Axis hits one million, aims for 10 million

COPENHAGEN--Axis executive vice president Anders Laurin and U.S. regional director Fredrik Nilsson announced Oct. 10 that the network camera giant had reached the notable milestone of selling one million cameras within the last 10 years, and set a goal of reaching 10 million cameras. They pointed out that more than half of those sales occurred since 2005 and Nilsson predicted, "it's not going to take us 10 years to reach that [10 million] goal." Axis executives spent two days talking about Axis' vision for the network video market at a press and analysts' event here Oct. 9-11. Currently, about 15 percent of cameras sold in the North American market are IP-based, said Bodil Sonesson, Axis vice president of global sales. Analysts estimate that that number will hit 50 percent by 2011. However, Sonesson said Axis' U.S. sales figures, which were up between 60 and 65 percent in the first half of 2007, leads her to believe that "the shift will go more quickly in the U.S." Still, Axis executives spent considerable time at the event explaining the benefits of IP cameras over analog cameras. Indeed, asked who Axis' biggest competitor will be in the near-term, Axis founder Martin Gren said: "the analog camera." So, evangelizing the benefits of IP cameras is still a daily task for Axis, and Sonesson said it would be for the next few years. As they spread the word about IP, Axis executives expect to lean heavily on a "Total Cost of Ownership" study it released at the September ASIS show, which compares the cost of IP- versus analog-based surveillance systems and defines the point where an IP system is cheaper than analog when there is no IP infrastructure present--beyond 32 cameras it's cheaper, between 16 and 32, cost is similar. (For more on this study, see the December issue of Security Systems News.) The shift is happening, and the retail vertical is particularly ripe for network camera applications, Sonneson said. "We have 40 percent growth potential today. Our opportunity is [the integrator's] opportunity. The time to jump on board is now, so we can lead the market together."