by David McGuinness

                    brave souls weather DC                                   FL: calm & balm

As I look out my window at the snow pack of Washington DC, I think longingly of balmy South Florida and the TechSec conference held earlier this month. For those of you who haven’t attended TechSec Solutions in the past, it is wholly dedicated to IP and network based security and it attracts manufacturers, integrators and consultants alike.  

There is a heavy focus on educational presentations and panels which is both necessary and important to help drive the transition to an IP world within the security and surveillance market.  Could 2010 be the year that IP solutions start to pick-up the pace of adoption?  Amongst a savvy group of attendees, the expectation is “yes” due to new (and imminent) product releases, lessons learned and standards initiatives.

So why is this important to ObjectVideo?  We understand that a technology shift to IP has been a gating factor to embracing new technology (i.e. video analytics) in the space.  That’s been the case dating back to 2003 when I started at ObjectVideo, and it’s still true.  But we’re starting to see a shift in technology adoption rates due to innovation, improvements and benefits afforded by IP offerings throughout the video ecosystem, and that’s laying the groundwork for an interesting 2010.

Improved performance + compelling new capabilities + lowered TCO = a persuasive argument for IP and advanced technology adoption.

by David McGuinness 

part of downtown Shenzhen, south China

It wasn’t just the 13 hour time zone difference that kept me running on caffeine and adrenalin throughout the course of CPSE in Shenzhen, China this week.  It was the sheer number of meetings and exhibits at CPSE 2009.  Talk about a vibrant business environment — one hall was dedicated to international exhibits (Panasonic, Sony, Siemens, Axis and WPG System with OV, and the large domestic players that have sizable international distribution like Hikvision and Dahua) and the others were purely domestic products and solutions.  There was a lot to take in!

Video surveillance is clearly becoming a hi-def industry based on all of the HD product demonstrations in Shenzhen.  HD was a headline at ASIS this past September but the sheer volume at CPSE was overwhelming.  As noted around the industry, HD can be a true differentiator that moves the market for IP video.  China is still very much an analog market, but just a few percentage points in conversion growth will result in sizable channel counts for IP.

The OV network in the region has grown considerably with the OV/WPG System partnership, and the momentum is increasing.  While most of the OEM solutions in the region have been focused on the analog infrastructure, new IP releases are imminent.  And that’s where the heavy meeting schedule contributed to the lack of sleep.  Product status reviews, project reviews, pipeline reviews, regional customization, etc.  Oh, and prospective OEM partners.

The collective outlook for 2010 was very positive, so it’s time to start banking some sleep hours.

by Edward Troha

Here in Shenzhen, which is in south China and the closest large city to Hong Kong, Haloween was not so much about companies being scared if they would still be around into 2010; it was about the huge number of people that have descended on what I think is the largest security show on the planet.

At this year’s CPSE 2009 (China Public Security Exposition), there are more than 1300 exhibitors from around the world (the International Hall alone numbers about 500 Chinese and non-Chinese companies that are doing business internationally.) But get this: the organizers predicted as many as 75,000 people would attend the expo and the accompanying conference over the 4 days from November 1st through 4th. Naturally, there is a heavy emphasis here on video surveillance, and there are literally hundreds of companies competing for all the money the China government has committed to video surveillance solutions, especially in their cities.

For ObjectVideo, we received forecasts this week of opportunities and channel sales from our OEMs not just in the security business, but in retail, banking and transportation.  That’s why I and my colleagues have spent a lot of time in ‘09 in the Asia market.

What should this mean to any company that is working internationally?  If you’re not in China you’re missing the boat in a big way.  You can really sense the growth here – new cars (Mercedes; Ferraris no problem), new purses, new watches, new clothes – all made here, naturally. This is a country full of customers and consumers with increasingly fatter wallets.

Needless to say, we’re getting busier in Asia.  What was that about a recession?