How safe are you?

26/11 invokes different responses, fear, insecurity, anger... but it has

turned into a major challenge for the surveillance market; a challenge

to conquer the indomitable spirit of destruction and prevent the

occurrence of such dates in the future.





A Dossier


Surveillance is being used globally to gather intelligence on criminal

and terrorist activity and help deter untoward incidents. The last few

years have witnessed the heightening of the security climate in India

in the wake of the terror attacks in Indian cities. At the global

level, public security and safety assumed top priority post the 9/11

attacks in the US. As a result, the demand for integrated security

solutions, especially high-end security solutions has increased from

the public and private  sectors, worldwide.





Although 26/11 could have heightened the importance of security and

surveillance, the adoption and the importance of security was already

understood by the market and the users. The shift is happening at two

levels; technology and deployment. Network video or IP based

surveillance technologies were maturing and  improving very fast

due to higher level of technology integration, and the availability of

remote video information helped in spawning multiple applications using

video  as valuable and useful data. This segment of value based

application is fast increasing and will drive further growth of the

network video market. In India, the  surveillance market, which is

about 30 percent of the entire security industry, predominantly

consists of analog based installations. There is however a steep shift

happening from analog based surveillance to IP based surveillance.

According to the 2010 edition of the IMS Asia report, the total market

for video surveillance in Asia is estimated to have been worth over

$3.3 bn in 2009 and is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 15.2 percent

over the next five years to be worth over $6.7 billion in 2014. The

network video surveillance equipment market was estimated to have been

worth $511.4 million in 2009 and is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of

32.8 percent over the next five years to be worth over $2.1 billion in

2014.





According to the 2009 edition of the annual IMS Research report, the

network video surveillance market in India is currently valued at $26.1

million and is poised


to grow to $89.2 million by 2013. “Axis expects to have a considerable

market share of this high growth market, through factors such as

increased coverage through the channel partners and the distribution

reach, requirement for network video across multiple applications and

also considerable improvement of connectivity  through the new

technologies adopted by service providers,” said Prakash Prabhu,

country manager, Axis Communications India. Organizations and

government bodies too need to view security as a strategic imperative

and invest to make their security fool-proof and free from

vulnerability to ensure people are protected from such threats.





Best Foot Forward


Surveillance and security market was earlier being led mainly by analog

technology, also known as CCTVs (closed-circuit television). However,

the surveillance industry is undergoing a major technology shift, ie,

the older, analog technology based CCTVs are now giving way to IP-based

(digital), open source and fully  integrated systems. These

IP-based surveillance cameras are gaining good momentum owing to

superior technology features and affordability. Globally, surveillance

has been used to gather intelligence on criminal and terrorist activity

and help deter untoward incidents. However, an interesting aspect is

that surveillance is slowly  moving out of the realm of pure

physical security. With network video and remote monitoring

capabilities, it is now possible to react to environmental threats,

fire  hazards, and chemical and nuclear contamination with the

right blend of technology. Also, with the advent of embedded

applications in security products, surveillance is now emerging as a

tool for gathering business intelligence and other applications.





The next shift is happening from reactive surveillance to proactive

surveillance with more adaptive intelligence built inside the cameras.

Intelligent cameras today can  do motion detection, tampering

detection, among other smart applications. Today, surveillance is not

merely getting information 24/7, but getting relevant information 

at the right time. These cameras have in-built intelligence that enable

them to alert security personnel or activate the recording if an event

or an activity takes place in the camera's surveillance area unlike

earlier when the camera used to record endless reels of useless

information. This way, less storage space is used up and only relevant

information is stored. City surveillance solutions can be used for

traffic monitoring and providing traffic updates to commuters.

Specialized video analytics,  which can enable automatic number

plate recognition, congestion monitoring, etc, also have a huge impact

in helping manage this sector. IP based surveillance is also applicable

in the surveillance of residences. For instance, while away on

vacation, people can still survey their houses and surroundings for any

suspicious activities with remote accessibility to the footage. In

sectors such as banking, retail and entertainment complexes, technology

such as ATM Integration, footfall measurement,  POS integration

and crowd monitoring can be implemented on top of the regular

surveillance infrastructure. Over the last decade, India is witnessing

rapid economic growth in sectors like infrastructure, transportation

and retail, where physical security is a key concern. These have played

a vital role in driving the growth of the surveillance industry in

India.





Today, there is a deluge of large and medium format retail stores in

the country which require in-store surveillance to prevent pilferage

and shrinkage. Investments in infrastructure, transportation sectors

like airports, rai lways , and real es tate- upcoming gated communities

and township projects-have stimulated the demand for  security

equipment. In transportation, airport modernization projects are a big

market. City surveillance systems are increasingly becoming important

as there is heightened awareness after incidents that compromised our

public safety in the last year. Government institutions are likely to

invest in network video solutions (IP-based video surveillance) as both

overt and covert surveillance help in deterrence and crisis mitigation.

When the Metro projects are completed, this will present another

opportunity.





Government Angle


Public safety and security is an important issue for governments at all

levels since both citizens and government officials wish to live

without having to face immediate  threats and criminal actions.

Network video surveillance has proven to be an efficient preventive

tool to create a safer and more secure environment within various

public areas such as ministries and city halls, court buildings and

prisons, customs and immigration offices, museums, transportation hubs,

infrastructure and public outdoor areas (which mainly includes city

surveillance). Today, government is the biggest user of network video

and most of its projects are supporting security and


surveillance requirements. But the day is not far when network video

will be implemented for remote monitoring and audit of government

projects, telemedicine,  egovernance, remote education platforms,

and for disaster mitigation and information systems. “Axis network

video solutions have been successfully implemented in multiple

government applications around the world including India as well. Many

government projects have chosen Axis video encoders for a seamless

transition to a modern, IP-based surveillance system. As a result, they

now have a scalable and future-proof surveillance system. Apart from

that since most of the professional quality products are imported, it

would be beneficial for the government to look at optimizing the

existing high duty structure for these equipments. This will help in

further adoption and rationalization of the cost of these equipments

and reduce loss of revenue to the grey markets. Industry associations

are working with the


government and we are hopeful of a positive outcome,” said Prabhu.





Road Ahead


With the advent of intelligent video, surveillance is now not just

restricted to the sphere of security, but is also emerging as a tool

for gathering business intelligence and other applications. IP cameras

offer intelligent video applications or video analytics, which have

transformed the function of surveillance cameras from mere 

passive to intelligent surveillance. Video surveillance often takes

place at times and in areas with little or no activity; for example, at

schools and offices after working hours, or at retail stores, hotel

corridors and parking garages during night-time. Such situations

usually have an unmanned video surveillance setup with automated

recording. During instances like these, intelligent applications in

surveillance cameras like video/audio motion detection reduces the

amount of data that needs to stored. This option activates the

recording in the surveillance camera only when it detects some activity

or sounds. By storing the relevant information, the security personnel

can store the video over a longer period of time on a given storage

capacity. These cameras can also detect camera tampering attempts like

blocking


or spray-painting and alert the security officials. In terms of the

future, thermal imagery is a critical component to plug the gaps that

normal visible surveillance  solutions have. Thermal imaging helps

as a force multiplier and can effectively be used to detect threats

from intrusion and other possibly fatal events to give a reasonable

reaction time to effectively counter these events. Thermal imaging is

not hampered by environmental conditions like illumination levels,

snow, haze, smoke and camouflage. This helps it in providing reliable

information at all times. On a final note, changes are taking the

surveillance market by storm and also bringing about a remarkable

change in the offerings. But only time will tell how safe are we.