Six Sure Signs That The IP Video Surveillance Industry Is Still In Its Infancy

1. Nobody Is Doing It

Need water? Call a plumber. Need power? Call an electrician. Need phones? Call a phone company. Need a network of cameras installed with networking, storage, server, internet connection, and sophisticated software that has to to work reliably 24/7 for five years in any weather? It sounds like an IT job, but they don't know about cameras or video surveillance software. The people who can pull the wires and climb the ladders would do a good job, but they don't understand networking. And the security companies are still trying to sell me analog CCTV as part of a packaged solution.

2. Everybody Is Doing It

Search the internet and you'll find security and alarm, networking systems integrators, communication specialists, access control installers, electricians and structured wiring, analog CCTV product companies, even the spy gear stores and HVAC contractors. They're all selling IPVS solutions as extensions to their existing business because they have a truck and a ladder and customers are asking for it. Good luck with that.

3. Nobody Has Heard of Them

With such a diverse selection of installers, none gets a consistent or wide enough reputation to carry much weight. Plumbers and electricians are pretty interchangeable because they all do most things, but that's not the case with IP video surveillance installation. Even if I do find the right installer (and they happen to be close enough) there's a good chance that my job will be too big, too expensive, too technical, or won't get finished. Where's the nation-wide brand with a fleet of installers and a five-year warranty?

4. No Industry Standards

Will this work with that? When I need more cameras will they work with what I have? If I spend more, will I get a better picture? How long will that work reliably? How many of those lights do I need to get a picture like this? They said that it would record ten days of video, but if I do the footage is too grainy to see anything. Snow? Of course we get snow. Is that why it's fogged up? Wrong bracket? Again? No we don't stock those, they have to be special-ordered.

5. Way Too Many Products

There are 6000 companies making IPVS products. Can anyone really be making a decent profit with that level of competition? With only so many surveillance situations that need to be addressed it should take several hundred market-leading, high volume, low cost products from just a few manufacturers to cover 80% of the market, but instead there's a dizzying array

6. Form Still Follows Function

At a certain stage in its evolution, all technology becomes fashion. IP video surveillance technology isn't anywhere close yet -- not even a choice of colors. It will take high manufacturing volumes and commoditization before manufacturers seek new ways to differentiate their products and we enter this phase.