A new report from IHS reveals that the world market for PSIM (Physical Security Information Management) software is estimated to have been worth $160.3 million in 2013. The PSIM market, while being a small segment of the larger security & fire market, continues to enjoy 20 percent and higher growth rates, and will do so until at least 2018. This growth is being driven in part by end-users utilising PSIM software platforms as a tool to enforce compliance of both internal policies and external legislative requirements.
Despite these growth rates, confusion surrounding what constitutes PSIM software remains. Competing products such as command and control platforms, advanced video management software, and security integration platforms have muddied the water as their capabilities and functionality have expanded into what was once considered PSIM's territory of situational awareness and situation management.
One of the key selling points in previous years for PSIM platforms was their ability to connect and integrate multiple disparate systems, both security and non-security. It is this connectivity and integration aspect to PSIM which has been eroded over the past two years, with many other products being able to offer various integrations to expand their software's reach. PSIM software has thus had to shift its USP away from this integration aspect. Customers that are buying PSIM now are really coming with a top-down view, with a need to improve their security operations in a cost effective, operationally efficient way, while improving the overall security of the environment they are working in. This is where the PSIM value proposition lies.
That said however, the market has grown in line with expectations from the previous edition of the report, with the market being $7.5m larger in 2013 than previously expected. However, longer-term growth will be muted compared with previous expectations. The market's long-term growth is limited by competing products successfully being deployed in the mid-tier, a market that has historically been out of reach for the high-end PSIM software platforms due to their high price tag.
