The market for managed wireless security services will more than triple in size over the next five years, experiencing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27 percent and exceeding $1 billion at the end of that period, said ABI Research.

"The managed wireless security services growth rate is quite dramatic,” said ABI vice president Stan Schatt. “It’s due to the explosive growth of large WLAN deployments. As these grow, organizations in certain markets such as healthcare and hospitality are finding it more efficient to outsource their security management rather than to do it themselves. That’s particularly true of institutions that have many smaller branches without trained IT personnel."

 

There is also what Schatt terms “an absolutely incredible opportunity” among small and mid-sized businesses: as they increase their Wi-Fi usage, they see great benefit in having their wireless security – especially wireless video surveillance – managed for them." These managed services are being provided by a variety of companies: some WLAN equipment companies such as Cisco, and some resellers of intrusion protection systems. In the future, ABI said these will be joined by the large professional services companies such as HP and IBM. Mobile operators and other telcos will also be giving the market a great deal of attention.

 

"Managed service providers can address this market more effectively by including support for wireless video surveillance in their offerings, including portals for review of surveillance tapes, and activity reports," Schatt concluded.