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The good news is that all the
world's major IT communica-
tions and software companies are
pumping billions of dollars into
the IoT business and it is now
too big to fail.
In the meantime the leaders
of IP video cameras need to keep
on knocking at China's door. It
is the biggest video surveillance
market in the world but has the
lowest penetration of IP cameras.
The Chinese government last
year announced that they will
invest in a massive research
programme into the Internet
of Things (IoT). Part of that
programme will include making
safe cities smart and that cannot
be done without IP network
cameras.
Western IP technology will
be required here, because
winning in the IoT game
will bring a colossal impe-
tus to growth and prosper-
ity to all economies and
protecting the interests of
local camera manufacturers
is not going to be allowed
to get in the way.
Jim Mchale
Managing Director at Memoori
Google through its acquisition of
Dropcam last year for $550m.
This market of course
requires a very different
business model and the
strong brand and channel
infrastructure of the major
suppliers to the commercial
market will not count for
much.
Twice before over the past 50
years, information technology
developed in the West radically
reshaped competition and strategy.
The third transformation The
Internet of Things has now
started. IP network cameras can
play a vital part of this trans-
formation. They are the "Swiss
Army knife of Sensors". Analogue
cameras obviously cannot play a
part in this world.
The future growth of IP video
cameras will now depend upon
how fast IoT is taken up by
building owners and operators.
This will be influenced more by
the progress made by providers of
enablement hardware, network
communications services and IoT
data services than the suppliers of
IP video surveillance and other
building automation suppliers.
For the time being going
down the food chain to smaller
buildings where IT Infrastruc-
tures are not commonplace and
buildings operators lack the
skills to realise the benefits of IP
cameras is going to be a hard sell.
However this is a high volume
market and a significant propor-
tion of it comes within multiple
estates where the IoT can realise
benefits.
So it looks like a realistic op-
portunity can be opened up now.
IP innovations will continue to
develop this market opportunity
but annual growths of 40/50%
achieved by the major IP camera
suppliers only a few years ago
is dependent upon the pro-
gress of IoT.
IP webcams in the home
automation market have an
enormous potential and a new
set of competitors are gearing
up to take this market including
The discussion on the tipping
point of IP Network cameras
started some 10 years ago and
forecasting "the date" has gone on
ever since... with every prediction
turning out to be too optimistic.
With time the explanations for its
demise have become more valid,
no longer over exuberant best
guesses based on poor data.
Currently the combination of a
slowdown in growth of IP cameras
and the very significant reduction
in analogue camera prices is given
as the reason but this is not the
cause. Our annual review on the
physical security market shows
that the penetration of IP video in
enterprise business and the large
and medium sized building sector
has slowed down.
Growth from these sectors
will now depend upon more
building construction and
major infrastructure projects.
voice of
the security market
Internet of Things will determine
the IP video surveillance tipping point
The era of Internet of Things (IoT) has just begun and
will have an enormous impact on our personal lives
as well as on the business in all sectors. The security
market is no exception. For sure it will play a vital
role for the growth of the IP video surveillance mar-
ket, according to Jim Mchale, Managing director at
Memoori and the author of this article.
Jim Mchale, Managing Director at
Memoori.