Ashish P. Dhakan
MD & CEO
Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd.
Prama Hikvision’s key focus in the year 2021 is to stay relevant
to the fast evolving requirements of the vertical markets
SecurityLinkIndia (SLI): 2020 has been the year of Covid 19, impact was felt by all the stakeholders of security industry – more so for business and economy; and future is also not certain. How do you explain it with your experience?
Response: The pandemic was a black swan event in the history of Indian security Industry. After a decade of robust growth security industry faced the downturn for the first time. The disruptions had an adverse impact on the entire security ecosystem of channel partners, dealers, distributors and system integrators. It led to a multitude of security challenges for security industry stakeholders with temporary supply chain issues. The security industry has followed a resilient approach while pursuing a cautious strategy to counter the impact with technologies, innovations and customised solutions. The Indian security industry has shown extraordinary resilience, and it is slowly and gradually bouncing back to normalcy.
Despite the disruptions and downturn, the pandemic has also created demand for new solutions to help control the impact of a pandemic and support the cause of public safety. We at Prama Hikvision have lived up to the challenge of pandemic crisis by doing extensive research and development to offer public safety solutions (temperature screening, face mask wearing alerts, social distancing and flow control solutions). We were the first movers in the industry to offer temperature screening solutions. Despite all the disruptions caused by the pandemic, hope floats and resilient spirits persist, the Indian security market is still confident of the industry’s robustness and prospects for growth.
SLI: Which new products/ innovations/ adaptations befitting COVID scenario have you brought out in security during this phase, and which ones are in the pipeline of production?
Response: The new normal scenario has created a high demand for applications based on AI and thermal technology to meet health and public safety challenges. Prama Hikvision has come up with an impressive line-up of solutions. To ensure health, safety and well being of all the stakeholders across the verticals, Prama Hikvision offers a Temperature Screening Solution, a Flow Management Solution and a Social Distancing Solution. These health and safety monitoring solutions are designed to help safe reopening of all sectors across India. Moreover, they are also instrumental in ensuring strict compliance of the government’s public safety guidelines.
SLI: Kindly throw some light on your thermal screening solutions and what makes it different from others.
Response: A thermal imaging camera is an effective screening device for detecting individuals with elevated skin temperature. This type of monitoring can provide a rapid screening approach at high-traffic areas like airports, hospitals, office buildings, and other areas where people congregate, to help identify those whose body temperature is elevated. Using a non-contact screening solution is one of the current measures to discover quickly individuals with elevated skin temperature (EST). The detection method is designed to help initial screening of EST, with the use of medical equipment to further verify symptoms, while reducing manual testing time and the safety risk to those involved in detection.
Hikvision’s Temperature Screening Solution, with various product types and wide range of applications, is designed for the detection of skin-surface temperatures to achieve rapid and safe initial screening in public areas. Its flexibility means it can be used in a multitude of scenarios.
Temperature screening with fast deployment: For high-traffic scenarios such as urban traffic (train station, bus station, subway, airport, etc.), buildings (such as schools, enterprise parks, office buildings, shopping malls etc.), a temporary temperature screening scheme can be used. Fast deployment is achieved separately with various devices (thermographic cameras/ thermographic hand cameras/ metal detector doors etc.)
This temperature screening with fast deployment is economical and practical, and the deployment process and subsequent disassembly are easy and convenient. The temperature measurement accuracy is guaranteed to be within ± 0.5°C or ± 0.3°C (with a Blackbody calibrator) to meet the needs of the initial screening.
Temperature screening with access control: In enterprises, schools, factories, communities and other internal areas where people are moving through, the MinMoe wall-mounting touch-free temperature screening terminal (DSK1T671TM-3XF) can be used. The touch-free nature of the terminal makes access easier and safer, suitable for long-term temperature screening with access control for any building with a high footfall of people.
Temperature screening on patrol: The temperature measurement on patrol solution can also be called a manual inspection program on the move. It can be quickly put into use at fixed entrances and exits for emergencies, for example at external events or building sites, or checkpoints. It can also be used for flexible inspection in highspeed exits, cabins, and engine rooms.
SLI: What is the future of technologies like artificial intelligence in security industry and how far Hikvision is adopting/ promoting it? Kindly explain with examples.
Response: To compete and thrive in today’s crowded markets, businesses and institutions need to work smarter. Based on a technology called deep learning, artificial intelligence (AI) ‘trains’ computers to do tasks faster and better than people previously could. For example, in the application of video technology, AI makes it possible for security and business systems to recognise people, vehicles, as well as identify customer interests, and certain scenarios that used to have human oversight like shelf items running out of stock, and more. This capability means that it’s now possible to automate many key surveillance tasks and business processes.
Work smarter and safer with Hikvision: When it comes to delivering the insights today’s organisations need, Hikvision is a pioneer in security and beyond. Our industry leading smart cameras and infrastructure solutions, engineered with AI technology integrate a range of tools to support smarter decision making, from people counting and facial recognition, to vehicle recognition and automated security alerts.
The application for Hikvision’s smart technologies is virtually limitless. We help banks to protect employees, customers, branch offices and ATMs. We help retailers to understand footfall in their stores and optimise their merchandising strategies. We also help city authorities to reduce congestion and pollution with smart traffic management solutions.
Law enforcement: This technology serves the need of identification.
Time & attendance reports: Now there is a better way to track attendance. Based on facial recognition technology, this new method is quicker, safer, and more accurate.
VIP recognition: AI enabled facial recognition technology gives retailers accurate tools to identify VIPs and loyal customers so staff can provide the right kind of service at the right time.
People counting: Counting people in store through Hikvision People counting cameras can help retailers optimise their strategies and maximise conversion and revenues.
Heat map solution: Hikvision’s heat map solution can record the motion of customer foot traffic over a period of time and displays temporal density and spatial statistics in different colours.
Queue management solution: Hikvision has a cutting-edge flow analysis camera as part of its DeepinView series.
Vehicle identification management applications: Improving traffic flow, traffic management, and vehicle and site security. The ability to identify vehicles can provide major benefits for local authorities, businesses and a range of other organisations.
Recognise vehicle number plates in real time: The Hikvision ANPR application captures a vehicle’s license plate in real time, compares or adds it to a pre-defined list.
Recognise vehicles: Hikvision’s vehicle recognition feature uses a deep learning algorithm to distinguish between small and large vehicles, with the added ability to detect the make, model and colour.
SLI: Kindly throw some light on R&D and innovations?
Response: To focus on research and development for the India specific security system requirements, Prama Hikvision has set up a state-of-the-art R&D centre in Mumbai. The Prama Hikvision R&D center is driving the product innovation and customization benefits to end-users. The various research and development initiatives for technology based applications are underway. The core idea behind R&D center is to drive innovations as per local requirements, which will enhance the customer experience.
SLI: How is security industry contributing to the cause of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Surakshit Bharat?
Response: The ‘Make-in-India’ initiative empowered Prama Hikvision to give boost to the local manufacturing while developing technologies, skills and capabilities. This initiative has helped us to provide India specific requirements, customized security products and solutions. The ‘Make-in-India’ initiative led to value added services and an agile RMA support network. Prama Hikvision has shown a long term commitment to the government of India’s ‘Make in India’ Initiative. It has yielded good results in terms of investment, indigenous manufacturing and job creation goals.
Under this initiative, Prama Hikvision manufactures best-inclass video security cameras along with back end devices like Storage & Transmission at its Vasai manufacturing facility, which is spread over 9 Lac sq. ft. area, comprising end-to-end production capabilities. It has the skilled workers and expert engineers to handle the world class electronics manufacturing technologies. This initiative has yielded localization benefits across channels. Now end-users are getting customized products and solutions as per their requirements.
SLI: What shall be the focus areas for Prama Hikvision in the year 2021?
Response: Prama Hikvision’s key focus in the year 2021 is to stay relevant to the fast evolving requirements of the vertical markets. We are committed to offering best-in-class products and solutions with latest technology applications. We will continue to offer customized solutions across the verticals while enabling the latest technologies and innovations in video security through artificial intelligence (AI), IoT (Internet of Things) and Big Data applications. We are redefining access control through facial recognition terminals enabled by facial recognition technology. We are focusing on the Robotics and industrial automation. As we usher in a new year, we express our gratitude to all the channel partners, end-users, system integrators and consultants for their indomitable trust. We resolve to offer best-in-class products, solutions and services to stay ahead. We will continue to grow with the latest technologies, product innovations and vertical solutions.
