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international outlook
"We have products for most
applications, but our night vision
camera portfolio has a very strong
potential on the export market."
Asked about the kind of appli-
cations where Uniview has had an
extraordinary success, Jesstin Zhou
mentioned a few areas.
"Our products and solutions
are used in more than 480 Safe
City Projects and hundreds of
intelligent building projects. Add
to this over 200 intelligent traffic
projects where we are involved.
But we also have a strong range
of products for the SME market,
where we also have had success".
The big trends
Regarding the trends in the securi-
ty technology market Jesstin Zhou
knows voices strong opinions on
which ones will have an impact on
growth in the near future.
"High Definition, will continue
and will further boost the big data
trend. This means that transmis-
sion and storage capabilities will be
more important" he says.
Regarding storage, Uniview
completed a gigantic project in
2012 on the border with Korea,
where number plate recognition
and face recognition are used and
handled by a big data (13,000
terabytes) storage solution.
What are the biggest chal-
lenges for the security technol-
ogy market in general and for
the video surveillance market in
particular? According to Jesstin
Zhou and Uniview the work
towards open platforms is high
up on the priority list.
"The market is moving towards
more integration and m2m. And
it is not just between surveillance
or security systems, but any and
all kinds of building systems. In-
teroperability is a key thing," says
Jesstin Zhou.
Low price and high quality
Another challenge is of course to
handle the price pressure while
customers still expect constant
improvement in quality.
"The market is all about low
price and quality. Our products
are expected to work in all kinds
of conditions, whether it is about
light or weather. In China we
have all kinds of climate which
has given us an advantage as a
provider of video surveillance
products. Our installed camera
base includes many challenging
environments from very hot tem-
peratures to extremely cold areas,
like the mountains of Tibet. This
means that our cameras are tested
and work very well in the most
demanding conditions," states
Jesstin Zhou, who identifies that
Uniview have always focused on
high quality.
"The low end market is price
sensitive instead of quality-orient-
ed. Uniview is working on provid-
ing high quality products with
competitive prices.," concludes the
General Manager for the Inter-
national Business Department at
Uniview. n
Zhejiang Uniview Technologies
(Uniview) is one of the leading
manufacturers and providers of
professional video surveillance
products and solutions in China.
Through the sales from 29 offices
all over the country, Uniview has
the third largest market share in
the domestic market. This success-
ful expansion in China has created
a solid ground for Uniview to take
the next step and also become a
globally strong exporter of video
surveillance products.
Number 3 in China
The embryo of the Uniview busi-
ness started in 2006 when the net-
work product supplier company
H3C (a joint venture between
3Com and Huawei), created a
surveillance division. At the end
of 2011 the surveillance division
of H3C ran as a separate company
and Zhejiang Uniview Technolo-
gies Co., Ltd. took form.
Since then things have taken
off at an impressive speed. Today
Uniview's video surveillance prod-
ucts and solutions cover all kinds
of applications, including public
security, intelligent traffic moni-
toring, highways, airports, petro-
chemical surveillance, universities,
high-end intelligent buildings to
mention a few.
With 1,800 employees, 29
offices and a turnover of $263 mil-
lion Uniview is the third biggest
video surveillance manufacturer
in China.
More than 500 patents
The success of Uniview is a result
of a strong commitment to be at
the forefront of the technology,
according to Jesstin Zhou, General
Manager for the International
Business Department at Uniview.
"Product development is highly
prioritised at Uniview. We have
two development centres and invest
15 per cent of the annual sales in
R&D," he says and mentions that
the company now has more than
500 patents covering the whole
range of IP video surveillance.
High ambitions
Today domestic sales account
for 90 per cent of the company's
revenue, but that will change, ac-
cording to Jesstin Zhou.
"We have just started to
promote our products overseas
through exhibiting at international
security shows, like Ifsec, ISC
West and Security Essen. There
is no doubt that our exports will
grow and our aim is to become
a global leader in the video surveil-
lance industry".
IP in focus
Uniview provides the market
with both analogue and IP-video
surveillance products.
"But our focus is on IP-
products, that is where the growth
is," states Jesstin Zhou clearly
and explains also the distribution
model for Uniview.
"In the domestic market we
work through consultants and
system integrators.
"But in the overseas markets,
we would not only cooperate with
security and IT system integra-
tors, but also with distributors and
retailers." he explains further.
Smart City success
When Jesstin Zhou is asked to
mention examples of particular
products that have great export
potential he responded quickly.
Uniview the next big Chinese exporter
Lately, Hikvision and Dahua have become globally
well known video surveillance product brands. Their
success has opened the door to the western markets
for other Chinese exporters.
One of the companies that is likely to be the next
exporter of importance is Uniview. Detektor visited
their headquarters in Hangzhou.
By Lennart Alexandrie
Uniview experience center.
The Uniview headquarters are located in Hangzhou.