One of the most interesting areas of communications is the marriage of physical security -- which has been with us forever -- and the recent phenomenon of IP-based security. This crossover is most clearly illustrated in the IP video surveillance sector.

This week, MultiMedia Intelligence released a report that said the IP surveillance market grew by just under half last year and is worth almost $500 million worldwide. This story, which duly carries the disclaimer that the sector remains a small piece of the overall surveillance market, seems very upbeat about its future.

In its favor is a healthy dynamic of movers and shakers such as Cisco, IBM and Intel, as well as smaller idea-generating specialty shops such as IndigoVision, March Networks and Nice Systems.

CSO Online offers a very concisely written buyers' guide that should be the first stop for an IT professional thinking about IP video surveillance. The initial decision is whether to go with full IP or a transitional system that combines IP and analog. IT and security personnel also must determine if the corporate backbone has enough bandwidth to support the system.

This useful piece then suggests several criterion for evaluating systems: field of view; bandwidth consumption; resolution; auto filtering; platform interoperability; scalability and service/support. Finally, the piece offers several "dos and don'ts." The "dos:" Consider the relative value of crisp versus fuzzier images and seriously consider centralizing efforts. It is a bad idea (the "don'ts") to shop solely by cost; think myopically when upgrading from existing systems or assume different vendors' gear will interoperate seamlessly.

The president of Panasonic Systems Solutions Co. contends we are on the precipice of great change in IP video surveillance. The keys, he says in this Security Products piece, are advances in chip design and better compression technologies. Megapixel chips capable of high definition transmission are not new. They will, however, increasingly be used in the security cameras. Users will have access to high-end camera features such as day/night operation, high-quality contrast control and high-speed electronic shutters. The expansive bandwidth and recording capacity demands of these megapixel cameras will be met by the H.264 compression standard.

A combined digital video recorder/IP approach offers advantages beyond eliminating a costly jump to full IP. DVRs, according to Components in Electronics, can harness analytics, motion detection and other appoaches. The features only are possible, however, when the pictures are digitized. This makes IP an integral tool.

There is a high level of consistency in the view of those familiar with the IP surveillance sector. The bottom line is that improving technology and declining prices are enabling the worlds of physical and cyber security to meet, as they did recently in Pittsburg, Calif., where Strix System was chosen to provide video surveillance.