The video surveillance industry is expanding rapidly due to rising security needs combined with a spate of technological innovations -- including the migration to digital, fully networked systems, according to the market-research firm iSuppli Corp. 

“With the emergence of networked Internet Protocol (IP) video surveillance cameras and IP video servers -- along with the rising use of Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) -- video surveillance is moving beyond traditional security and into new applications such as transportation, retail, government and even home networking,” said Mark Kirstein, vice president of multimedia content and services at iSuppli. 

“This expansion is being helped considerably by the idea of networked video surveillance, which allows for greater flexibility, field upgradeability, increased automation and more intelligence to be incorporated into the overall system. Because of this, IP cameras will experience continued growth in surveillance, displacing existing Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras with modern technology that can be networked into larger security systems. Similarly, surveillance DVRs are transitioning into networked devices,” Kirstein added.