Infinova had a good run in 2016 during which the company registered a revenue growth of 9.1 percent, amid intense competition and price pressures in the market. Looking forward, the company has a positive outlook for this year and next, especially for its India and Middle East operations.
Infinova had a good run in 2016 during which the company registered a revenue growth of 9.1 percent, amid intense competition and price pressures in the market. Looking forward, the company has a positive outlook for this year and next, especially for its India and Middle East operations.
According to Milind Borkar, VP of Sales for ME, Africa and SAARC at Infinova, the company’s outlooks in these regions are mostly positive. The Middle East, where Infinova has projects in retail, oil and gas, critical infrastructure and banking, is expected to grow 15 to 20 percent this year, despite a slowdown in Saudi Arabia due to oil prices and political uncertainties in the region. Africa, meanwhile, is expected to remain flat this year due to intense competition, especially from Chinese brands used in China-sponsored projects, Borkar said.
India, on the other hand, is expected to experience strong growth this year at around 40 percent, thanks to increased projects in various vertical markets, Borkar said. “India is doing very well. We have several success stories in India where we have projects in seaports, railways, aviation and also highways. We have also done several smart city and city surveillance projects. For 2017 we won at least four to five city surveillance projects in India,” he said. “Infinova is now being considered as one of the top CCTV OEMs for any critical surveillance projects.”
Milind Borkar, VP, Sales for
ME, Africa and SAARC, Infinova
According to him, Infinova has won customers’ trust with its commitment to innovation and complete range of solutions. “The current market requirement calls for smart megapixel cameras with built-in intelligence, specialized cameras like explosion-proof and thermal cameras, NVR and VMS solutions. We do have all of these in our portfolio,” Borkar said. “Our VMS is unique in that it comes with multi-lingual dashboard customization supporting more than 50 different languages, is compatible with a wide range of cameras including ONVIF and PSIA compliant cameras, and supports redundant recording servers to ensure instantaneous switch-over and no recording losses. The video analytics module in our software is inbuilt, unlike other competitors who need to talk to separate companies or plug in separate modules for video analytics. We have also been successful in replacing existing third-party VMS software in about 37 airports in India with Infinova VMS solutions.”
Furthermore, India is already progressing toward smart building and smart city infrastructure where Infinova finds a perfect fit as a best-in-class surveillance solutions provider. “In smart city projects, there can be seen an increased demand for integrated solutions where several city elements can communicate with each other — for example, surveillance systems integrated with traffic light enforcement systems, speed detection systems, LPR systems or sometimes face recognition systems. Infinova ensures its surveillance solutions cater to these major requirements and also offer the flexibility to integrate with third-party systems whenever needed,” Borkar said.
Positive outlooks for 2018
As for next year, Borkar holds a positive outlook for India. “We are starting up an assembly and manufacturing plant in India. We'll have several of our key product models being manufactured in India, so that we can serve our customers more efficiently and quickly,” he said.
The Middle East, meanwhile, still hinges on the political situation there, especially the tension between Qatar and countries that cut off diplomatic relations with it, Borkar said.
Citing the major trends expected for next year, Borkar said analytics, which are more and more used to enhance business intelligence, will definitely play a major role, but there is a caveat.
“Our solutions are capable to do several intelligent analysis such as people counting, left baggage detection, asset and inventory management and so on, all of which can definitely help improve operational efficiency of any company. All intelligent analysis do come with a pre-requisite to provide close-to-accurate detection,” he said. “And the accuracy of analytics depends on several factors such as height, angle and lighting conditions. None of the surveillance companies can claim that their intelligent solutions are 100 percent accurate, so to claim that their solutions are full proof and cannot be beaten would be false.”