UNV Challenges Dahua and Hikvision Internationally

Published Apr 21, 2016 13:58 PM

UNV (aka Uniview) bills themselves as the 3rd largest manufacturer in China, quite large by global standards, with revenue in the hundreds of millions, but still dwarfed by the huge size of Dahua and particularly Hikvision.

UNV, like their larger Chinese counterparts, is now actively expanding internationally.

** ***** **** ****** ********** ** ISC **** ** ****** ********** ***** approach. ** ***** **** *** *** analysis ******.

UNV = **********, *** ******

*** **** ******* ********** ** ***** ***** on ***** ** ** ********** ***** company, ****** **** * ***** ************ manufacturer. **** ** ********* **** ********** early *** *****, ********* ********** ** senior ********'* ********** ******* ** ******, the ***** ** *****.

******, *** *** ******* *** ******* ***** analog (********* ** ******), ****** **** it *** ********* **** **** ***** do *** ********* **** *** **** motivated ** ******. ** **** ***, Uniview *** * ******* ********** ** Axis, ***** *** ******* ** *****, and ****** ***** ******* *****, ***** have ******* ******* ******** ** ** analog.

Video *********

*** **** ********** *** ***** ********* / intelligent ***** ********* ** * *** differentiator. ** ******, **** ************ ********* make **** ****** *** ** **** not ****** *******'* *********, ** ** cannot ****** *** ****** **** *** here. *******, ***** ***'* *********** ** ** analog *** ***** ***** ** *** network, ** ***** ****** **** ** try ** ************* ** **** ****.

** *** ****, *** *** ***** * live **** ** *********** ***** *********:

Positioning ******* ********* *** *****

*** *** ***** ***** **** **** *** not **** *** ***** **** ***** win ** * ***** *** ******* Hikvision *** *****. **** ********* ***** US *******, ** ** ***** ***** low *** ******* *********, *** **** come ****** ***** ** ********* *** Dahua ** *** ** ****. ** course, ***** **** ** *** **** HD ******, **** ****** ***** *** across *** ***** ***** ****** ** AHD / *** / ***.

** *** ******** ****, *** ********** **** they **** ****** ******* ********** ****** the ***** ******** ** ********* *** Dahua. **** ** *** ********* ** can ****** *** ** ** ***** mentioning ******* **** ******* ** ** their **** ** ***** ******* ***** - * '******' ******* ********.

** **** ****** ****** ****** (** ****, ***** */*" model)*** ** *** ******* ****** **** and ** * ***** *** ****.

Challenges ** ******* / ************

****** *********, ***** ** ********* ****** literally **********, *** ***** *** *** recently ****** ** ***, *** ** ****** hard ** *** *** ***** ******* local ************ *******. ** ******** ** ******* availability (** *** **, ** **** just **** ****** -******: ************* *** ***), *** ***** ** they **** ** ***** ******** ***** employees (******** ** *** ***+ ********* ones *** *** **+ ***** ****). Even ** **** *** * ******* brand ** *****, ******* **** ***** support *** *******, ** **** ** hard ** ****.

******** *****

*** ************ *********** ******* **** *** **** not ********* ** **** ** ** could ** **** *** ** ***** ** American ***** **** ******* (**-******* ** Mitt ******), ****** ********* ***** ** the ******* **********, *** ***** ***** by ******* *********. ***** ******* ** trying ** ************* ****** ** * more *************, ****** *******, ******* ******* manufacturer, *** *************** ** ********* ***** help *****.

Outlook - ** ** **********

** *** **** ****, *********** *** looking *** *********** ****** ** *** increasingly ********* ********* ******. *** *** ***** be ****.

*******, *** ** ***** ** **** ** invest * *** **** ** ***** sales / ******* ** **** * real ****** ** ***** * *********** player ** *** ******, ********** ** they *** ** ***** *** ***** low ***, ****** *****.

*** ******* *** ********* *** **** will **** ** ** * *** more ** ******* ***************.

Comments (21)
U
Undisclosed #1
Apr 21, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Do they refer to themselves as "UNV" or Uniview?

They don't emphasize it much, but did they have *any* reference in their booth to their American ownership? Do they not think it's a significant difference?

JH
John Honovich
Apr 21, 2016
IPVM

Uniview previously but most branding I have seen in the last few months is UNV.

I did not examine their booth to claims about ownership. They were not hiding or shy about Bain ownership in our meeting, so I did not get any sense that they wanted to avoid it. My guess, and it's just a guess, is that they do not see how big a value that could be for North American buyers.

U
Undisclosed #1
Apr 21, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Of the senior management that you met with, were there many Americans?

If they are just an acquired Chinese company left to run with the same management as before the acquisition, I'm wondering if they really think of themselves as an American entity. Just like Milestone management might not consider themselves a Japanese one.

Avatar
Rich Moore
Apr 22, 2016
Senior management is all Chinese but they do see themselves as different from their Chinese competitors.
Avatar
Rich Moore
Apr 22, 2016

They were originally called Uniview but there was a dispute with a Planetarium over copyright so they changed their name to UNV. In the booth they did have a timeline where it is mentioned in 2012, they were purchased by Bain Capital.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Apr 21, 2016

UNV is just a brand = You and We. Uniview is still the name of the company. They called themselves Uniview.

(2)
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
Apr 22, 2016

Gen IV is distributing them as well.

I can't find any info on exactly what analytics UNV offers (other than motion). Does anyone have more info?

(1)
Avatar
Rich Moore
Apr 22, 2016
Actually, in addition to DH Vision, GenIV and Super Circuits are carrying Uniview. As far as the analytics, they will be out later this year and will cover People Counting, Object Detect, Object Removal, Intrusion, Face Recognition and Plate Recognition.
(1)
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
Apr 22, 2016

Thank you.

Will the mobile app offer push notifications for the detections?

Will it just be a firmware update for existing models?

Avatar
Rich Moore
Apr 22, 2016
Currently the mobile app does not offer push notifications but you can set the recorder to send email/text to phone on detection. And yes, it would be a firmware update when available.
U
Undisclosed #1
Apr 24, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Interestingly, Uniview makes no mention, that I can find, of their true ownership on their English site.

Pulling a reverse ezviz?

Related: Ezviz = Hikvision = Chinese Government

(1)
Avatar
Rich Moore
Apr 25, 2016
Not at all. Hikvision changed their name and rebranded to sell on Amazon. Uniview, in my opinion, doesn't fully understand how valuable the Bain Capital name is to their business here in America. Two completely different subjects.
(1)
U
Undisclosed #1
Apr 27, 2016
IPVMU Certified

I agree with you, the intentions are opposite, but nonetheless they are a American company doing business in China without revealing their American ownership on their website, English or apparently Chinese.

And if they don't show it, there is a reason, no?

I imagine they are good enough businessmen to recognize that it there would be value in looking American. I mean do you really think the China is unaware of its reputation abroad?

Related: Why Do Hik And Dahua Prefer American Branding In China?

(2)
Avatar
Rich Moore
Apr 27, 2016
Oh, I agree that there is great value in being owned by an American company. I have spoken with them in regards to plastering the name Bain Capital all over their website. They are new to the American market but I also believe that they don't see themselves as being even remotely similar to other Chinese companies. I hope that at some point, they will advertise the Bain Capital name instead of me having to include a link to articles online.
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #4
Apr 25, 2016

Their background is telecoms. A lot of their products are designed for reliability and redundancy, some camera have multiple NIC's or fibre built in and a mini switch. They also focus on scalability. A spot of googling and you can see they talk about previous camera projects in the thousands - china safe city projects typically.

Their low cost NVR solution has the ability to drive the Ethernet beyond the 100m typical without repeaters.

A lot of their business is large scale infrastructure, say hundreds of miles of freeway cameras, or power transmission line, oil pipeline security. Again reliability and quality being important. They won a lot of contracts in the Middles East, lots of their kit is high temp too. Is the ownership a coincidence ?

They are worthy of an indepth look.

(1)
(1)
JH
John Honovich
Apr 25, 2016
IPVM

4, thanks. They did mention PoE support up to 300m for their cameras/NVRs, I forgot about that. I am not sure how widely applicable that is but it was definitely uncommon.

Avatar
Rich Moore
Apr 25, 2016
Considering quite a few clients will go with Hi-Definition Analog to get the length of run beyond 300-330 feet of IP, having PoE support to roughly 900 feet is comparable and with IP quality.
JH
John Honovich
Apr 25, 2016
IPVM

with IP quality

Is IP quality better than HD analog quality?

Avatar
Rich Moore
Apr 25, 2016
I can see a difference. The color and clarity of picture is better on IP. Don't get me wrong, the picture quality on Hi-Definition Analog is very good.
JH
John Honovich
Apr 25, 2016
IPVM

That's not what we see in our testing.

Camera quality does differ, of course, but that's primarily a factor of imager and encoder used, not transmission.

That said, IP is probably better right now since the top IP cameras use better imagers and encoders than almost all HD analog cameras, since HD analog is first focused on the low end of the market. But I do not see any fundamental constraint on the transmission technology that would block HD analog offering the same quality when using more expensive sensors, etc.

(1)
JH
John Honovich
Apr 27, 2016
IPVM

Supercircuit's pitch emphasizes differentiation to Hik and Dahua: limited availability, no direct end user sales.