Worldwide Control Room Market Continues to Climb, Though Landscape Fragmented

Control Room Market Analysis and Commentary

Control rooms and control room equipment are riding a growth curve, with the number of rooms growing 8% worldwide in 2018, according to a new market report from Futuresource Consulting.

Control rooms, equipped with video walls and hosting content management infrastructures, are dominated by four main verticals. Government and military is the largest, followed by transportation, then energy and utilities, and corporate and industrial. Together, these four segments make up more than 88% of the total market.

“As technological developments feed more information into data streams and AV capture becomes more prevalent, the need for data analysis and visualisation also begins to climb,” says Claire Kerrison, Senior Market Analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “Combine this with further reductions in the price of screens and the widespread availability of cost-effective video wall controller solutions and we’re seeing the opportunities really begin to emerge. Global instability is also playing its part, increasing the need for security and paving the way for growth.”

APAC Leads in Control Room Growth

From 66,000 control rooms worldwide in 2018, Futuresource expects the installed base to continue to grow throughout the forecast period, on track to reach nearly 76,000 rooms by 2025. The majority of growth will be centred in the APAC region, particularly in countries like India and Malaysia, with limited growth in EMEA and a slight market contraction in the Americas.

Video Wall Controller market Driving Forward

Despite a lack of new control rooms in EMEA and the Americas, the video wall controller market is exhibiting a different set of characteristics.

“EMEA leads the way in video wall controller sales, closely followed by the Americas,” says Kerrison. “These two world regions accounted for 80% of sales in 2018, due to upgrade projects, headless controllers and multiple controllers driving one wall. We’re also seeing a significant shift towards IP-based video wall controller solutions, which we expect to be a driving force in the market moving forward.”

Vendors Compete with a Range of Solutions

In a highly fragmented market, competing video wall controller vendors offer different products that fulfil similar purposes. Turnkey solution vendors like Barco, Delta and Christie offer a compact controller solution. There are also hardware-centric vendors like Datapath, Mitsubishi and Jupiter, contrasting with the software-only vendors like Hiperwall, Userful and Polywall. In among the action, system integrators like UVS, Mauell and Activu are offering their own software solutions. Although there have been instances of partnerships between the different players, the market is still far from consolidated.

“Controller sales will continue to strengthen throughout the forecast period,” says Kerrison, “with nearly 90% of sales destined for existing control rooms by 2025, as upgrades and refurbishments dominate the landscape.”

The control room solutions report from Futuresource Consulting is based on an in-depth study of the ecosystem, including both hardware-centric and software-centric solutions. The report contains quantitative information on the ecosystem as a whole, including market sizing, mapping of the competitive landscape, a snapshot of the current environment and splits by region, vertical and activity. For further information on this report, please contact Matthew Ledgerwood via matthew.ledgerwood@futuresource-hq.com

About the author

Claire Kerrison

Claire Kerrison leads the Education team, overseeing Futuresource’s quarterly K-12 PC tracker and end-user research programs. Claire is closely involved in the formation and delivery of custom projects covering the EdTech sphere.

Claire joined Futuresource in 2011 from the University of Birmingham where she collaborated on a broad range of market tracking and strategic projects covering the Displays industry. Claire went on to lead the Displays team, with a focus on developments in the Front Projector market.