Network Optix (Nx) recently celebrated the opening of its new APAC office in Taipei on May 10. With Nathan Wheeler, Founder and CEO of Network Optix, joining via Zoom, the event was well-attended by Nx staff members and local partners.
Network Optix (Nx) recently celebrated the opening of its new APAC office in Taipei on May 10. With Nathan Wheeler, Founder and CEO of Network Optix, joining via video conference, the event was well-attended by Nx staff members and local partners.
The new APAC office will serve as the main sales office, a demo center and the technical support center for the region – a meeting hub for Nx ecosystem partners, and manufacturers for hardware, cameras, servers and IoT devices focused on Asia. Nx visualizes the new APAC headquarters as the place where the sales team and users can connect, check and visualize how Nx products can work in different scenarios.
On the sidelines of the event, asmag.com had a chance to talk with Oscar Hsieh, Network Optix VP of International Sales, to learn more about the company’s future plans.
Asmag: Nx has been expanding considerably in Europe and APAC this year with the opening of new offices and development centers. What are the key drivers of your expansion?
Hsieh: Our growth comes from two different sides. First, from the security industry. Although we do have a good number of customers switching from other brands to Nx, the security industry itself is growing and perhaps we are growing at a faster pace than the market growth. It is a healthy industry where in the foreseeable future we will continue to grow at a high rate. And second, we are also experiencing very interesting growth from the non-traditional security applications: computer vision, IoT applications, traffic monitoring, retail information gathering, attendance control, etc. The way Nx is built as a lightweight platform and the fact that we support Linux, Windows and ARM devices gives us a discernible advantage over our competition to expand and reach out beyond security.
Asmag: What do you see as the most common/urgent demand in the APAC region? What kind of solutions are clients looking for the most?
Hsieh: APAC being such a large region, we see different aspects of the demand. While in more developed and mature markets like Japan, Korea, Taiwan or Singapore, you will see high interest in integrating analytics into their system and also a wider adoption of our product in non-traditional security segments. We have seen Wi-Fi routers with Nx pre-installed on them, many different “AI-boxes” and the use of Nx in computer vision for robots.
While in other markets where we are less prominent like Indonesia or the Philippines, we are looking into large demand on first installations and systems transitioning from analog or more basic NVRs into more complicated VMS systems. In general, Nx is sought after for security solutions but we are getting more and more requests to use Nx for non-security uses: IoT, computer vision, etc.
Asmag: What can you tell us about the upcoming product roadmap for Nx Witness?
Hsieh: We are launching Nx Witness 5.0 and 5.1 is planned for later this year. Future versions have two focus points: platform and cloud.
The central aspect of being a platform is the ease of integration. While users and integrators want to be able to choose from a host of solutions be it cameras, storage or analytics to fit their different needs, they also want providers to give them the entire solution and not a piece of the solution. This seeming contradiction is what Nx as a platform solves. This is where Nx, as a platform, allows an integrator to pick a camera, an AI solution, storage and an operating system that fits their customer, and tie it all together with Nx. Now you add this to the fact that we are incredibly lightweight, where you can put us inside a camera, in a Wi-Fi router, in a Raspberry, you have a solution that can be the centerpiece and also can be on the edge and can also be integrated to PSIM systems effortlessly.
Now the other aspect is the cloud where in the market you see traditional VMS trying to make the transition and companies that started as cloud offerings. We are in a unique position while we started and have a large traditional installation base. Our product is designed and built in a way that we will be cloud-ready in the next generation, providing our existing customers the ability to make the shift if they so choose.
Regarding go-to-market strategy: In North America, we have relied more on our Powered by Nx partners; while outside of North America we have promoted different versions of Nx, including the well-known Nx Witness. In the mid to longer-term, you can expect to see the emphasis being put on Powered by Nx in the format of PSaaS (Platform as a Service), especially in the non-traditional security segments.
Asmag: Looking into the future, which feature do you see as the most game-changing compared to previous iterations or to competing products?
Hsieh: Among the many trends you see on the market, I believe the ones that will impact us the most are: AI, Cloud and IoT which are interconnected. And we are in this incredible position where we have a platform that enables us to integrate, make use of AI and deliver the value of AI for the user. Our open platform approach means that we can tap into the capabilities of different AI companies that are becoming very specialized. This allows us to provide a consistent platform and a user interface for integrators and end users where they can access a host of new and specialized AI offerings instead of having to learn new systems whenever they have a new need.
On the IoT aspect, our incredibly lightweight and low computing power requirement has already put us in an advantageous position. Now you add this to our upcoming cloud capabilities, you will have a platform that will be unique in its expertise in handling and managing video and unique on its lightweight and stability which can be deployed anywhere – on the edge, on remote or on a cloud.
While it’s extremely important to ask what the future will look like, it is equally important to ask what will not change in the future: users will always want a system that is easy and intuitive to use, and we have brought in more and more features without losing that philosophy on making it easy-to-use and intuitive. The user-friendly aspect is central to Nx as much as the ability to deliver innovation.