Mess Frankfurt New Era Business Media, publisher of a&s magazines, recently hosted a forum on the “Metamorphosis of the Taiwanese Security Industry: Transition to Solutions,” which took place on Sept. 17, 2015, in Taipei. Several major security equipment providers in Taiwan were invited to share their views on this topic.
Mess Frankfurt New Era Business Media, publisher of a&s magazines, recently hosted a forum on the "Metamorphosis of the Taiwanese Security Industry: Transition to Solutions," which took place on Sept. 17, 2015, in Taipei. Several major security equipment providers in Taiwan were invited to share their views on this topic.
Notable figures at the event included (seated from left to right):
• Alex Lin, Sales Manager, Goosafe Security Control
• Albert Weng, Senior Director, Vertical Solution Business Department, D-Link
• Ebony Huang, President and CEO, Brickcom
• James Su, Chairman and CEO, Amroad Technologies
• Owen Chen, Chairman, VIVOTEK
• John Shi, Executive Editor-in-Chief, Mess Frankfurt New Era Business Media
Based on the latest figures from IHS, the world market for video surveillance equipment grew by 14.2 percent in 2014, much higher than the initial estimate of 10.7 percent, indicating a fast-growing industry. To tap into this, Taiwanese manufacturers are taking their cue from the big names in the industry, making the transition from only providing devices to total solutions.
According to Owen Chen, Chairman of
VIVOTEK, it is necessary for companies to make the shift from selling devices to solutions if they are to remain competitive against Chinese manufacturers. Instead of competing on prices, VIVOTEK has opted to create their own total security solution for small-to-medium sized businesses (SMB), providing cameras, central management software (CMS), and storage. For larger projects, they sought out other video management software (VMS) companies and specialized software/hardware companies to combine their strengths and technical know-how to offer more value and convenience.
For Amroad Technology, positioning in the market is quite important. The company decided to focus its energies on finding its niche in the smart community and develop Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. James Su, Chairman and CEO, commented that it is important for a company to establish their own value in their products and services first before partnering up with other companies. Thus, Amroad released integrated systems, to include access control, video surveillance, communication, and car parking systems to deliver a whole solution to their customers.
Brickcom entered the security industry initially focused on network cameras and expanded to provide complete IP network video surveillance systems. Building upon its strong background in information and communications technology (ICT), they focused on improving their video imaging, wireless transmission, and cloud services in a video surveillance system. Ebony Huang, President and CEO, commented that network stability is an important issue for IP-based systems and that many companies are unable to deal with it perfectly. Therefore, their expertise and services in this field makes them very competitive in this market.
Looking for new opportunities in the market,
D-link decided to go beyond devices such as network switches and cameras to form systems and later solutions. Based on market needs, they started incorporating network storage, access control, and alarm devices along with cameras and switches to form a total solution. They also made it a point to seek out strategic partners to further expand their business overseas. According to Albert Weng, Senior Director of Vertical Solution Business Development, the company decided to set up a department specifically devoted to the vertical solution business in order to ensure the quality and message of their products and services in various vertical markets abroad.
According to, Alex Lin, Sales Manager at
Goosafe Security Control, it is vital to have a clear understanding of what the market or the customer needs are. Besides selling products, companies should concentrate on how to address the real problems of systems integrators — how these products would fulfill and fit into the customers' current requirements. Continuous innovation is also an important key to attracting clients and securing international projects. In addition, products should be developed with an eye toward ease of integration with others systems, reducing the difficulties during the installation and systems integration.
The overall consensus at the forum is that there is still much room for growth in the security industry. In order to thrive in this competitive market, companies need to focus on providing not just delivering products but providing solutions to satisfy their customers' needs. A formidable challenge currently faced by many Taiwanese companies is that of price competition, especially from Chinese companies. To overcome this, it is important for Taiwanese security equipment providers to work together and, perhaps, form an alliance to promote and use each other’s services and products on future projects. This could very well be the last push the industry needs to propel itself forward into a more prosperous future.