What is an acceptable life cycle for a physical security or video system? Are you seeing a trend toward systems being replaced more or less often?

Historically, an average electronic security system was replaced every 7 to 10 years. This was the benchmark used by consultants over 15 years ago, which set that expectation in the market. This has now changed dramatically. Security is no longer a hardware game, in fact it is the software and IT technology that is taking huge leaps forward. Security systems are no longer static, physical objects. Technology allows, and in fact, requires us to focus on progressive migration that is always in motion. As an industry, we really need to be looking to IT to utilise best practices in technology lifecycle. The move away from proprietary systems to standard hardware is crucial in order to ensure that systems can be managed throughout their life cycle. We also need to adopt and evolve security systems, rather than simply ripping out and replacing. It’s about constant, ongoing improvement, rather than a total rework.

We haven’t seen any overall evidence of customers renewing their security more frequently than the normal five to seven years period. However, we are noticing more interest from end users in respect to new technology that enables greater integration and provides potential cost savings/efficiencies across their enterprise. In this instance, the heightened interest might result in increased demand for system replacements, or at least refurbishment, so operators can avail themselves of the latest technology. Equally though, it’s very clear that there is a big need and demand for new technology to embrace legacy systems to ensure there is no wastage of previous security investments, whenever possible.

Video surveillance technology continues to evolve as new products and components are introduced to market. Additionally, ongoing migration to IP drives many end users to develop plans to allow their organisations to build a system that can meet a variety of security and business challenges today and into the future. Often these plans include leveraging existing investments while adding more innovative platforms as technology advances. Life cycle planning helps users optimise technology deployments while maximising budgets. It is expected that upgrades will be necessary over time, and such projects should be outlined in lifecycle plans. Organisations also must look at their own business and growth plans to best anticipate what technologies should be added and what systems are best positioned to evolve as security needs evolve.