Sunell, a video surveillance provider in China, continuously innovates. Since 2006, the company has stepped into IP solutions far ahead of its competitors in China. It continues to invest in R&D to offer new products and solutions to meet market demands. a&s International China Best Buys reveals the company’s commitment to IP technology.
Sunell, a video surveillance provider in China, continuously innovates. Since 2006, the company has stepped into IP solutions far ahead of its competitors in China. It continues to invest in R&D to offer new products and solutions to meet market demands. a&s International China Best Buys reveals the company's commitment to IP technology.
For Sunell, its R&D team serves as the core of the company's long-term strategy, leading its development. The company invests 3 percent to 4 percent of its annual revenue to R&D. With a group of more than 100 staffers, R&D is split into several units, including camera design, network protocols, software development, mechanical design as well as product testing. The company is determined to provide a comprehensive product portfolio, especially for IP video.
With five years of experience in developing IP solutions, the company has established a complete procedure and systematic philosophy in software development. Its experience enables a better understanding of network infrastructure and market trends. “The security future will focus on software; more precisely, software as a service,” said Martin Yang, Technical Director of the R&D Department, who joined the organization in 2007. “Our team continues to concentrate on management software platforms in the future.”
Software is Key
Good R&D is a decisive factor for product functionality and usefulness. People may have different needs for product selection. Yang pointed out that understanding their software design philosophy is more important. Because software is more complicated, it may fail often without a guiding design philosophy.
“We upgrade our software all the time,” Yang said. “Network cameras with embedded processing are much more complicated than analog cameras, as they require hundreds of thousands lines of codes. Without continuous inputs in development, the codes become useless. Our camera software is still in use after five years and we conduct upgrades every two weeks.”
From Yang's standpoint, thinking ahead is vital for software design and development. The demands and applications in video surveillance are versatile, especially in the IP age. As a developer, it considers product structure at the very beginning, as IP products required multilayered design. “If you do not think ahead at the initial phase, it will be hard to add new features and functionalities afterwards,” he said. “We have developed more than 50 network cameras now, which cater to different requirements and are manufactured under strict production control.”
To fulfill different demands, the company conducts product planning and R&D specifically for small- and medium-size applications. It is dedicated to providing a full lineup of edge devices as well as professional software management.
“Sunell will face hard times if we only manufacture a single product line,” Yang said. We have launched several IP products, such as integrated HD network zoom camera modules, decoders as well as NVRs.”
Sunell is one of the first Chinese manufacturers to launch an integrated HD network zoom camera module with auto-focus for greater clarity and detail. It also just launched a decoder last month. These new products showcase the company's core competence in component R&D, which determines its competitiveness.
Quality Assurance
An IP-centric philosophy is rooted in each technician's mind. As IP-based solutions are increasing in security, Sunell foresees potential market demand and invests greatly to research relevant technology. “Our comprehensive development process that is set up and tested during our research ensures the quality and stability of the products” Yang said.
Yang pointed out that network cameras are more complicated than analog cameras, as they are more like computers. Some cameras will be mounted in high places. If they fail to work, resetting them is not an easy job.
That means network cameras should be carefully designed and a complete quality assurance system is needed. For example, a complete suite of test software is important.
“To maintain stability, we use the Linux operating system for network cameras and adopt a Rational Unified Process (RUP) and eXtreme Programming (XP) for software development, together with testing software, to detect codes automatically in the design and manufacturing period,” he continued. “Our cameras support ONVIF and PSIA standards, allowing more compatibility and flexibility for third-party users.”
Migrating to Information
As IP video grows faster than analog, there is no doubt that the market is moving toward IP. However, Yang feels that IP is not the only thing the future but more precisely, information will be vital.
“In the future information world, applications in security will innovate by combining with TV sets and other home appliances,” Yang said. “With information flow, people will have a better experience in retrieving video anywhere at any time.”
From the software optimization aspect, systems will be easier to operate with a user-friendly interface. Usage of information will be more versatile. “Take traffic flow. Drivers can log on to a Web page to obtain current traffic conditions before they go off on a trip,” Yang said. “There should be more applications from the information standpoint, which have not yet been developed.”
By integrating its strengths in hardware manufacturing and software design, Sunell provides robust total IP surveillance solutions to users. The company sees increasing growth in IP demand and more positive feedback from international buyers.