Subscriber Discussion

Hikvision Software To Be Made In The USA?

U
Undisclosed #1
Nov 27, 2016
IPVMU Certified

From a recent interview with Hik CEO Yangzhong Hu 

In addition to creating a “customer first” culture at the company, Hu said that he is excited about the company’s North American strategy to expand its offerings into the enterprise market.

“With our North American strategy, we started with SMB and we have been working to move to larger verticals in the U.S., create teams and develop that over time,” said Hu, who noted that the company is also planning on setting up a software team in the U.S.

Does this sound like software development?  

Wondering what the rules are for saying Made in the USA for software...

JH
John Honovich
Nov 27, 2016
IPVM

It depends what they do (how many people, what they specialize in, etc.) but it could help, especially if they hire developers with VMS domain expertise. They may have 8,000 'engineers' in China but that does not mean they have the specialization / experience to, e.g., beat Genetec for North American enterprise features.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Nov 28, 2016

I have been told a successor to iVMS-5200 for the US market is in the works and due in 2017.

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Matthew Netardus
Nov 28, 2016
IPVMU Certified

I wonder if they will try and claim "Made in the USA" with a small software team backed up by the massive team back in China (though I am still unsure just how effective such a large team will be in such a specialized system).

I would imagine that they are attempting to stop any future bleeding caused by the Genetec change as well as the US Embassy dropping them by adding "US teams" into the mix (again I would assume the Communist Government owners would still have access to that teams communications and information? Though in all fairness that is my assumption without documented fact to support)

UD
Undisclosed Distributor #4
Dec 10, 2016

Just ask Qvis ( Adata ) they claim "Buy British" when the products are made by XM - China. I would love to see their " factory" in Britton. They even have a carton on the inside page with Chinese Gov watching you !

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Dec 10, 2016

I stopped buying from QVIS when they got dumped by Dahua (or their distributor).

Avatar
Jon Dillabaugh
Nov 28, 2016
Pro Focus LLC

What does the location of the developers making any software have anything to do with anything?

Let's take the XCodeGhost issue for example. You had software written in the USA (XCode) that was distributed in China after being infected by the CIA/SNL.

If Hikvision is the evil empire that everyone here like to believe it is, writing that software on the moon wouldn't appease anyone.

If Microsoft, Apple, or Google can outsource development to firms outside the US, and no one seems to mind, why would we care where Hikvision makes theirs? Isn't it just the fact that it is made by Hikvision what really matters?

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Matthew Netardus
Nov 28, 2016
IPVMU Certified

I would agree that the bigger problem that is seen with HIKVision isn't necessarily geography, but politics and ownership

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U
Undisclosed #1
Nov 28, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Isn't it just the fact that it is made by Hikvision what really matters?

The source code could possibly be legally obtained by L.E., when warranted, if it physically resides in the U.S, by subpoena.

Buy America could also be satisified, if enough of the development was performed in the U.S.

UD
Undisclosed Distributor #4
Dec 10, 2016

You forgot that Hikvision is state owned by a communist country and while some countries will not openly admit on spying on ITs people , China says we did it because you don't have a say. There's also Huawei , its products are banned by some countries in Asia from being installed or used by government bodies.

" Best to spy on them before they spy on us "

UD
Undisclosed Distributor #3
Nov 28, 2016

Just to be nit-picky, I wonder if their definition of software "made in America" simply means that it was worked on by Chinese nationals who just happen to be located in the United States. Having dealt with China for years now, I find it hard to believe that they would employ American software engineers, give them the necessary access to the source code, pay them a competitive American wage, deal with the intellectual property wars, etc.

U
Undisclosed #1
Nov 28, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Yes, I doubt it as well. Though they might hire a couple of GUI designers and domain experts locally and have them work as part of the U.S. software development team.

MI
Matt Ion
Dec 12, 2016

Wondering what the rules are for saying Made in the USA for software...

Must contain less than 1% Engrish.

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