As the security industry continues to advance, users will continue to demand robust security in an intuitive package and will be less likely to sacrifice aspects of security in favor of convenience and ease of use. With that in mind, we expect to see cloud and interoperability continue to be top-of-mind. Below are three market drivers we expect to see in 2020:

The cloud
The security industry is making the shift to embrace cloud. Worldwide spending on public cloud services and infrastructure was forecasted to reach $210 billion in 2019 – an increase of nearly 24 percent over 2018. This is proof that cloud has already made an impact on the industry.

Additionally, cloud-based access control and credential management are more accessible and flexible to manage. For small business owners, cloud connectivity enables owners to grant and revoke access rights, create schedules and monitor systems from remotely or from a centralized location. On the video surveillance side, the market benefits from cloud via enhanced functionality through analytics and increased resources for video processing.

Interoperability
One sign that the industry is continuing to mature is the growing simplicity of integrations and of widespread interoperability amongst devices and systems. Integrators and manufacturers have a real opportunity to continue to promote the power and added value of integrated systems, especially in markets such as schools and governments that require a higher need for efficiency.

ONVIF plays a large role in providing these easier and smarter integrations. Our profiles are widely known throughout the security industry as standards by which products can communicate with each other and what enables devices and clients from different manufacturers to perform basic (but ever growing) sets of functions. Enabling interoperability between manufacturers’ products provides increased levels of choice, which results in best of breed solutions, customizable to individual user needs.

After ten years and six profiles later, we’ve developed some other tools to assist in the connected platform approach. The ONVIF Core Specification is full of these additional tools that can enrich the industry perhaps in different ways than some of our profiles. One of our more recent examples is Export File Format, which provides the ability to export recorded video files in a common format and also provides a video player with which the clip can be replayed.

Cyber security
In 2019, cyber security concerns remained a focal topic and we saw the industry respond well. To combat the sudden increase in issues, some companies offer full-scale cyber security programs, whereas others simply keep end-to-end encryption in mind when designing a system from conception to installation. Users are learning that cyber security is not an isolated technical challenge or threat, but rather an ongoing commitment to have security processes and policies in place and up to date.

This recognition that cyber best practices must be in place, regardless of system approach, is contributing to an increase in demand for easily monitored integrated solutions.

In 2019, we saw a rising interest for interoperability all the way to the system-to-system level, in not only the security industry, but in schools, government and smart homes – industries where IoT prospects have improved. We can now only imagine how IoT will play a part in smarter and safer system deployments in the future.

The future
The market has matured to the point where things should remain business as usual in 2020. Continued advancements in AI/deep learning and growing cloud adoption will continue to drive efficiency, intelligence and connectivity improvements for dealers, integrators and most importantly, end users, to help improve security awareness, prevention and response.

Per Björkdahl
Chairman, ONVIF Steering Committee.