In addition to the greater number of surveillance cameras, the latest models typically have higher specifications than previous iterations; uplifts in specifications such as image resolution are contributing to a net increase in the amount of data the typical camera produces. Also, as the perceived value of surveillance data increases, some end-users will store the data for longer. To meet the demands of the market’s increased storage requirement there are external storage systems (SAN, NAS and external DAS/JBOD systems) with greater capacities and configured for video surveillance workloads. The global market for sales of these systems is estimated to have surpassed $1.7 billion in 2017 with a compound annual growth rate faster than that of the video surveillance camera market over the next 5 years.

As with the video surveillance equipment market, the largest regional market for these storage systems is China. Here, government investment in safe city programmes and expansion in underlying IT infrastructure under planned economic policies such as the “Xue Liang” programme have driven China to account for the majority of market revenues and capacity. Many of the Chinese domestic video surveillance vendors are addressing this demand with their own “IP SAN” systems which are installed in regional surveillance data centres.

Chinese vendors have also begun selling these external storage systems alongside other video surveillance equipment in emerging markets in South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In these markets they offer competitive prices compared to incumbent IT storage providers which may directly or indirectly be addressing the surveillance market.

The video surveillance storage market offers vendors higher potential growth opportunities than many traditional storage markets. There, storage hardware is competing with the movement to cloud infrastructures, this is less so in the video surveillance industry. As highlighted in recent IHS Markit research on the VSaaS market, mass market adoption of cloud storage for video surveillance is still far off. While there are large storage requirements for video surveillance, much of this remains out of the cloud.

Traditional IT storage providers are targeting video surveillance by marketing storage solutions which are configured to specific video surveillance workloads and certified with video surveillance software and hardware partners. These solutions may be offered through their own brand or as an OEM product allowing video surveillance brands to offer a “one stop shop” for integrators by offering them complete front and back-end video surveillance systems. Going forward it is likely we’ll see an increasing number of external storage systems re-branded with video surveillance brands. This may also mean more widespread use of enterprise storage systems for video surveillance. Even in mid-sized installations end-users will be able to choose a certified, pre-configured storage solution offering large storage capacity and enterprise functionality but from a surveillance brand with which they are familiar.