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In the wake of recent terror attacks,
security has become a great concern. A few years back security
applications were devised only keeping the IT sector in mind. Today
there is not a single sector, which does not require customized
security products and solutions. One sees new versions of IP
surveillance cameras being launched, updated and customized not only
to commercial requirements but also to home segments. People are
aware of installing quality door alarms, video cameras and even
mobile scanners. According to sources, the Growth of an intelligent
surveillance and security market in India is pegged at around Rs 800
crore and the IP surveillance is around ten percent of this. However,
the large projects like commonwealth etc are not considered here. In
the current FY the numbers will increase to Rs 1,000 crore, IP being
around 20 percent. The IP surveillance is growing at more than 35
percent CAGR every year. According a report by IFSEC (International
Fire and Security Exhibition and Conference), the Indian physical
security market is likely to grow to $3.5 billion market in India,
which is expected to grow up to 30 percent YoY.
Hotshot
Verticals
Even though commercial sector seems to
rake in the highest demand, consumer section is slowly contributing
to the revenue. Gurudas Parwani, CEO, Smart Guard Systems said,
“Hospitality sector has its own business issues like the recent
terror attacks in Mumbai. Plus the advantages offered by IP
surveillance are plenty like remote monitoring, scalability and
flexibility and standardization. The quality of images offered is
better in the IP. Retail has its issues of loss prevention as Indian
retail has one of the highest percentages of theft and losses. Also
the intelligent surveillance solutions add the benefits of business
intelligence like footfall counting, dwell time, queue monitoring,
which can help the decision makers to optimize their resources. The
infrastructure sector comes with own complexities and multiple sites.
This can be managed from remote and central locations, which also
integrates with the larger aspects of the city surveillance and
homeland security. Smart Guard is addressing verticals like
infrastructure, hospitality and retail. They are also working to
adopt the IT channel as a part of their go-to-market strategy.”
Suprabhat Chatterjee VP-Infrastructure
and Physical Safety and Security, Cisco India and SAARC said,
“Sectors such as urban security, public transport, hospitality
sector, airport security, BFSI and education will be seen investing
in security heavily. The Government remains the biggest spender on
physical security or surveillance solutions. The focus is now on
disaster proofing and creating a command and control center. Major
cities in India have increasingly started using video surveillance
for traffic management. Segments like retail will also be seen
investing in surveillance as it can add as a source of business
intelligence.” At present, Cisco is also in talks with various
bodies across sectors to offer consultancy services for deployment of
security system. The sectors are refineries, resorts and hotels,
power generation plants, education institutes etc. Talking about a
different vertical Prakash Prabhu Country Manager, Axis India said,
“Traditionally, banking is the biggest user of surveillance and in
many installations it is mandatory for the banks to deploy it as an
integral part of their security apparatus. Banking and retail again
are the only sectors where you can get a real ROI for the investment
in network video surveillance. Retail outlets can use network
surveillance for footfall measurement. In airports, an intelligent
video system could measure the queue time between entering and
exiting a check-in point, helping direct staff and minimizing waiting
time for travelers.”
India is witnessing a rapid economic
growth over the last decade in segments such as banking, retail,
infrastructure and transportation, where physical security is a key
concern. Infrastructure projects like Delhi Metro and National
Highway's connectivity will further boost demand for surveillance
in the city.
Breakthroughs
Physical security has an advantage in
terms of superior image quality — Progressive scan and Mega pixel
technologies. Scalability and flexibility comes close with
established standards for IP. There are less cables, flexible
architectures, less cost of ownership. Parwani recounting their
innovations said,
“At Smart Guard we recently launched
the world's first HD camera with H.264 compression technology and
also an embedded video analytics. These cameras have been designed by
our engineers based on Texas Instruments latest platform for IP
surveillance and we work very closely with our technology partners to
drive innovation. We are working continuously on the development of
new products and technologies, which will be announced from time to
time. However, the latest is the Power over Ethernet, megapixel and
HD cameras for enhanced image quality, better and easy to use video
management software. Smart Guard has developed a solution for home
segment called as 'Smart Solution,' which comprises of a very
small miniature Megapixel Smart cube camera and 'Smart Micro NVR.'
Smart Micro NVR is the smallest NAS server that can be used for home
entertainment and surveillance storage. The company claims that this
is the smallest PC which is a plug-n-play solution for the SOHO
segment. Also the Smart cube camera, which is the one of its kind
have Megapixel resolution and small footprint as well as day and
night facility that is ideal for home surveillance.”
summing
up Cisco's solutions said, “Cisco's physical security
solutions are customized to meet the requirements of key verticals
such as urban security, transport security, secure hospitality and
airport security among others. These solutions enable the
customers to use the IP network as an open platform to build more
collaborative and integrated physical security systems while
preserving their existing investments in analog-based technology.
Cisco delivers an integrated solution that is robust, flexible, and
that can be adapted to a wide range of customers. The solution scales
effectively from securing small office buildings to providing
city-wide emergency response systems.” Cisco's product portfolio
includes video surveillance IP cameras, hybrid analog and
network-centric video surveillance products, rugged integrated
services routers, physical access control solutions and IP
Interoperability and Collaboration System (IPICS).
communications
claims to offer the latest in the IP- based
surveillance cameras. They offer thermal network cameras, which help
in the surveillance of an area or a perimeter in complete darkness by
generating images based on the heat that always radiates from any
object, vehicle or person. Prabhu said, “Traditionally, thermal
cameras are used for force protection, border surveillance and
coastal surveillance. However, our cameras Axis Q1910 and AXIS
Q1910-E Thermal Network Camera are targeted at the commercial and
industrial segments. They are excellent for monitoring hotel
premises, freeways and railways. Thermal cameras can handle many
difficult weather and atmospheric conditions, eg capturing through
smoke, haze and dust.” The company has also introduced a series of
high-performance, outdoor-ready pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) domes, including
two HDTV models, for surveillance applications like, city
surveillance, airports, harbors and outdoor stadiums.
The outdoor-ready surveillance cameras
range from AXIS Q6034-E PTZ Dome with high-speed pan/tilt performance
and HDTV 720p to AXIS P5534-E PTZ Dome, which also offers HDTV 720p,
and AXIS P5532-E PTZ Dome with D1 resolution (720 x 480/576 pixels).
All three cameras have automatic day and night functionality,
enabling image quality round the clock. The PTZ cameras provide H.264
video compression format, which greatly optimizes bandwidth and
storage use without compromising image quality. Motion JPEG is also
supported for increased flexibility.
Money Matters
Earlier security was more of a
lifestyle habit rather than a need but with the current scenario, the
demand for security devices and the convergence between IT and
physical security is increasing. Sharing an interesting aspect Prabhu
said, “
is slowly moving out of the realm of pure
physical security. With network video and remote monitoring
capabilities, we can now react to environmental threats, fire
hazards, 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 second
shift is happening from reactive surveillance to proactive
surveillance with more adaptive intelligence, which is built inside
the cameras.” He also added “A simple example of IP-based
surveillance is 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. This can be also provided as a service by bandwidth
(internet) service providers.”
City surveillance can be used for
monitoring traffic and providing traffic updates to the commuters. In
case of traffic monitoring, information on movement of the vehicle
and road conditions can be monitored to ensure the healthy flow of
traffic. In the past, the security and surveillance market has been
dominated by analog technology, better known as CCTVs (Closed-circuit
television). But an analog-based technological shift is taking place
giving way to IP-based (digital), open source and fully integrated
systems. IP-based surveillance cameras are gaining popularity for
superior technology features and affordability, and are therefore
preferred over the legacy analog systems. One of the advantages of
these cameras is remote surveillance, which allows authorized users
to access and monitor surveillance footage, over the Internet in real
time. This happens with the help of network surveillance cameras.
Anthony Lim, Director-Asia
Pacific-Security, Rational Software commented, “The rise in
unfortunate extremist terrorism and associated activities in the
world in the past few years has caused a lot of jitters especially
for public services and other civil entities, which are deemed as
'soft targets'.” This has invariably led to an increase in physical
security products and services. Many buildings now have closed-circuit
cameras for security measures. In any case, the
increase in physical security needs have given rise to employment.
More goods and services are being offered and more firms have entered
the industry, which has led to innovation resulting in economic
efficiency.
Sharing his views on the same,
Chatterjee said, “The Indian security market has primarily been
analog in nature, where surveillance and transmission of the footage
have been carried out in analog formats. Though the analog designs
addressed the basic necessities, there were few drawbacks including
lack of remote accessibility, storage and scalability, when compared
to an IP-based surveillance.”
The latest trend is to enable
integration of video surveillance with the building management
systems, over the network. This approach will help to bring all the
security components together on one common platform, where they can
exchange information and communicate to each other. This aids in
quicker identification of incidents, faster response to threats and
communication across channels, sectors and boundaries.
According to Cisco, company's physical
security solutions provide broad network-centric capabilities in
video surveillance, IP cameras, electronic access control, and
groundbreaking technology that converges voice, data, and physical
security in one modular appliance.
Challenges
Inspite carrying varied advantages,
physical security still seems to be a battling barrier with the
channel community. Panwani said, “Our major challenge is to educate
the customers and channels about the technology and benefits. Another
challenge is the lack of ecosystem for electronics manufacturing for
which we would look at all the players and industry to come together
and work on it.”
Smart Guard is clearing a way through
the ecosystem. Cisco has to face challenge in the large analog market
for converting the existing installations onto an IP network. For
physical security to become a mission-critical application that
operates on the IP network, both physical security and IT groups must
work together for maximum benefit. Chatterjee
said, “The end customers usually look for a 'one-stop solution'
ie a holistic physical security solution so they don't have to rely
on multiple vendors for different components of the solution. Our
approach to physical security and safety is to act as an advisory and
bring together industry leaders to integrate designs, products and
services to comprehensively deliver solutions that meet customer
needs.”
has
acquired a large partner base to integrate state of the art video
surveillance, sensors, applications, and communication systems onto
an emergency-class voice, video, and data IP Network to help
customers. Prabhu said, “One of the main challenges faced is
the analog installations. But
IP-based surveillance is fast gaining
ground and is expected to be more than 20 percent of the total
surveillance installations in India.
Market plans
Guard is
conducting events, which are segment specific. Parwani
said, “We have marketing communications, roadshows, customer
seminars lined-up to address the channel as well as the
from
different segments. We have segment-specific advertisement plans
which are running already and we have built one-of-a-kind website.
We have built demo stations at Ahmedabad, Pune, Delhi and Bangalore.
Recent deployments
Smart+Connected
Communities is an urban services platform, which aims
to help cities around the world in using the
network
pursues solutions along seven tracks: real estate, utilities,
transportation, safety and security, health and Government. Under
this, Cisco has announced pilot projects. The company has also made
announcements with the Government of Karnataka, Gujarat International
Finance Tec-City's (GIFT) and Lavasa Township, which includes
deployments of physical security solutions. In addition to this, the
company has also been signed as the technology partner for the
Commonwealth Games 2010, which are scheduled in New Delhi in
October.
Axis is also providing customized
network video surveillance solutions for industries and their Indian
projects include airports, DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. They have also
installed city surveillance project in Kolkata and Shivajinagar Bus
Terminus in Bangalore. Other deployments include -
Reliance Internet datacenters in
Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Serum Institute of India, Pune,
BharatPetroleum Corporation Limited(BPCL), National Thermal Power
Corporation(NTPC), Nokia, Yahoo, Wipro, ITC Welcome Group hotels, Taj
Mahal hotel.