The 2019 Intersec show, held annually in Dubai, is now complete. IPVM attended for 3 days, interviewing numerous Chinese and Western video surveillance manufacturers.
Inside this report, we examine:
Infinova "We Belong to USA"
Axis On AI Hype, Middle East Market, Huawei Competition
Milestone Responds to Cost/Complexity Complaints, Arcules Competition
Hanwha Focuses on Safety Analytics, New SoC, “Not Chinese”
Megvii/Face++ Has Its Own "Skynet"
Pelco wants second chance
Genetec responds to Huawei
WD and Hikvision
Hikvision Cybersecurity Presentation No-Show
Huawei AI - Beards Are Masks
Major displays and manufacturer marketing at IFSEC
The impact of the anti-Muslim Xinjiang crackdown on China manufacturer sales to Muslim countries
Interview with Huawei about their video surveillance market plans and competitive positioning vs Dahua and Hikvision
Examination of Dahua's 'Heart of City' effort
Dahua AI demo still has problems
Hikvision booth review
Infinova: "We Belong to USA"
Infinova had one of the more unconventional booths, with a mock-up plane next to an artificial waterfall and a large American flag:
Below is an overview shot of their booth:
"We belong to USA only", an Infinova booth rep told IPVM. (Being a US-based manufacturer is a longtime Infinova selling point, although the firm is also listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange, has helped build up Xinjiang's security state, manufactures its products in China, and has limited US operations.)
Infinova also touted its partnership with Supermicro, somewhat surprising given the controversy surrounding the server firm and the Bloomberg allegation/controversy:
Infinova itself has not done much to clearly differentiate itself vs competitive surveillance manufacturers.
Axis On AI Hype, Middle East Market, Huawei Competition
IPVM checked out Axis’ booth, which was one of the largest at Intersec with their conventional booth layout / approach:
IPVM interviewed Etienne Van Der Watt, Axis’ Director for Business Development in the Middle East and Africa.
On the AI hype:
AI, it’s hype. We talk about hyper-hype. We talk to large end users, and our approach has been very conservative. We’re about short distance, high accuracy. We don’t want to end up with hours of support. Maybe in 2-3 years those solutions can be shown live.
On the Middle Eastern market, Van Der Watt said Axis wasn’t affected by the regional economic slowdown caused by lower oil prices – i.e. security is not something local governments are cutting back on:
We’ve had a good year. We haven’t had the slowdown. If we felt like it, we wouldn’t have moved into bigger offices.
Oil and gas very analog, busy transitioning to IP. [This remains a big source of business.]
On any threat posed by Huawei, which is also positioning itself as a global Safe City/big project partner, Van Der Watt said Axis hadn’t seen a change in the mostly Western partners chosen by big Middle Eastern governments and corporations:
Because [Huawei] does infrastructure they have the initial relationship. They will have a strong play, but we can keep an eye on them.
We have two predominantly enterprise markets: USA and MEA.
The government is the biggest [security] spender in MEA [Middle East & Africa]
HanwhaFocuses on Safety Analytics, New SoC, “Not Chinese”
Hanwha had a large Intersec booth with a clear theme: the Korean Wisenet 7 SoC, a “next generation AI SoC” scheduled for release at the end of 2019:
A Hanwha global marketing manager, HyangEun Kim, told IPVM that unlike other Intersec exhibitors, Hanwha was not focusing on gender or mood analytics but instead on safety in areas like construction sites and transportation zones.
This is just day 1 from Charles. He is on the show floor right now for Day 2 and he will be back for day 3 tomorrow. As such, we will keep on updating this, including more from non-Chinese manufacturers.
Anything you want us to cover, please let us know.
We used to have lots of Infinova DVR's out in the wild and they were extremely reliable. Not the easiest to use mind you but they were work horses. Infinova failed when they bought March Networks and didn't have a plan to incorporate the Infinova DVR's into the March Networks Command VMS software. This potentially could have continued and increased their coverage in the US.
We had a large college with a bunch of these across campus and they could have benefited greatly being able to install the Command VMS and bring the Infinova DVR's into the system and then replace failing units with the March Networks hybrid recorders and installing IP cameras as needed.
This was a couple of years ago. They are still a powerhouse especially in certain industries. March hardware is rock solid. They are big banking, large retail chains and utilities. Others as well.
Reference: March Acquired by Infinova, December 2011. Infinova has left March alone (from what we have seen externally) and March still has a significant core of people from before the deal. They don't disclose revenue anymore so I am not sure how big they are now. They definitely still compete in the market but they seem relatively smaller as a percentage of the market than they did 7 years ago.
The “Heart of City” slogan is awkwardly phrased and generally confusing for English speakers. Same with other HOC slogans, such as “Full Sensing, Full Intelligence, Full Computing, and Full Ecosystem”
Ok, day 2 is up with quite a lot of new coverage including:
Pelco wants second chance
Genetec responds to Huawei
WD and Hikvision
Hikvision Cybersecurity Presentation No-Show
Huawei AI - Beards Are Masks
The most interesting to me are the Pelco interview that Charles had and the AI demo mistakes he found on Huawi. I am not copying the new coverage to this comment because it would be way too long but it's at the top of the post right now.
It's not even just the English where Chinese companies fail. It's also basic things any freelancer on fiverr.com can do for you. I opened the first 2 products I saw on their page:
Why do they use different bullet point types for each product?
Why are there icons like 3D DNR, WDR, H.265 etc under the features of one model but none in the other?
Why is the photo on the top camera a 5kb jpg file? It looks like it was edited in Microsoft Paint.
On one model they say "Color: 0.007 Lux @ (F1.2, AGC ON), 0.01 Lux @ (F1.4, AGC ON), 0 Lux with IR" and on another "0.01Lux @ (F1.2, AGC ON) ,0 Lux with IR"
Why is there no space after 0.01? And why is the space before the comma instead of after it?
You scroll down to find the specs to compare these 2 models, you find one gives you specs like this:
And the other:
Ok so BLC is there and it's "zone configurable" in one model. In the other it's just a feature of Image Enhancement but you have to decide whether you want it or 3D DNR. That's what that sheet says to me at least.
Also, why are sub streams higher in one compared to the other?
What's all that white space under the sub stream by the way?
Won't waste time with more examples.
I can understand other smaller companies in China doing this but Hikvision is the biggest in the world.
I wish I had known IPVM was going to cover Intersec. It would've been awesome to question SIRA on this: http://videoguard.ae/catelog/Approved-recorders.pdf
Interesting. We actually tried to meet SIRA during the show but weren't able due to scheduling issues. I'll follow up and let you know in this thread if we get a response.
I think IPVM report is too concentrated on what China and chinese manufacturers are doing. I know that they are worldwide leaders of the market, but I think that in this exhibition there were also a lot of smaller manufacturers, from Europe and USA, with very interesting and innovative products. Any report on them?
I don't agree with you. Where a manufacturer exhibits its technology is not where he is based but where he would like to sell.
Just an example because I'm italian. For Italy Middle East market is very important, and middle east people appreciates so much Made in Italy products.
I know that "gossip" on chinese or pseudo-chinese companies could be funny, but also to remain on technical point of view it's important for your subscribers.
I'm CEO of GSG International, italian distributor for Security market.
We're also exclusive distributor for Italy of Euklis products.
Euklis is an italian company. They sell IP cameras and software for security in Italy and also worldwide
The most important software is Euklis Fare suite dedicated to manage Facial Recognition systems in combination with access control systems or for monitoring or tracking.
I know that "gossip" on chinese or pseudo-chinese companies could be funny
Totally disagree. Our examination of what these mega Chinese manufacturers are trying to do is vitally important to understanding the future of the industry and what happens to nearly everyone within it. What they are showing, how well it works in its demos and what they are claiming need to be analyzed.
Again, we cover many other companies. I've already invited you to recommend a few. Would you like to do so?
Yes, that's true, I'm a shareholder of Euklis. Euklis, founded in 2017, is a spin off of GSG International. But my job is only on GSG International with the mission to distribute security brands on italian market only.
About employees I think not everybody is registered on Linkedin and also I think Euklis uses external resources. But you have to contact directly the company to have more informations.
You recommended Euklis while hiding that you are a shareholder and criticizing our reporting of companies that are doing hundreds of millions to billions in revenue in the industry.
But you have to contact directly the company to have more informations.
Why should I? I checked Euklis website and it lists generic Chinese style equipment, e.g.
As a shareholder, be transparent, make the best case you can and we will consider it. But from what we have seen so far, I do not see anything that stands out beyond your own self-interest and promotion.
I just said that in my opinion during exhibiiton some more little companies could be analyzed by you, as independent reviewer.
And then you went and promoted your own company. We are happy to cover 'little companies' but these companies need to have some meaningful differentiation.
Euklis products are not chinese (it is simplistic to say this) and they do theirselves a part of hardware and all software.
All software? Even on these generic Chinese style IP cameras, like below?
Sometimes 'little companies' are 'little' because they are undiscovered but most of the times it is because they are just relabelling other companies products.
I've spent a fair amount of time looking at your company in response to your self-promotional posts on this thread. I am happy to be convinced that your products are legitimate and are highly differentiated but from your public website and from your comments, I do not see it. Feel free to make your pitch further directly at john@ipvm.com.
To be fair, that one is probably a Dynacolor of about 2 years ago. Many Chinese manufacturers copied that case but the screws on that bracket, LEDs, and even lens look like it's an original Dynacolor camera with Euklis photoshoped in.
I have no issue with OEMing. I make a living out of it. But being disingenuous is not cool.
And then you went and promoted your own company. We are happy to cover 'little companies' but these companies need to have some meaningful differentiation.
I think they have, but not easy to communicate
All software? Even on these generic Chinese style IP cameras, like below?
This is the old part of business, before spin off, but still alive and important. As told before they are not chinese products.
The other part, most interesting for you, is self made in italy software products.
I am happy to be convinced that your products are legitimate and are highly differentiated but from your public website and from your comments, I do not see it. Feel free to make your pitch further directly at john@ipvm.com.
Thanks, I won't do it myself but I'll ask to Euklis people to contact you. Better than me to give all information you need.
IC Realtime is a Dahua OEM, for the most part, so imaging, build quality, integration, etc., are effectively similar. Dahua generally falls in the middle of our shootouts, fairly high performing in some areas, but poor in others. See our tests of Dahua for more details on specifics.
Note that they have at least one camera which is not an OEM, the 720 Degree Camera, though it is niche. They also now OEM Camio's natural language search analytics, which they name Ella. Camio performed pretty well in our tests (though we have not specifically tested Ella since its release), making it pretty easy to search for people, vehicles, and other objects.
What about video intercom manufacturers are you looking for? We are in the middle of ongoing video intercom testing so we can certainly provide feedback in that area.
Interesting suggestion. Which aspect of DUOX are you interested in? 2-Wire systems that claim to operate on low grade 2 wire are not uncommon, so I'm curious to better understand the attraction?
It differs to other 2 wire systems as its a complete 2 wire non-polarity digital system. Meaning it can do large complexes with ease. Aiphone is limited in distance and quantity of door stations and apartments, where Fermax is claiming distances and quantity is not a problem.
Thanks for bringing Duox up here. I recently spoke with Aiphone who claims their GT Series is the offset to Duox.
Audio max. ranges and system sizes are potentially larger with Aiphone, who claims up to 980 feet distances (versus ~650' with Duox).
However, Aiphone disclaims max video distance at 500', while Duox makes no similar distinction.
The biggest difference between the two manufacturers is Duox only claims it needs '2 wires' for both audio and video, while Aiphone requires a separate 2 wires for audio and video for a total of 4.
Aiphone claims the separation is important because each signal is able to use a different power supply optimized for transmission at max distances.
We will queue up Fermax Duox for deeper evaluation in a post and potential test. Thanks again for sharing this!
My thoughts from the show floor, our stand was very busy the second and third days. We have been exhibiting at this show since 2003 so we know what to expect and I will say this show appeared to be a little more active than last year. Like last year the absence of the Qatari companies (due to political blockade) has certainly been felt causing us to travel to them after the show for further meetings as they are now one of the fastest growing security markets in the ME region. There also seemed to be less Saudi companies attending but I have not seen any stats from the organizer to back this up. All in all we came away feeling good about he event and will return again next year.
One thing worth mentioning is it seems we attracted more attention from integrators using "Mercury" based systems. They are growing tired of the takeover and re-flash world and in this market companies are offering this scenario free of charge to the end user to capture the SLA and site maintenance money. This is driving them back to companies with proprietary hardware to further protect their installation base. We also found that a major project with hundreds of buildings that once required all systems be Mercury based came to us and informed us that we will be listed as an approved system for the project and we were able to capture three large (200 reader+ ) projects on this site before we left the region..That was a nice way to end on a high note.
Haven't been to it this year, but my colleagues who went have told me that it was less crowded compared to previous years . It would be interesting if IPVM has access to any figures that can back that claim.
I don't know how Intersec categorizes attendees. Most shows count exhibitors in their total (basically inflating the total) but Intersec calls its 28,999 specifically 'visitors' which would imply it excludes exhibitor attendees. Not sure, we will check on this.
Also, I am a bit surprised that more than half the reported attendees are from the UAE. Maybe I shouldn't be but the UAE has a population of less than 10 million so it seems an outsized number (though of course, it's hosted there).
Last time I was there 2 years there was a lot more diversity in terms of number of attendees, and I believe hardly bumped to any attendees from the UAE.
As a regular exhibitor until 2017 I can say that about 50% of visitors to our booth were from the UAE. There are a lot of small integrators in the UAE. Also many local companies send many of their staff to the show, not just one or two reps because the UAE is so small (no travel expenses) unlike the US.
Update: Intersec announced 2019 attendance, up 23% year over year to 35,800.
We asked them about it and this is their response:
It’s a big increase and was larger than we expected. However it’s worth noting last year in 2018, we had a drop in visitor numbers vs 2017, when we had 32,750 visitors.
Here are the visitor numbers over the last six years:
2013: 21,549
2014: 24,766
2015: 27,303
2016: 31,261
2017: 32,750
2018: 29,000
2019: 35,800
So visitor growth has been fairly consistent over the last six years aside from 2018. We’re now reviewing the event’s 2019 marketing campaign. This includes a visitor profile and sentiment survey which should give us some interesting insights into where the growth has come from, geographically, and by visitor type.