Posted by Mark Espenschied on Jul 22, 2016 in Thought Leadership
What Kind of Transition are We Talking About?
When we talk about making a transition in video surveillance, we used to mean moving from analog to IP. Maybe the real transition is to higher resolutions, not to a new platform.
At DW®, we manufacture and market high resolution video surveillance equipment, including both analog and IP megapixel and multi-megapixel cameras, associated recording hardware and management software.
The hardest product to market is one that requires a lot of explanation for the potential buyer to understand its application and its benefits. Why are there so many pizza places and burger joints? It is partly because everyone is already familiar with pizza and burgers.
In contrast, technology usually requires a lot of explanation... like what is the transition we are really talking about in video surveillance. Often, what is termed as new technology is in the eye of the beholder.
Consider the traditional view of CCTV as video surveillance. Not long ago, the sad commentary on the video surveillance industry was the perceived poor quality of the images from analog cameras. In Hollywood, they either presented our industry with unrealistic sci-fi magnification abilities or as part of a running joke because pre-megapixel video made it difficult to recognize features like a face or license plate number.
We proponents of new technology in this IP age could misguidedly look down on analog cameras for their resolution. But the reality is that analog CCTV is now available at megapixel and higher resolutions and, as my boss says, "Everything's Digital."
As you read this on your ultra-high-resolution tablet or 24" computer monitor with your 60" flat screen playing in the background, you might ask yourself why analog anything still exists (except for you audiophiles with too much time and money on your hands — vinyl record albums, indeed).
Why analog cameras?
You need to read "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey Moore. He explains that there are people who are early adopters of technology and then there are levels of adopters in between all the way to those people who will only adopt something new because what they are comfortable with is no longer being made. Those people are labeled as "laggards."
The customers for video surveillance are usually not laggards. They want images from their surveillance systems like those they watch on their HD big screens.
Are the systems integrators who are comfortable installing analog CCTV laggards? That might have been an argument you could make a few years ago, but not today.
Integrators do not have to become IT experts in order to deliver HD video to their customers that have made investments in coaxial infrastructure. HD analog cameras are now available in resolutions up to 5 megapixels, along with recorders that support up to 30fps. Integrators can continue to recommend coax infrastructure to the business owners that trust their recommendations. The customers get the HD resolution that they expect, the systems can be monitored with smartphone apps and managed over the Internet.
If you have a successful 20-year-old CCTV business installing analog systems, why would you mess with a good thing? You don't have to. You can maximize the platform you are comfortable installing and servicing with HD analog. You just have to embrace the megapixel value proposition of better image quality and fewer cameras in a system to cover the same area. We at DW® even have AHD multi-sensor cameras (multiple cameras in one housing).
Fortunately, we don't have to take sides in the platform argument. There are compelling reasons to embrace IP video surveillance systems: easy installation, scalability, usability, storage management and redundancy. There are also IP multi-megapixel cameras in higher resolutions which result in even greater ROI through system camera reduction, reduced costs for system installation and payroll savings because fewer personnel are required to monitor the system.
If you want analog video surveillance, the news is good: the HD technology continues to be developed, just like HD IP video surveillance. But, you do need to transition... to higher resolutions, not necessarily to a different platform.
