According to a new report from IMS Research, the world market for remote monitoring services was worth more than $29 billion in 2011.
The research firm also estimates that 54 million accounts or customer locations around the globe last year received remote monitoring services, be it for alarms, video surveillance, access control, fire detection, or personal emergency response services (PERS).
The U.S. accounted for 45 percent of world revenues in the market. The UK, Canada, Spain, France, Japan, South Korea, China and Australia were also notable regional markets for remote monitoring services, according to IMS.
"The penetration of remote monitoring services varies significantly between different countries and regions," said IMS Research Analyst Niall Jenkins in a statement. "For example, the US residential alarm monitoring market has a penetration of between 20 and 25 percent of all residential buildings, while the residential market in Germany was estimated to be less than 200,000 accounts."
Jenkins added that there are a variety of social and economic reasons for these regional differences, such as perception of crime, comparative wealth, service pricing and isolation of the location.
"In less developed countries, the lower cost of manned guarding can also act to limit uptake," Jenkins said. "In extreme examples, a lack of trust in the police force can drive customers to include manned guard response in their service agreement, hence increasing the RMR generated on the account."
For more information about the "The World Market for Remote Monitoring Service – 2012 Edition" report, visit www.imsresearch.com.
