390.9 million by 2017, growing at a CAGR of 31.5 percent from 2012 to 2017. The global access control as a service market, on the other hand, is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 24 percent from 2016 to 2020. Some reports suggest IHS expects the latter market to exceed $530 million by 2018 and $1.8 billion by 2025.
Assisting such rapid growth of this segment are factors such as improved bandwidth availability and cost-efficiency. But while these are rather obvious reasons, what is more interesting from an industry and market perspective is the development of the technology itself. Security as a service is no longer just about cloud-based video surveillance or access control, but is increasingly about analytics and more specific solutions.
Video analytics in itself can be considered as one of the key segments in the future of security industry. Its availability as an affordable, convenient service makes it all-the-more appealing the customers.
Governments and security agencies are driving the demand for central management of surveillance assets and central situational awareness. This is seen as a necessity in their efforts to be better prepared to counter threats such as terrorism. Outside of the security domain, new applications of video analytics are becoming feasible due to the decreasing cost of computation in edge devices and the need for traditional IP camera manufacturers to find differentiation in the highly competitive market.
The market is quite big, but it does come with its challenges. Face recognition, for instance is not useful if you do not have a database to match the captured images with. To counter this challenge, a platform called Facewatch is developed.
Facewatch is a platform that works closely with the police and enables businesses to digitally report crime online. What this enables the businesses to do is accumulate imagery of crimes being committed. Businesses then cooperate with each other to share that imagery.
A Segment on the Rise
There is no doubt that analytics as a service will gain more traction in the coming days as bandwidth concerns and costs come down. That the solution providers are coming up with innovative systems that counter the challenges are a clear sign of this.
But concerns such as security of data that’s captured will always remain, despite strong assurances that the companies can provide. In the end, it would be about how much the solution providers can convince the customers that the advantages of being connected to the cloud are higher than the risks that it comes with.
Adapted from a&s Magazine