Middle East stakeholders spent an average of $3.6 million on CCTV surveillance systems and related infrastructure in their last financial year, according to a study by Juniper Networks, a leader in automated and secure networks.

Thirty-nine per cent of surveyed organizations reported an average of 100 or more deployed CCTV cameras. The research also highlights an increased focus on underlying network infrastructure to enhance CCTV performance capabilities. According to the results, surveyed organizations spent an average of $2.6 million on network infrastructure and $675,000 on network security in their last financial year.

However, despite significant investments in network architecture,73 per cent of organizations surveyed reported that current network performance fails to deliver key business requirements for effective CCTV.
Seventy-five per cent also reported the same concerns around current network security capabilities:

•    Forty-four per cent of organizations surveyed said that their current network infrastructure cannot cope with collecting, storing and accessing CCTV footage.
•    Fifty-three per cent of organizations surveyed stated that their current network is unable to support in-app analytics and real-time access to footage.
•    Thirty-nine per centof organizations surveyed said that theircurrent network does not support automated backup and recovery of the data collected by the CCTV system in place.
•    Forty-three per cent of organizations surveyed also cited challenges related to network latency and resulting impaired quality of videos and images.

The region is progressing towards an era of Digital Cohesion, where predictive and automated network-based mega-services adapt to user behavior, enabling better decision-making and enriching personal and business lives.

Furthermore, the research indicates a growing focus on designing and deploying performance-driven CCTV surveillance systems and infrastructure in the year ahead. Governments in the region are leading the charge on CCTV surveillance deployments to drive smart city safety initiatives and to improve traffic management and urban planning.

Sixty per cent of surveyed organizations reported plans to increase investments in CCTV surveillance systems and underlying network infrastructure in their next financial year. They also reported plans to increase investments in network infrastructure by an average of 8.7per cent in the year ahead to enable improved network security (59per cent), meet increasing customer demands and expectations for safety (43per cent) and deploy high performance surveillance infrastructure (41per cent).

Twenty-four per cent also specified that Governance, Risk and Compliance concerns are a motivation for planned CCTV investments.

Network security concerns

The survey also reported clear concerns about the efficacy of network security, with 78 per cent of respondents concerned about a possible breach of their CCTV surveillance network and 25 per cent citing a breach in the last 12 months. While the organizations surveyed are planning to increase investments in network security by an average of 9.9per cent in the year ahead, 39per cent of respondents believe that their organization should invest more in the next financial year.

“The research commissioned by Juniper Networks outlines that while CCTV surveillance systems continue to be vitally important for organizations, they can only be as effective as the network that supports them,” said Marcus Jewell, senior vice president and general manager EMEA for Juniper Networks

“Not all networks are equal and organizations need to consider the nuances of their existing environment and business needs before investing in network architecture. Juniper believes that Self-Driving Networks are integral to helping organizations create the right foundation to enhance the performance and efficiency of mission-critical systems and associated applications, such as CCTV surveillance. Autonomous networks that are designed to not only enable economies of scale, but also adapt dynamically, will allow organizations to deploy infrastructure that is agile and ready to scale for the future,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service