CCTV sectors buoyant business to continue

The research covered the BSIA's CCTV Section members and was undertaken to discover more about the current state of the sector.

Figures analysed show that the CCTV market is becoming increasingly buoyant with 82 per cent of respondents confirming a business increase over the past year and, significantly, 91 per cent saying they expected their business to increase over the next year.

"I see this as really positive news for the CCTV sector," says BSIA CCTV Section Chairman, Adam Wiseberg. "The growth in the sector as a whole, combined with the fact that 16 per cent of installers' sales were to the domestic market, shows that the use of CCTV is becoming a viable reality not only for businesses, but across the board. As technology improves and becomes more cost-effective, I see no reason why this strong growth should not continue."

He said it was encouraging to note that 91 per cent of respondents were either reasonably aware or very aware of BS 8418 – a key standard for the future development of the detector-activated CCTV sector.

The three key areas for installers' CCTV sales by value were revealed as: leisure/arts facilities (33.2per cent), retail (16 per cent) and transport (7.8 per cent). CCTV exports accounted for more than 21per cent of the respondents' sales. Europe was the main focus followed by Asia, Africa and Australasia.

l Physical security companies will lose out to IT companies if they do not wake up to security convergence opportunities, warns the founder of "the world's first security convergence consultancy”.

USA-based Steve Hunt, President of 4A International predicts that by 2007 this new physical & IT security convergence (PITSCON) market will have global revenues of £5 billion and by 2010 will exceed £20 billion.

He says the new market is needed because: "physical security technology is archaic, without IT, national security costs will spiral out of control.Together, IT and physical security create value; separate, they create costs".

He continues: "The physical security industry characterised by guards, guns and gates has virtually stalled in the wake of 9/11 overspending. Customers don't see value for their money. The IT security industry, as it seeks to protect itself from hackers and viruses, suffers under the burdens of regulatory compliance and the difficulty of demonstrating value. The solution is to converge the two. When properly combined, these two low-growth sectors create tremendous value for their customers and the market".