SECURITY & SURVEILLANCE: India's New Watchdog

The security
and surveillance market is growing in a big way in India. A rise in
the instances of terrorism in the country has prompted everyone to go
in for some sort of physical security and surveillance systems.
Though currently the penetration of security and surveillance in
India is only in single digit, the market is increasingly seeing
every organization allocating substantial amount towards this in
their annual budget. According to a report by International Fire and
Security Exhibition and Conference, physical security in India is
likely to grow into a $3.5 bn market, which is expected to grow by up
to 30% y-o-y. According to the 2010 edition of the IMS Asia report,
the total market for video surveillance in Asia is estimated to have
been worth over $3.3 bn in 2009 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of
15.2% over the next 5 years to be worth over $6.7 bn in 2014. The
network video surveillance equipment market was estimated to have
been worth $511.4 mn in 2009 and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of
32.8% over the next 5 years to be worth over $2.1 bn in 2014.

The major
growth drivers for this industry are low market penetration, as
currently the market penetration is only in single digit; technology
improvements in each and every component which goes in to security
and surveillance; low cost broadband connections with high speed
bandwidths; bandwidth improvements of Wireless; mandate from
government in sensitive areas like universities; and needless to say,
rising security threats in the country. Moreover, security and
surveillance is increasingly becoming a must have for the
organizations of all sizes today be it a large, medium, or small
enterprise. Even a small shop installs CCTVs to monitor the constant
movement of its customers. And not to forget, today there are
surveillance systems being installed in homes as well. With the
emerging terrorist threats today, government organizations are also
becoming conscious of the security requirement. Organizations and
government bodies too need to view security as a strategic imperative
and invest to make their security fool-proof and free from
vulnerability to ensure people are protected from such threats.

The
evolution
of the products, software, and technology is quite amazing in the
security and surveillance industry. In the last 5 years, this
industry has witnessed significant changes in terms of products
moving away from Analog cameras to IP, High Definition (HD) in CCTV
cameras, technological advancements in Analytics software, and the
coming up of compression technology innovations like H.264. There
have also been bandwidth improvements in Wireless, which is helping
the companies to deploy CCTV in far off places. Besides, hundreds of
third party players have forayed into Video Management Software which
is helping customers to integrate any brands of cameras under single
VMS, which helps in seamless integration of old analog cameras to IP
networks. Also, many storage players are producing separate line of
hard disks or DAS and NAS for surveillance industry. Then the
industry is also witnessing seamless integration of access, network,
and biometric systems into security and surveillance.

SPs IN
THE
BUSINESS

Looking at
this kind of growth and traction, security and surveillance
definitely stands to be a very big market, especially if we look at
the Indian context. There is definitely a huge potential for system
integrators/solution providers to offer solutions and take advantage
of the rising requirements from all these spheres of the society.
With the immense opportunity and the optimistic predictions drawn,
the stage is all set for the solution providers to make their mark in
this realm of evolving technology. However, as a trend, it was
noticed that most of the solution providers specializing in the
networking domain have gone for experimenting with surveillance
setups and are trying to transform their business focusing over this
factor.

One solution
provider that leads the race in this segment is Bengaluru based
Webcom Information Technology that has done significant number of
projects in the country. Apparently, the company is consistently
increasing its share in this sector y-o-y by acquiring new customers
in different sectors, including power, PSUs, defense, government,
education, and oil & gas sectors amongst others. It has also
entered into strategic alliance with many major vendors in this
segment, and also trained and certified the manpower.

“In the
next 6 months, Webcom is planning to bid for at least 10 times more
projects as compared to last year. As of now, the share of security
and surveillance in the company's overall business model is about
20% but this year, it is expected to be around 30-40%,” said
Anantharam Varayur, MD, Webcom Information Technology.

Webcom's
first major project in this area was the deployment done at a power
plant in West Bengal's Santaldih and Bakreshwar, worth a couple of
crores. Presently, it is doing end-to-end deployment at one of the
DRDOs, which includes integration of Biometric Access Control, Boom
Barrier, Long Range reader for vehicle management, surveillance of
the entire campus using IP cameras, integration of existing Analog
camera to new IP Cameras, control room set up, Visitor Management
solution, NAS for back up, and VMS with Analytics. Besides, it is
implementing software to integrate time and attendance to pay roll of
the organization.

Varayur
further stated, “Going forward, we will focus more on solutions
rather than mere physical security. This could be surveillance with
Attendance, pay roll, visitor management and vehicle management. We
will also concentrate on heavy engineering plants, oil and gas, and
power plants. We have some solutions for banks and ATMs which we will
market aggressively. Additionally, our key focus is going to be
wireless connectivity for surveillance and to progress in this
direction quickly. We are in the process of acquiring one SI
organization which are specializes in wireless.” As far as
challenges are concerned, Varayur feels that though there is a
plethora of opportunities for the solution providers in this space,
right now this market is very chaotic with the mushrooming of
hundreds of brands. Then, there are cameras available in the market
starting from Rs 8000-30,000 which ultimately does same job. And
also, there is no standardization in storage—for the same storage
space, cost can vary between Rs 1-4 lakh.

“Besides,
in many organizations, authorities do not know who is accountable for
this in their organization, is it IT, security department or admin,
this confusion delays decision. Customers are also confused because
there is no standard design available for the area of coverage, as a
particular area can be covered by putting 30 cameras or 100 cameras.
We also witness lack of trained manpower. Network engineers are not
taking this career seriously, as they still want to get in to CCNA
kind of job and identify themselves as network engineers, rather than
S&S engineers,” added Varayur.

Another
solution provider who has forayed into this space is Delhi based
Artek Enterprises. Primarily into the IT business, the company has
been closely looking at this market as an add-on business. Though
currently security and surveillance is not part of its major
business, it is definitely contributing to Artek's overall
business.

The company
has done quite a few deployments in this area, for example, in Jammu
& Kashmir, it has done installations at Northern Command
headquarters; then it has done installations at the Attari station
platforms to monitor the passengers and trains going and coming from
Pakistan and also at the immigration counters of the station. There
are also installations done at various railway stations in the
country, including Benaras, Kanpur, and Gorakhpur. Besides, Artek has
also done deployments at various educational institutions in the
country.

Anil Gupta,
MD, Artek Enterprises, asserted, “There is no hiccup as such but we
have to divert our attention towards this area. We are an IT company
and surveillance is slightly a different ball game. However, we don't
see any complication over this productivity. In the current financial
year, we expect the installations to increase manifold. And we are
definitely hopeful that this business will grow to a substantial
proportion in the coming years.”

Another
Delhi
based solution provider, Amtrak Technologies, has done deployments in
the defense sector as well as the paramilitary organizations. The
company has been very actively working in this area. “Being a SI
for the last 17 years, it is also present in the government sector.
One of our expertise is the security and surveillance. As far as
these 3 services are concerned, security is of paramount importance
to them. Anything can be breached but not security. Since these 3
services are paranoid about security, we understand their concern. We
are very happy to provide niche and unique solutions to them,”
stated Col NR Pani (Retd), CIO, Amtrak Technologies. The other
solution provider from Delhi, Transline Technologies believes that
the security and surveillance market is doubling every year. The fear
in mind is pushing this segment in the country.

“We are not
touching the low end of the market, as we are into the IP
surveillance business.
This means we are into integrated security solutions. We are giving
out metal detectors, etc. We have done projects in Municipal
Corporation of Delhi, and Railways. Around 60% is contributed from
security and surveillance and biometrics in our overall business. We
are talking about human identity and security, which we want to
address in the future as well. By 2012, we expect about 80-85%
business from this space—starting from time attendance and access
control to integrated security solutions,” added Arun Gupta, MD,
Transline Technologies.

THE CHAMP

Taking cue
from the work being done by these solution providers in security and
surveillance space, Webcom Information Technology certainly bags the
top slot. It is definitely cut above the rest, as it has the zeal to
make it big in this segment.