Qnap, a NAS supplier, unexpectedly entered the video surveillance industry after inspiration from one of its customers. David Chiang, GM of Surveillance Business Division at Qnap, recalled Qnap's first NVR for a Japanese client who requested a customized NAS with Qnap enhanced surveillance functions. This request later led Qnap to launch its own NVR.
Qnap, a NAS supplier, unexpectedly entered the video surveillance industry after inspiration from one of its customers. David Chiang, GM of Surveillance Business Division at Qnap, recalled Qnap's first NVR for a Japanese client who requested a customized NAS with Qnap enhanced surveillance functions. This request later led Qnap to launch its own NVR.
As a pioneering NVR manufacturer with a strong background in NAS, Qnap is able to meet specific surveillance requirements for product design and reliability. “Video surveillance equipment should serve as a useful and reliable tool for security guards, especially in forensic investigations,” Chiang said. “Product reliability should be key, instead of product specifications.”
Therefore, Qnap takes several considerations seriously to ensure reliability. For example, the most common cause of system failure of NVRs is from overheating. To ensure NVR performance and IT efficiency, Qnap adopts a fanless thermal heatpipe CPU cooling system. Other features are designed with usability in mind, such as a VGA/HDMI local display in a series of Qnap's NVRs. Solution for long-term recording is also taken into account.
Qnap will support its own NVR with a NAS device via network for storage expansion this April, and release more new high bay models, including 16-bay in the second half of 2013. In 2009, the company began to provide free multi-server monitoring that can support up to 128 channels by grouping multiple NVR servers for simultaneous monitoring. For large scale projects, Qnap will unveil a new easy turnkey CMS solution to manage a maximum of 1,024 channels collectively in May 2013. By connecting multiple NVR servers to a central management system, Qnap brings the convenience for surveillance and efficiency for system management over the network.
The strength of Qnap products is ease of use. “We provide an easy turnkey solution,” Chiang said. Qnap products can be easily set up in just six steps.
Qnap focuses on its own brand business. To penetrate project markets, Qnap provides timely and extensive support to integrators. “Knowing how to cooperate with local system integrators is key,” Chiang said. “Once you have won your first project, the second and the third will come along.”
Qnap actively looks for partnerships of third-party camera providers, who help promote Qnap to their clients. Currently, Qnap has a strong presence in the following regions: Japan, Europe, the U.S., Central and South America, and India.
Chiang is optimistic about 2013, which is expected to be a fruitful year for the mid-end NVR market as it has just started to bloom. He also predicted that eight-to-16-channel NVRs with high scalability will be standard for the mid-end market. “We now have the edge in the battlefield because we entered this market early on,” he said. “In my point of view, the same prospective outlook for NVR market will last for the next 10 years.”