Are Smart Cameras Emerging as the Ultimate IoT Device?（スマートカメラは究極のIoTデバイスとなり得るか）

As the global IoT ecosystem continues to mature, there has recently been more of a shift towards devices and away from networks. Network connectivity has been increasingly seen as less of an issue as there are now several options for enterprises to use to deploy IoT solutions including everything from Bluetooth to Wi-Fi to Private 5G. Therefore, IoT devices are now becoming more in demand for IoT solution users and while a wide variety of connected sensors exist in a myriad of form factors, what is still largely absent in the market is a versatile, low-cost, and highly intelligent device. Recently smart cameras have made a claim to fill this role as new applications, economies of scale and better software are all coming together to make smart cameras a “must have” IoT device for a wide variety of enterprises.

New Use Cases + Economies of Scale + Better Technology = A Better Value Proposition

Smart cameras have existed for many years as there has been a desire to increase the utility of widely installed CCTV cameras. This has largely manifested in terms of facial recognition technology, which has many applications in law enforcement, hospitality and human resources, and more recently adding temperature scanning has become a popular feature due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  But today’s smart cameras can offer significantly more in terms of utility due to recent technologies which are being introduced. For example, edge computing is starting to play a key role in the sector as cameras embedded with edge chips can operate significantly faster than a cloud-based solution. Moving computing to the camera also significantly reduced data consumption within a network, and hence reduces costs. AI is the other key technology which is increasing the value of smart cameras as there are a wide variety of objects and behaviors which a camera can now identify, which means that smart cameras are now being deployed in a much larger variety of industries as opposed to only in settings where physical security is required. Economies of scale are also starting to impact the sector, as smart cameras which would have cost thousands of dollars a few years ago are now available for hundreds of dollars or less. Product-as-a-Service offerings are driving costs even lower.