With major players such as Cisco and IBM starting to penetrate the IP surveillance market we can see an increasing uptake of this exciting technology.
Although digital recording has overtaken analogue, the DVR can be regarded almost as an upgrade on the VCR, with manufacturers very often designing their DVRs to fall within the comfort zone familiarity of VCR usage. The true IP surveillance market is still comparatively small.
But with the backing of what seems the entire CCTV manufacturing base and new providers from the IT sector, this market is sure to rocket. IFSEC 2004 saw a massive amount of IP kit and at Security Installer we are hearing of many new IP surveillance applications which push back the boundaries.
So what does this mean for installers?
Well, the biggest nationals are becoming well involved and have been aware of the “revolution” for some time. Take Initial, one of the UK’s largest installers. With a background in software development it has been easier for them to evaluate the advantages of various IP systems but they say the market is moving very quickly now with one major retail supplier signing up to both audio and intruder alarms over IP (See “ARC-ing into IP!” p37).
According to Anthony King, Director of Kings Security, a “baby national”, writing in a recent edition of Security installer, IP presented a “massive opportunity” but he said the majority of the industry is at least five years behind the technology and is “running scared”.
Another installer, a much smaller company, asked in our “Spotlight” feature whether IP was anything to do with a weak bladder! Funny joke, but there are undoubtedly many smaller companies that are still looking to avoid anything that approaches the IT sector. The challenge then is for small installers is to access the information, attend the seminars and training courses or alternatively make sure you have at least one employee with some kind of IT background or aptitude. Gear up now or lose out to your competitors who have widened their horizons .
Source
Security Installer
Postscript
Alan Hyder
No comments yet