Why More Organizations Are Choosing Cloud Storage for their Video Surveillance Data

Over the past decade, we’ve seen accelerated adoption of cloud storage for video surveillance solutions and systems due to requirements for organizations to cost-effectively store and access growing volumes of high-quality video files. These requirements are driving many organizations to explore and implement cloud storage as a critical part of their surveillance infrastructure. In fact, data from Wasabi’s 2024 Cloud Storage Index shows that one-third of video surveillance capacity resides in public cloud storage today. Many organizations are still in the beginning stages of adoption when it comes to cloud storage for video surveillance, making this an exciting, emerging market use case to watch, and one which Wasabi is more than equipped to support.   

Market sizing and context: 

Based on research from Wasabi, combined with IDC’s StorageSphere, we estimate that cloud storage capacity for video surveillance will reach over 150 Exabytes (EB) in 2024, and will grow at a 50% annual rate. The cloud video surveillance market has reached considerable size and continues to generate massive volumes of surveillance storage capacity. Why do surveillance-related workloads generate so much data? Let’s look at a real-world example:   

• A single camera for a standard security system capturing video in 1080p resolution, at 10 FPS, using H.264-10 compression, would generate over 750GB in video capacity over just one month. Considering many enterprises deploy dozens, if not hundreds of surveillance cameras, it’s clear to see just how much of a strain this can place on traditional infrastructure environments.   

The majority of organizations with video surveillance systems still primarily utilize on-premises video management software (VMS) and network video recorders (NVR) to manage and store all of this data. But the market is steadily evolving, moving towards cloud-integrated VMS and video-surveillance-as-a-service (VSaaS) solutions that leverage cloud object storage as the primary or secondary tier. Recent research conducted by Wasabi backs up this trend, illustrating the fact that many organizations are doing more with their surveillance data and using cloud-based solutions which help keep this data retained and immediately accessible.  

Diving deeper with Wasabi’s Cloud Storage Index: 

The 2024 Wasabi Cloud Storage Index (CSI) surveyed 1,200 cloud storage users globally. This year’s study asked a range of questions to gather information on cloud storage market trends, buyer behavior, and emerging workload adoption. We also asked questions specific to video surveillance and physical security, below are the key findings: 

1. Organizations store hundreds of terabytes of video surveillance data. The vast majority of respondents in this year's Cloud Storage Index say they are using cloud storage for video surveillance data. When asked to estimate the volume of surveillance data they have stored in the cloud, respondents say they average is 376TB of total capacity.  

Source: Wasabi 2024 Cloud Storage Index, n=1,200 respondents Note: Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding

2. Over 90% of organizations expect their volumes of surveillance data to grow in 2024.  The vast majority of respondents in this year’s Cloud Storage Index say they expect their surveillance storage to grow over the next 12 months. The average rate of annual growth among all respondents came out to 7.2%. We believe this growth rate is further indicative of the growing demand for scalable and flexible cloud storage solutions. 

Source: Wasabi 2024 Cloud Storage Index, n=1,141 Note: Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding

3. Organizations are storing video surveillance data in the cloud to improve performance, data security, and avoid hardware refreshes. Surprisingly, lower cost/TCO was not amongst the top 5 drivers influencing organizations to store or plan to store video surveillance data in the cloud. Enterprises have come to recognize that heightened performance and enhanced security represent paramount advantages of cloud services beyond the anticipated cost-effectiveness.

Source: Wasabi 2024 Cloud Storage Index, n = 1,076

4. Just 35% of video surveillance data is stored in the public cloud today. Even with the benefits of cloud integration being clear and the demand for storage continuing to grow, our data shows only 1/3rd of surveillance data is stored in a public cloud, with the remaining stored in either dedicated cloud or traditional on-premises IT-systems.

Source: Wasabi 2024 Cloud Storage Index, n=1,141 Note: Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding

Looking for a Cloud-Based Surveillance Solution?

Wasabi’s Surveillance Cloud (WSC) provides that next step for traditional security systems that are tired of the data management headaches and high hardware refresh costs. Wasabi Surveillance Cloud effortlessly enables on prem video management systems with the unlimited scalability and security of Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage. Using Wasabi Surveillance Cloud, organizations keep the storage features that their on-premises cloud storage offers without ever running out of capacity. There’s no need to “rip and replace” your current solution. Surveillance Cloud enhances your existing operations by providing the ability to scale your solution on-demand without the added storage burden. To learn more about Wasabi Surveillance Cloud and how it can improve your current or future surveillance environment, visit our Wasabi Surveillance Cloud page and try it for free.