Speaking at IFSEC 2009, he also said the analogue market has “maybe gone backwards”. This was “consistent with what the mainstream IP players are reporting”.
At the launch of Vista’s PowerDome Pro camera and Quantum Plus DVR ranges, he said: “Our analysis shows that in the last twelve months the numbers of CCTV systems installed hasn’t reduced.
“It’s the same number of things being bought but what people have done is, either, they’ve down-traded on price or they’ve left out some of the high ticket items. So whereas somebody could use a fully functional dome, they’ve gone for a couple of statics and cut the cost.
“We see end users cutting their budgets and CCTV isn’t immune from it. They’ve removed an item they felt was superfluous but may have been there in a richer time.
“The demand is still there. If anything, the last 12 months has shown us it is a very solid demand, but the elasticity of funds has been reduced.”
He said the big CCTV users in the UK still want the same system. “But they say they want to pay 20 per cent less for it ‘because that’s the way we’re managing our business’.
“We’re trying to add more to the conventional market to enable people to move into an IP environment.
“We will see in the next year or two a huge amount of development going into core and traditional products.
He likened the switch from analogue to IP as the “sailing ship syndrome”
Sailing ships hadn’t advanced for hundreds of years before the steamship. Then they saw huge advances in design.
“So we’ll see a huge amount of development going into some of those traditional products which raises the bar for IP products to come up to.
On the recession he said: “We took early action on re-positioning our product range and business and we feel very happy where we are today.
“I’m cautiously optimistic. I think we’re bouncing along the bottom of the bathtub at the moment.”
There were a lot of positive signs “but nothing fantastic”.