Samsung Techwin Now Hanwha, Overseas To 'Remain Intact'

Officially, Samsung Techwin is no more.

As the Korea Times reported:

"Samsung Techwin officially became part of Hanwha Group, Korea's 10th largest family-controlled conglomerate, Monday, changing its name to Hanwha Techwin."

However, the American division tells IPVM that:

"This will be applied only for HQ in Korea, overseas companies will remain intact, which means STA (Samsung Techwin America), STE (Europe) and SST (Shanghai Samsung Techwin, China) will keep their current corporate identities including company name and brand. Samsung Techwin Co. LTD. now Hanwha Techwin Co. LTD. holds the co-ownership of Samsung brand with several other Samsung affiliate companies and keeps the legitimate right on Samsung brand."

The good news for Samsung Hanwha Techwin is that even though they are no longer owned or named Samsung on a corporate basis, they evidently will be able to use Samsung to sell surveillance products locally.

While rivals may emphasize that the surveillance products are owned / controlled by Hanwha, a company hardly any surveillance buyer knows well, Techwin should be able to convince most so long as they continue to use the Samsung brand in their marketing, hardware, user interfaces, etc.

Fighting Persists Literally

However, news reports emphasized problems in Korea, with the Times noting that:

"[The meeting was] unable to proceed for nearly 8 hours because of a protest by unionized workers who opposed the name change. Following a physical confrontation with police, about 140 unionized workers were taken into custody on charges of obstruction of public duty.

And the Korea Herald stated:

"Analysts said the company is expected to undergo severe labor strife after the merged company is officially launched under Hanwha Group."

Those reports emphasize how well respected the Samsung name is in Korea and that losing that is a major problem. The overseas offices are more sales and supports organizations but the design and development comes from Korea. How the sale and corporate name change will impact the company remains to be seen.

UPDATE: Hanwha Techwin CCTV Site Up

Check out the new Hanwha Techwin CCTV website [link no longer available]:

[link no longer available]