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alarm communication
the remote monitoring service market consists
of local and national service providers. This
means that markets in different countries
typically develop independently of each other,
driven by the decisions of the local market
leaders.
Niall Jenkins says: "In Japan, Secom has not
focused on remote video monitoring services
which has limited penetration of the technol-
ogy. Another example is in the UK where
companies like Tunstall have driven growth of
PERS more successfully than in other European
markets. Consequently, the UK accounts for
around a third of all PERS revenues in the
EMEA region."
POTS
Another factor that varies between countries
is the usage of POTS (plain old telephone
lines) transmission. In North America, POTS
accounted for nearly 90 percent of RMR in
2009. But this is forecast to decrease to nearly
70 percent by 2014.
In France, by 2014 only half of the moni-
tored alarms in France are predicted to have
a landline connection. This contrasts with
France's neighbour Spain, where only a drop
of a few percentage points in market share for
landline connections is predicted for the same
period.
The market for telephone alarm transmis-
sion is declining and it is widely accepted that
the use of POTS for alarm communication
will come to an end sooner or later, but there
are still questions over what will successfully
replace it. In Germany for example, IP is driv-
ing the change, while others such as France,
prefer GSM.
GSM
GSM alarm monitoring can best be defined as
a form of alarm monitoring that uses the GSM
telephony networks for communication. It is
typically used with alarm systems in two main
ways, it is either used as the primary form of
communication with a GSM alarm system or
it can be used as a form of backup communica-
tion.
GSM security alarms are designed to use a
SIM card that allows them to transmit data and
information via a cell signal. Alarm information
Niall Jenkins says: "The economic downturn
has resulted in reduced budgets and higher
attrition rates for remote monitoring providers.
While the RMR (Recurring Monthly Rev-
enue) nature of the market protects it from the
growth fluctuations seen in the physical security
equipment markets, the slump in the economy
is still predicted to impact growth over the
short term."
He stresses that legislation is another impor-
tant driver of remote monitoring services.
"For example, new legislation in Spain
requiring some form of verification of an alarm
signal before police dispatch has resulted in an
increase in the use of video verification, which
uses multiple images to verify an alarm event.
Finally, new technologies offer the central
monitoring station a method to increase RMR.
Remote video monitoring services and home
automation services are two technologies that
help service providers to lower attrition rates
and increase RMR per account."
Varies between countries
The penetration of remote monitoring services
varies significantly between different countries
and regions. The US residential alarm monitor-
ing market has a penetration of between 20 and
25 percent of all residential buildings, while the
residential market in Germany is estimated to
be less than 200,000 accounts.
Niall Jenkins says: "There are a number of
social and economic reasons for these regional
differences. Perception of crime, comparative
wealth, service pricing and the isolation of the
location can all drive the decision to remotely
monitor a building. In less developed countries,
the lower cost of manned guarding can also act
to limit uptake. In extreme examples, a lack of
trust in the police force can drive customers to
include manned guard response in their service
agreement, hence increasing the RMR gener-
ated on the account."
With the exception of a few companies,
According to IMS Research, the world market
for remote monitoring services was worth more
than $29 billion in 2011, equivalent to $2.4
billion in recurring monthly revenues (RMR)
across the year. The company also estimated
that, in the same year, 54 million accounts, or
customer locations, were provided with services
such as alarm monitoring, remote video moni-
toring, physical access control and fire detection
monitoring, and PERS (Personal Emergency
Response Services).
Driven by its strong residential and com-
mercial alarm monitoring markets, the US
market accounted for around 45 percent of
world revenues. Other notable regional markets
include Canada, the UK, Spain, France, Japan,
South Korea, China and Australia.
Asia fastest growing
The remote monitoring services market in Asia
is forecast to be the fastest growing region.
Niall Jenkins, Research Manager at IMS
Research says: "In EMEA, the fastest growing
regional markets are in Eastern Europe and
Russia. In Western Europe, the greatest short-
to-medium term opportunity is predicted to be
in Germany, Benelux, Austria and Switzerland,
and France."
Factors for market growth
There are a number of factors that influence
market growth such as the economy, legislation,
and new technology.
In the last couple of years, more and more alarms are communicating
via GSM and IP, but analogue telephone alarm transmission is still a very
common way to communicate alarms. However, there is a great deal of
variation from country to country. In this article, Detektor explores the
alarm communication market.
The market for alarm com munication is changing
In Japan, Secom
has not focused
on remote video monitoring
services which has limited
penetration of the technology.
Niall Jenkins, Research Manager
at IMS Research.