OV and TI team with Hangzhou Hikvision

HANGZHOU, China--Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, the largest manufacturer of digital surveillance equipment in China, has agreed to incorporate ObjectVideo's analytics suite into its video surveillance product line, using Texas Instruments' DaVinci chip technology. The deal was made through WPG System, which represents ObjectVideo as an OEM distribution partner in the Asian marketplace. Kok Kheng Tan, director of OEM development for WPG, said this is a bellwether move for the Asian marketplace. "When [Hikvision] makes a move, I think the rest of the competition will follow," he said. Barry Lin, WPG managing director, said the Asian analytics market is behind North America's, but this move could soon change that. "We've put in a lot of effort and time in marketing this technology," he said, "and I think the momentum is gaining. We're seeing a lot more manufacturers wanting to differentiate their product ... We're seeing a lot more traction now." You may also see more traction for Hikvision's products outside of the Asia/Pacific region where they are currently strongest. "Under the covers," said John Clark, vice president of business development for ObjectVideo, "they're already a player in North America ... They've been very successful at selling sub-assemblies into the DVR environment. A number of companies in North America use the Hikvision board. Now they'll just turn around and brand it as their own." Clark didn't mince words: "Their growth rate is absolutely staggering." TI product marketing manager Ram Sathappan said the DaVinci DSP technology allows growing companies like Hikvision to have a great deal of flexibility in product design. "That's where the DSP value comes in, as opposed to an application-specific standard product," he said, which offers no programmability. "By having the programming, you can add the ObjectVideo functionality," he said, and you can make upgrades to products without having to purchase different chips from TI. Tan said this was particularly attractive to Hikvision. "One of their key strengths," he said, "is that, even though they are manufacturers, they have good communications with the end users and integrators so they can react quickly to the market. They have very strong engineering that can turn out new products very quickly." Ed Troha, director of marketing and communications at ObjectVideo, said this fits well with OV's corporate outlook. "We don't think in terms of algorithms and functionalities that we try to sell individually," he said. "We think about the end users' experience and how to solve their problems. That strategy has been validated by Hikvision, because it fits in with what they already knew about their user base. What they were focused on, we were focused on as well."