This month’s cover story — State of the Market: Video Surveillance (link) — begins our annual State of the Market Series, starting with the outlook for the video surveillance market last year and this year. And despite a year many security dealers and integrators have described as “flat” as well as concerns about ongoing supply chain issues and fears of an economic downturn, video surveillance remains a bright spot for many.

As Senior Editor Rodney Bosch writes, “The general optimism expressed by (SDM 2023 Industry Forecast) survey respondents is reflected in rising sector revenues. For example, 76 percent expect revenue from video surveillance systems (on-premise and cloud-based) to increase in 2023, up 12 percentage points from the previous year.”

Analytics, AI and cloud are particularly strong drivers in the video space, and Dean Drako, CEO of Eagle Eye Networks describes the video market as being at an “inflection point” because of them.

“The combination of these three factors will spur tremendous market growth,” Drako explains in the article. “The amount that customers will spend on video surveillance will triple over the next several years because of the value that customers are getting from cloud + AI, not only for security and safety but for business improvement as well. We’ll see a huge lift in revenue in the security industry, because we’ll actually be delivering a whole new product.”

“Despite a year many security dealers and integrators have described as “flat” as well as concerns about ongoing supply chain issues and fears of an economic downturn, video surveillance remains a bright spot for many.”

Video is just one top trend featured in this issue. Others include an article explaining the various options when it comes to gunshot detection; smart home trends ; and a look at how security professionals are dealing with cybersecurity issues around access control.

As we begin this new year of 2023, we also look forward to the coming months, including hopefully seeing many of you at ISC West in March, as well as rolling out the 2023 SDM 100 and Top Systems Integrators Report. The survey for both of those rankings is now open and if you have never applied to be ranked on either list, or did not choose to participate last year for some reason, I would like to encourage you to fill out the 2022 survey here. Submissions are due March 1! If you are a returning company ranked on either list you should have received an email with a login. Please let me know if you did not receive one.