We asked channel players chosen from asmag.com weekly newsletter subscriber database to take our cloud security market survey. 147 valid responses were collected and served as the basis for our findings. Most of our readers are from APAC and EMEA and our survey respondent breakdown reflects this: 44% of answers came from APAC, 42% from EMEA and 15% from North America.

What we wanted to know:

• Are industry channel players interested in cloud services (video surveillance/access control)?
• Are there cloud security providers leading the market?

What did the survey say? A considerable amount of security channel players (45%) are likely to install a cloud video surveillance solution for clients this year, BUT there is no clear market leader.

(Side note: Our number for channel players likely to deploy cloud access control solutions is lower (34%). Any thoughts on why this is?)

Which cloud security provider comes first to mind?

We asked our readers an open-ended question: “Which cloud security provider (e.g. cloud video surveillance or cloud access control) comes first to your mind?”

Looking at the responses, it is interesting to note that majority (33%) of the respondents did not have any particular favorite provider. And of all the cloud security providers named, the top name Hikvision came in first, with 10% of the respondents naming it as a cloud provider, and Amazon Web Services came second with 9%.

Hikvision allows internet access to its devices for remote viewing (e.g., through the Hik-Connect app) but in general, its devices are not designed as a cloud offering. Amazon Web Services is indeed the largest cloud service provider in the world, holding close to a 30% global market share, but it is not specific to the security industry.

These answers indicate in our opinion that the channel is not very familiar with industry-specific cloud options, turning by default to naming the biggest players they know.

Eagle Eye Networks – the first “true” cloud provider

Eagle Eye Networks came in third in our survey and is the first “true cloud” vendor cited by respondents – i.e., a company that is designed for the cloud from its onset. The company is a long-established player in cloud video surveillance so it’s not surprising to see this company at the top of the list, but it was surprising to see how fragmented the responses were.

Where are all the others? like Verkada, Cisco, Alarm.com ?

The top 5 answers to the survey account for two-thirds of the respondents (65% of all answers). The rest of the responses named many companies without any clear favorite. There could be several reasons for this:

1. The industry landscape is fragmented, with many vendors offering a cloud solution of some sort. There is no clear market leaders apart from Hikvision, Eagle Eye and Dahua.
2. There is a lack of industry differentiation between “true cloud” vendors (i.e., a companies whose offering is designed for cloud operating environments) and solutions that just connect devices to the internet. This allows many companies to label themselves as “cloud providers.”
3. Geographic characteristics of the survey: Our readers are mostly APAC and EMEA. Companies like Verkada are largely present in North America.
4. Business nature of survey takers: our subscribers are channel players. Many cloud companies target end-users directly, and hence they might be less familiar to channel players.

In this regard, Eagle Eye Networks's channel-focused go-to-market approach – using resellers and integrators to sell its offering – appears to have worked in their favor. The company has been present in the EMEA and APAC markets for several years already, both through organic growth and acquisition of Panasonic’s cloud management service company in 2017.