VIVOTEK , a developer of audio and video compression technologies, multimedia communications, and system-on-chip solutions, held a pre-IPO briefing on June 30 at the Taipei Garden Hotel. In addition to opening remarks made by Hsien Hua Huang, Chairman of Grand Fortune Securities, which is underwriting the IPO, the executive team from VIVOTEK reported on the company's operational results for 2010, current industry overview, and development strategies to domestic and foreign investors and media representatives.
VIVOTEK , a developer of audio and video compression technologies, multimedia communications, and system-on-chip solutions, held a pre-IPO briefing on June 30 at the Taipei Garden Hotel. In addition to opening remarks made by Hsien Hua Huang, Chairman of Grand Fortune Securities, which is underwriting the IPO, the executive team from VIVOTEK reported on the company's operational results for 2010, current industry overview, and development strategies to domestic and foreign investors and media representatives.
Breaking from the traditional focus on OEM/ODM-oriented manufacturing that most Taiwanese vendors have pursued, VIVOTEK builds a distribution channel infrastructure around its own brand in Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and China. It also works with many professional system integrators to establish strategic alliances. At present, its products have already been successfully marketed in more than 80 countries around the world. Through many years of dedicated effort, VIVOTEK has become a well-known brand in the IP surveillance industry and a leader in multimedia communications, while continuing to pursue cutting-edge technologies and set global trends. In July 2006, VIVOTEK officially introduced sales of its shares on the Taiwan OTC market. In 2009, revenues were NT$1.095 billion, and reached NT$1.679 billion in 2010, growing 53 percent Revenues for January to May 2011 were approximately NT$963.487 million, a 52 percent increase over the NT$632.279 million recorded in the year-ago period, January to May 2010.
Current Industry Overview
Frequent reports of terrorist incidents internationally has resulted in increased importance being attached to the security and surveillance industry, while the growing maturity of network infrastructure in terms of ubiquity and capabilities is also indirectly driving development of the industry. The security and surveillance industry will inevitably be transformed by prevailing trends toward greater use of the Internet, digital technologies, and open architectures, with the greatest change being the shift from CCTVs to digital IP cameras. The architecture of monitoring systems will also adopt open platforms in response to user needs. The security and surveillance industry supplies a market valued at USD10 billion, with the video monitoring segment accounting for nearly 70 percent of that, while growing by 10 to 15 percent annually. According to an IMS report, the compound annual growth rate for IP cameras over the next five years is projected to be 27.2 percent, demonstrating that the displacement of traditional CCTV systems by IP video monitoring approaches is an inevitable trend.
Since its founding, VIVOTEK has maintained a steadfast commitment to the R&D for and manufacturing of IP surveillance systems, with products that include network cameras, video servers, video receivers, and video management software, giving it an early lead in taking advantage of industry and market trends. According to an IMS statistical report, the VIVOTEK brand is the #7 brand in the global network camera segment, and based on this assessment, VIVOTEK is among the world's top five in market share for combined own-brand and ODM shipments. One can conclude from the high level of market acceptance that VIVOTEK's product design and quality have been amply affirmed, while its image as a leader in network cameras has found favor among a large number of customers.
IPO Prospects
VIVOTEK spokesperson William Ku stated: "After the company began offering shares on the OTC market in 2006, we have been eager to raise our profile even further. We decided to go IPO this year with our continually progressing strategy, building a more solid foundation for the company's future development, setting ourselves the objective of becoming the world's leading brand.
Product Technology
The basic spirit behind IP surveillance is to enable users to view video from cameras via the Internet at any time and wherever they happen to be by giving video cameras an IP address through software. VIVOTEK has established a leadership position in many IP surveillance technologies, and this year announced the world's first SVC (Scalable Video Coding) camera. SVC is a next-generation video encoding format that is an extension of H.264. However, compared to the H.264 AVC compression format used in currently available network cameras, H.264 SVC consumes less bandwidth and requires lower loads on equipment. VIVOTEK has already begun adopting SVC technologies across all its product lines, and will be able to provide a broader array of high-quality products to satisfy the needs of various markets. Besides breakthroughs in software technologies, VIVOTEK has also launched a 3-megapixel fisheye video camera that can provide a full 360° view-the FE8171V. This camera not only provides users with high-quality video, and allows them to take advantage of monitoring through a 360° field of view, but a single unit can cover the details of multiple conventional cameras, greatly reducing installation costs. The FE8171V also incorporates a removable IR cut filter, which makes it suitable for both daytime and nighttime surveillance, providing clear video regardless of lighting conditions. Moreover, the FE8171V supports MicroSD/SDHC/SDXC storage, for more secure archival of video footage. Drawing on formidable hardware advantages and the value of the VIVOTEK brand, the FE8171V is set to become a hit product for the company in the second half of this year.