Gartner says governments to jack up security spending

The global government Internet of Things (IoT) endpoint electronics and communications market will total $21.3 billion in 2022, according to Gartner.

This represents a 22 percent jump from a forecasted total of $17.5 billion in 2021.

Big G’s senior principal research analyst Kay Sharpington said that local governments worldwide are increasingly using IoT technology to monitor their infrastructure and assets more effectively and improve citizens’ safety and living environments, including controlling the spread of Covid-19 and checking quarantine compliance.

“In addition, the falling costs of devices is contributing to the financial viability of projects that utilise outdoor surveillance cameras and city asset tracking.”

Gartner claims more than half of governments endpoint and communications service spending will be on outdoor surveillance to improve public health and safety, totalling $12 billion.

“Over the past year, the role of cameras has expanded into checking for social distancing and mask-wearing to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as increased use for contactless parking management” Sharpington added.

“Their adoption will continue to increase at a different pace across regions as data privacy regulations vary across countries.”

The analyst went on to say that, for example, the Chinese government does not have the same restrictions as Western Europe and North America, therefore it will be a key contributor to growth.

Gartner also claims that, as 5G is well-suited to video applications due to its high data throughput, outdoor surveillance cameras will represent over 75 percent of the government’s global 5G connections through 2022.

More than 39 percent of global government endpoints will be shipped with a low-power wide-area (LPWA) interface in 2022, up from 26 percent in 2020.