A&S International 197, Samsung Techwin Enters a New Era

In November 2014, the security market witnessed a landmark acquisition deal,
Hanhwa’s purchase of Samsung Techwin. In an interview, Hansoo Jung, EVP and GM of Security Solution Division of Samsung Techwin, stresses with the synergy created with Hanhwa, plus
Samsung Techwin’s own internal strengths, the brand that has dominated in security for decades
will stand even stronger.

consolidation has become a major trend in the security industry and took place at a rapid pace last year. Canon’s acquisition of Milestone in June and Anixter’s acquisition of Tri-Ed in August were all major examples. In November 2014, another deal was announced and took the industry by surprise: the purchase of Samsung Techwin by Hanhwa, a Korean conglomerate whose businesses span various sectors including chemicals, construction, manufacturing, solar energy, financial services, and leisure.

Synergy of Two Companies
The news raised concerns over the future of Samsung Techwin, which has dominated in the security industry over two decades. Hansoo Jung, EVP and GM of Security Solution Division of the company, dispelled those concerns and asked people to look at this acquisition from the perspective of the synergy that will be created.
“Considering the fact that Hanwha has several affiliates in various verticals, SamsungTechwin will have direct end-user clients in those verticals, such as city surveillance,commercial, banking, retail, residential, and leisure,” Jung said. “Samsung Techwin willembrace each vertical’s needs in order to provide ultimate solutions.” Jung cited an example of how the acquisition would work to both firms’ advantage.
“For example, Hanwha won a city project in one of the Middle East countries. So, weare under review to provide our products in that project,” Jung said. “Additionally, we will provide our products in several commercial and residential buildings that are now under construction by Hanwha.”

Reinforced Bondage with Partners
To enable more efficient business operations, the company integrated manufacturing to increase productivity and logistics efficiency, and restructured the distribution systemin China to supply products to more distributors. Restructuring the distribution channel in China is one of the objectives for the reformation of Samsung Techwin’s managementsystem. By achieving a smooth transition from sole distribution (SD) to fulfillment distribution (FD), Samsung Techwin makes sure the nationwide distribution channel remainsstable, ensuring the continuous growth of sales. The “Partner Program,” which was launched in early 2014, enabled the company to carry out joint pre-sales to generate project opportunities, as well as co-marketing with its partners.
Through these undertakings, Samsung Techwin was able to win even more partners.
“More and more system integrators and distributors were registered, while enhancedloyalties of existing distributors result in the volume of order,” Jung said. “For example, awholesale distributor in the U.S. replaced a company’s products to Samsung Techwin’s products.”

From Security to Other Industries
Samsung Techwin will expand into even more market segments, building on itsexperience and reputation in video surveillance. Smart home, for example, is a target niche, with Samsung Techwin already achieving huge success globally, especially in the U.S., with its network home camera, SmartCam. To meet customers’ demands for continuous monitoring and storage of video data, Samsung Techwin has enhanced the existing edge storage function and plans to expand its cloud service through partners.
Moreover, it will expand its customer-based distribution channel from retailers to telecommunication operators to broaden the customer contact points.
With cameras becoming more portable, mobile, and even wearable, Samsung Techwin also has an interest in this particular market segment and is planning to launchproducts highlighting both stability and convenience for users. For example, in the U.S. and Europe, there is a public consensus that the police should be required to wear body-worn cameras during patrol to ensure safety as well asfrictionless interactions with the public. That said, Samsung Techwin has been working with OnSSI on a police body-worn camera that was recently launched at ISC Brazil and ISC West 2015. It also demonstrated a rear-view mirror for patrol cars utilizing the same camera at ISC West to show how security cameras can be applied in the wearable camera sector.

R&D Rest ruct ures for Verticals
To fulfill the mission of becoming a “premium security and safety products and solutions provider,” Samsung Techwin has launched an R&D restructuring effort with the hope of raising productivity and efficiency. The existing equipment development team, which used to be divided into camera and storage sections as well as hardware and software sections, has been merged into one integrated division to boost product development speed.

“This will contribute to establishing a foundation on which customer- and marketoriented product solutions, rather than technology-oriented product solutions, can be provided,” Jung said. For example, Samsung Techwin selected four global target verticals — retail, banking, city surveillance, and passenger rail — after surveying the existing business channels, sales history, and market demands in order to enhance its products and secure vertical solutions. “In the retail market, where customer needs have been the most steady, Samsung Techwin has introduced ten models in the WiseNet Lite series and three models in the PoE NVR series in April 2015,” Jung said. WiseNet Lite, developed with the concept of “the power of simplicity,” provides key advanced functions such as hallway view, lens distortion correction, WDR, motion detection, tamper-proof, and IK10/IP66 features. PoE NVR is “plug-and-play” so that retail owners can easily use the video surveillance system without becoming network experts.

A Stronger Force
Techwin has, through its own strengths and the support of partners, built a reputation for itself as a leading security solutions brand. Now, with a new owner, the company will see greater global reach and deeper penetration into various verticals. After the acquisition by Hanhwa, one thing is clear: Samsung Techwin will only become a stronger force to be reckoned with in the security industry.

Software Integration
To provide products and solutions that satisfy the needs of each vertical, the company made sure that the value-added software solutions from the application partners registered in the Partner Program were compatible with each other, through the open platform based on the company’s flagship network line-up WiseNetIII. “As of March 2015, about 300 application partners are registered on our Partner Program. Six partner companies, such as Agent Vi, Foxstream, Arteco, Facit Data System, intuVision, and Veracity, are now on service for WiseNetIII. We are working with five additional companies now,” Jung continued.

Finally, Samsung Techwin will also strengthen its own core competency to reinforce product competitiveness and succeed with the kind of vertical integration that Jung mentioned above. “The company holds industry-leading SoC development technologies and lens manufacturing technologies, and has also secured mobile, web, and video and audio technologies,” Jung said. “We are planning to organize a complete stack that goes from SoC to instruments, mechanics, software, applications, and services through ’vertical integration’ of these technologies by a single organization.

source from a&s International