As business leaders try to keep pace with technological innovation, Axis experts highlight some of the new considerations – and opportunities – that will top the list in the year ahead.

The rise of hybrid solutions

Hybrid architectures making use of a combination of edge, cloud and on-premise technologies are increasingly dominant in security deployments and are set to grow.

The foundational flexibility and freedom of choice in how to store, view and analyse video makes hybrid design the optimal approach for modern security infrastructures.

Hybrid design helps lower the difficulty of meeting emerging local and regional regulation and answers concerns over control of data, cost and energy efficiency.

It offers the greatest flexibility in creating the architectures which best suit specific organisational needs, and allows systems to be easily managed and scaled to fit new requirements over their lifetime.

AI evolution alongside AI efficiency

Deep learning technologies power many analytics solutions within the security sector.

Newer generative AI technologies are rapidly maturing, shrinking and becoming optimised – and their use in practical security applications is set to expand over the coming year.

Eventually efficiency improvements mean these will be able to join deep learning applications in running, at least partly, directly on cameras.

AI’s practicality only reinforces hybrid architectures as the standard.

Over time, there is a big opportunity to dramatically change the efficiency and effectiveness of security operations.

Algorithms will be able to understand what is happening in a scene and react to anomalies based on the analysis on different types of input data.

With AI, the industry will create solutions that enable increasingly proactive capabilities and generate valuable insights in security scenarios which aid long term planning.

Advancements beyond safety

Analytics advancements and the growth of AI mean data generated by sensors of all types – video, audio, environmental and more – can be applied to numerous use cases beyond the traditional.

Incidents can be responded to more quickly and effectively than ever before, but we also expect to see an acceleration of the development of applications which aid operational efficiency and business intelligence.

This creates new opportunities for increased collaboration across internal customer organisations.

Technology being sourced or specified for one use case could well be used in another area of a business’s operations.

For instance, data being created by video cameras employed principally for security purposes can be analysed over time to improve customer or employee experience, sustainability, or process efficiency.

The “rebirth” of image quality

It may be counterintuitive to suggest that a focus on image quality is a trend in the security sector, given that the best possible image definition has always been a priority.

But the way we regard camera output has changed. Images are now often being initially viewed and analysed by computers rather than humans.

They are viewed continuously, rather than only when an incident of interest has taken place.

And cameras are data collectors, their output feeding advanced analytics.

Garbage in, garbage out – the stronger the image quality, the better the data and its analysis.

Object recognition becomes more accurate when offered more detail.

Analytics are able to more effectively discover insights within complex environments like large crowds, busy traffic intersections, or fast-moving production lines.

And humans, rather than being pushed away by automated analysis, will be more connected than ever, automatically alerted to scenes they need to pay attention to. 

Long-term value through software support

At the higher end of the security sector, the quality of hardware has been improving year-on-year.

But while quality hardware can last for many years – as illustrated by the extended length of warranties – the real value of a camera’s long-term functionality comes through ongoing software support.

Vendor commitments to support software and device security, as well as enhancing and building upon that device’s capabilities throughout its expected lifetime, are essential.

Total cost of ownership is now a crucial deciding factor in hardware procurement and will be a key industry focus this year.

An investment in a higher quality camera, with comprehensive software support throughout its lifecycle, ultimately marks a more cost-effective and efficient solution than one which might cost less initially.

Customer-focused development

Technology for technology’s sake serves nobody’s purpose.

Axis has long known – and the industry at large is now learning – that innovations must be aligned to the priorities of the end user.

Hardware and software must support customers’ goals, whether they be safety and security, operational efficiency, sustainability, or business intelligence.

Axis has developed its own system-on-chip architecture, ARTPEC, for 25 years and others are following suit; companies that would have traditionally been seen as software vendors have begun designing their own semiconductors to gain more control over service delivery, particularly in the area of AI.

This is a trend that will run and run – in all sectors, not just security.

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