international outlook Asia and the Far East has been a security technology ”factory” for the global market for decades. But lately, Asian companies have demonstrated that they can perform in other areas aside from their ”factory” role. Today, several Asian companies have become well-known international brands. Now they are challenging the european, American and Japanese brands that have traditionally headed up the global security market. detektor has recently met with some of the companies that have either established their brand on the international market, or that are determined to make that happen. In this issue we present dali, developer and manufacturer of thermal cameras. In the domestic market we are the leading manufacturer and in the world we are among the top five, states Frank Hu, European Sales Manager for Dali. Chinese veteran takes steps towards Europe The Chinese thermal camera and detector manufacturer Dali is standing in the shadow of giants like Hikvision and Dahua. However, Dali is the biggest manufacturer of thermal cameras in China and is expanding, not least in europe. By Henrik Söderlund Dali was established as a Chinese government test institute back in 1984, and subsequently started producing thermal cameras in 1993. Since then it has transformed into a global top five manufacturer of thermal imaging devices, with an 80 million Euro revenue. In 2008, Dali became publicly listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange. The head office is located in the city of Hangzhou, and the company today has some 600 employees, with two R&D centres – one in Shanghai and one in Hangzhou. Until 2012, Dali also manufactured DVRs, but now it is all about thermal imaging devices. Dali’s handheld, uncooled infrared FPA detector is currently the company’s best-selling product. According to Dali, the detector is suitable for thermography, security surveillance, vehicle night vision and various other applications. Dali also sells devices for maritime purposes. European Sales Manager Frank Hu says that Dali’s growth rate is about 30 per cent. Manufacturing its own detectors has been a key for growth. “Before 2009 we bought detectors from a French company and at that time our growth rate was not that great since the price was controlled by that company”, Frank Hu says. Governmental projects About half of the turnover is international sales, however, Dali is growing faster on the domestic market. “In the domestic market we are the leading manufacturer and in the world we are among the top five. Our main business is government projects in China. The main application is monitoring subway stations. It is about temperature measurement and fire detection but our products are also used for island monitoring, surveillance and perimeter protection”, Frank Hu explains. Russia is Dali’s second biggest market, but Europe in general and Western Europe in particular, is also a big market for them. → Security News Every Day – www. securityworldhotel.com 8 • detektor in te r n at i on al