The adoption of panels and other IP-based equipment in the Asia Pacific (APAC) market has ramped up significantly in 2015, and growth is expected to accelerate from 2016 through 2020, writes Alexander Derricott, market analyst, at the market researchers IHS Technology.
In fact revenue from IP-enabled panels will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.8 percent from 2015 to 2020. The total market for access-control panels is expected to reach $499.3 million in 2020, and IP-enabled panels will make up 58.2 percent of the market.
Demand for IP-based products is driven primarily by their ease of installation, but cost reductions are also encouraging the shift. Particularly in Malaysia, customers have been demanding single-door IP controllers, and this trend has continued to grow. Within the commercial sector, new offices tend to have an IP connection point every 20 meters along the interior walls, which makes installation much easier. Singapore has been the fastest adopter of IP-enabled panels, and Malaysia and Thailand have also seen significant uptake, but other countries have been much slower to make the transition.
The market for web-based panels is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.6 percent, from 2015 to 2020, while PC-based panels are forecast to grow 11.8 percent, The pace of growth for web-based panels is predicted to increase from 2018 to 2020, as better product knowledge and increased internet infrastructure boosts demand. Web-based panels will grow at a slower pace than PC-based panels, but this category might experience accelerated growth in the next three or four years. Currently, however, the evolution to systems similar to those in Western Europe and the United States is still further away.
The APAC region has comparatively poor internet infrastructure, and the region has also been suffering from the slowdown in the Chinese economy, which is why the growth of IP-enabled panels and other equipment did not seem a likely scenario. Even so, uptake of these systems has occurred.
The use of IP-enabled panels in this region bodes well for other developing markets, as it can alleviate some concerns around infrastructure development holding back the uptake of these devices. With demand bolstered by easy installation and lower costs, IP-enabled infrastructure is sure to play an increasingly important role in the global market.
