iCanTek started its IP business in 2000 and only competes with the ranks of mid- to high-end players such as Axis Communications and Mobotix. “Despite a slowerthan- expected recovery in Europe, we still experienced a growth rate of 15 to 20 percent in 2010, thanks to the U.S., Spain, Australia and emerging markets like Brazil, India, China, Morocco, South Africa, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia,” said Hee-Jun Lee, GM of Marketing and Sales. “Domestically, the push and enforcement by the government have been significant, as new buildings and infrastructure specifications must be IP-based.”
Sales performance for Cynix varied across the map. “The U.S. was up 10 percent; Australia and Europe remained; the Middle East and Russia grew more significantly at 40 to 50 percent,” said Michael Bay, GM of Overseas Sales and Marketing. “Overall growth in 2010 was about 35 percent, with Latin America fast on the rise due to free-trade agreements and large infrastructure requirements. 2010 also saw much greater IP adoption than expected, and we are shifting gears from distributors to system integrators for better dissemination of IP knowledge.”
For HDPRO, 2010 saw a 52-percent increase in sales revenue. “With a globally even sales network, we grew quite evenly across all geographies, but with slightly more activity from emerging markets like the BRICs,” said Michael Kim, Sales and Marketing Director. “While OEM orders are still the bulk of our business (75 percent of overall revenue), we still invest about 30 percent of our annual revenue in R&D on low-light (third-generation digital noise reduction) and ONVIF-compliant network cameras.”
This is not to say that all is lost with analog technology. There are still exciting developments, with promising potential, from multiple manufacturers targeting high-yield applications. For example, “boutique” solution provider BT & Com has been around for 10 years, starting with wireless jammers. “Regardless of fierce competition, we felt there were still underaddressed needs and still went into MJPEG and MPEG-4 stand-alone DVRs in 2009 and H.264 in 2010,” said Joseph Huh, Senior Sales Manager.
“More than 80 percent of our revenue comes from emerging markets, so 2010 was a great year for us. With a full line of analog cameras (mini, box, indoor dome, outdoor IR, WDR) and DVRs, Micro Digital is known for its video quality and light sensitivity, which are key differentiators for video surveillance equipment,” said Jung-Soo Han, CEO. “Other advantages include fast network speed using dual-stream technology, HDMI out (both live and playback), multiplexing video on a spot-out and user-friendly software.”
For ITX Security, the Americas account for 60 to 65 percent of its sales revenue, followed by the U.K., Germany, Japan, France and Spain. “Due to slow recovery in the West and the fact that we just started in Latin America, China and India, our sales performance in 2010 was relatively flat, growing only at 2 to 3 percent,” said Jay Lee, Senior Sales Manager. “While 90 percent of the revenue comes from OEM orders, we do work with distributors and system integrators for volume sales and margin generation. We offer four different series, covering entry-level all the way to high-end, professional usage.”
While there was no clear uptick in sales for RTS Digital in 2010, its US revenue did bounce back with a 20-percent increase, thanks to its mobile DVRs and matrices. “Hot verticals included banking and gaming, and many channel partners, with a firm handle on different end markets, asked for lower-margin offerings as well,” said Andy Bang, Sales and Marketing Manager of Security Business.