IP takes lead in Europe

IP transmission system sales have now overtaken traditional transmission systems for CCTV within Europe as a whole, according to a new report.

More than 69,000 IP transmission systems were sold in 2003 compared to 57,000 traditional transmission systems, according to the report from IC Interconnection Consulting Group.

The group, based in Vienna and Munich, expects the IP transmission number to rise to approx 140,000 units sold in Europe within two years.

“The transmission of CCTV pictures is a central topic within manufacturing companies and for end users. If transmission over IP is chosen, the stock of cables in a company gets useless, but speed and efficiency may be raised. This is a new challenge for the manufacturers as they will be expected to help the end users put up a network system, including the internet.”

More than 1.3 million units of CCTV were sold in Europe in 2003, an increase in sales of 13.6 per cent compared to 2002, says the report. The sales amount to a value of 577 million euros.

Most successful markets

Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal have been the most successful markets in the last year, says the report. Over a three year period, Norway, the UK & Ireland, Spain and Portugal have been the markets with the largest growth. The UK, France and Germany represented 64 per cent of the entire market in 2002.

The report predicts a big increase to 2.3 million units sold by 2006 (among them 440,000 digital video recorders, 370, 000 analogue cameras and 216,000 network cameras).

Players from the IT world will be the most aggressive ones to enter the market for CCTV products.

The report says the market is driven by the digital product groups. DVRs make up for 17 per cent of all products, whereas their analogue counterpart lags behind with six percentage points.

IC-Market Tracking in Europe contains market figures in volume and value, predictions until 2006, detailed turnover and sales figures, as well as market shares of the top manufacturers. The study is available from the InterConnection Consulting Group. www.interconnection-consulting.com email: info@interconnec-tionconsulting.com

“The same is true for cameras. There will be more than 130,000 network cameras around in Europe in 2004, meaning that they have already overtaken analogue B/W cameras (though not colour cameras) until now. This trend will continue for the years to come and shows the driving demand for these new digital products.

CCTV products are mostly sold through specialized distributors (55 per cent), with system integrators accounting for 23 per cent. The IT channel accounts for for 17 per cent and the rest are direct sales.

IT will increase market share

“Recording, storing and transmitting CCTV pictures is more and more a business for the IT department (at least for their cooperation). That’s why it seems clear that the IT channel will gain a lot of market share as it provides some knowledge on how to integrate the IT with the security environment in a company.”

The market is dominated by big names, says the report, but new players are able to enter. The “top five brands” according to the report are Dedicated Micros, Bosch, Panasonic, Siemens and Honeywell, who between them have approximately 49 per cent market share.

“All companies successful in the year 2003 had at least one of the following characteristics: either they provided combined products that record, store and transmit without the need for additional products, or they were strong in network engineering (installation, systems design or management software).”

The report says the most important trends in the CCTV market for the years to come are:

“Wireless, digital and pre-installed networks of CCTV products; further market concentration with takeovers like the recent ones from Honeywell; the IT channel will have its share in the big distribution pie; IP technology will become standard in two years; and improved total cost of ownership by installing such systems – but a fearful skills gap will arise as IT knowledge gets more important.”