I am glad that Dahua is distinguishing themselves from Hikvision and this is definitely the kind of public statement they need to make more often in the wake of the their ban from government use. For too long the term Hikhua was all too true, so I hope this is a trend that they continue with.
Also we all know from Bashis and other sources that Dahua has had a terrible cybersecurity history. I will say that in my most recent experience they take any sign of hacking (and glitchy firmware) very seriously. This level of support I hope becomes the norm for them and they continue building on their internal systems, people, and processes to achieve the level of maturity you would expect out of a multi-billion dollar corporation.
I mean us small time integrators and even regional distributors can maybe get by with haphazard systems and a “ma & pa” vibe... but the world’s second largest cctv manufacturer???
I think if they can become more transparent and stay responsive to the issues that affect their dealers, and ultimately their end users, then they can have a successful future in the SMB and middle/upper middle class home markets. To these clients a few thousand in equipment costs can be a make or break difference, but they are willing to to pay a bit above the bottom of the barrel.
Having spent the eary years of our company doing a lot of installs for clients who bought their own Qsee and Lorex kits (we got “wise” early on and started refusing the swann and other kits because their failure rate was just too high... as if the others were that much better?) we know how much better the pro lines work than the el cheapo specials. I am sure we could insert some other low cost providers in there like uniview, milesight, etc. but none of them have the product selection and personal support of Dahua USA.
Even the big OEMs like IC and Saavy (or whatever they are now lol) cannot have boots on the ground for job walks, sales engineers for designs (though we IPVM members who use the calculator can get by without that ;) ), and sheer volume of leads, materials, and trainings nationwide that Dahua is capable of.
It will be an uphill battle for sure, and I think every dealer in the wake of the ban needs a non-Chinese alternative for clients who have serious cybersecurity concerns or are just generally concerned about Chinese made devices.
