Dear Readers:
Sometimes you have to be careful talking about new products in this market. You see a box and you hear what it can do but is it real?
The concept sounds phenomenal, however that may be all that comes of the device. The actual product never makes it off the drawing board, so to speak.
Not to jump the gun, I am going out on a limb: it's a strong bet to say-soon-you will see a real IT based enterprise level video system available. The industry's migration from an analog to digital platform started over the three years ago. In that short time, dealers and your customers have been following a cautious but steady path down the road to digital.
I can remember being at a press conference at ISC in Orlando, FL, two years ago when Panasonic introduced a Four-Tiered Network Initiative-which included a series of new product introductions designed to accommodate a variety of analog and digital networked systems applications. The next year the company launched Digital One, a series of "hybrid" products that allow a seamless migration from analog to digital.
The hybrid concept has caught on among video surveillance manufacturers, as you'll find by reading the pages of this issue. Now the question remains when can you expect to see a real IT-based enterprise level system in operation?
There's much talk about this but, realistically, none of the big video companies are really close. I've heard it confirmed from several sources-most recently in my interview with Gareth McCLean, director of R & D for American Dynamics (See "Cruzin' with Susan" on page 44). "While there is a lot of market hype, the industry has not really started deploying total digital solutions at this point in time," he says. "Most systems are still analog based systems-analog cameras, analog switchers, digital video recorders. In the longer term that will change. There will be an increase in the deployment of digital solutions."
According to a recent Security Dealer e-Newsletter survey, readers of Security Dealer are right on track with manufacturers along the migration path from analog to digital to IP. When asked what percentage of your commercial video surveillance installations include these products, readers indicate:
DVR.........................................91%
Network Video Systems........................60%
VCR.........................................36%
Cameras.........................................100%
Monitoring Video.........................27%
Transmission Devices............................75%
Housings/Enclosures...................75%
Lenses............................................80%
Monitors.......................................80%
Pan/Tilt Mechanisms ...........................73%
Multiplexers..................................65%
Switchers...............................................47%
