international outlook: asia Idis looks West for growth Idis is the biggest video surveillance manufacturer in South Korea but is not one of the most well-known brands in the global arena – except when it comes to DVRs. With a 30 per cent year-on-year growth since 2001, Idis now delivers a 400 million dollar turnover and plans to increase its business in North America and europe. By Henrik Söderlund Idis was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea where the R&D centre is also located. In addition, however, the company has European headquarters in Brentford, London and distribution operations in the Netherlands and offices in both the US and Middle East. Idis offers IP cameras, NVRs and DVRs, HDTVI, monitors, video management software solutions and more. Previously it has been named as one of the biggest DVR manufacturers in the world, but today Idis focuses on being a complete surveillance solution manufacturer rather than delivering only individual products. wide product range “We are a manufacturer who provides end-to-end solutions for the customers. We are one company and one solution,” says Idis CEO and founder Young Dal Kim. With one company – one solution he means that Idis design, develop and manufacture their products themselves. “It is all from one company, so you know it is going to work together and you know that it will have the same level of quality and commitment all the time. I think that distinguishes us in the market,” Young Dal Kim explains. Strong focus on R&d Idis was publicly listed on the South Korean stock exchange market Kosdaq in 2001. Today Idis has about 900 employees, of which around 400 are actively engaged in R&D and product development and 60 per cent are software engineers developing new technology for the video surveillance industry. Profits are about 10 per cent of the turnover and that is also the approximate sum of R&D investment. “We consider R&D as a core strength of the Idis business and that is why we have a large portion of our employees working with R&D,” says Young Dal Kim. He has a doctor’s degree in Computer Science and started the company together with four colleagues. He was a student at the time and after just a few years Idis experienced major success with its DVRs. “We wanted to be the game changer in the security business, but I could not imagine how big we were going to be,” Young Dal Kim says, and stresses that if you set out to make money you will run into problems, but if you set out to make the best products you will make money. Focus on Europe and North America Today half of the Idis revenue comes from South Korea and the other half is from international sales. The biggest overseas market for Idis is America, followed by Europe and Japan, but the growth rate is higher in Europe than in Japan. Idis launched their American sales team at ISC West in April 2015 and it was expanded in August. “I hope we can expand further, and in the future, I believe our international sales can be 80 per cent of the total turnover,” says Young Dal Kim. How long do you think it will take until you reach 80 per cent? “I expect to achieve that by 2020”. Another offensive goal for 2020 is to increase the turnover to 1 billion dollars and there is no doubt that Idis is aiming for North America and Europe to make that happen. Integration and 4K Idis believes that cloud based solutions and integration are the biggest trends on the market right now. An additional trend is 4K network cameras, however, what Idis keeps coming back to is the importance of single source, end- “We consider R&D as a core strength of the Idis business and that is why we have a large portion of our employees working with R&D,” says Young Dal Kim. to-end solutions. “End-to-end, and, the fact that it is all done under one roof by one company – these things are traditionally done by many. This is really the big differentiator, and means our customers can get support from the same single company,” says Young Dal Kim. He stresses that the end customers want good quality and cost effective solutions at the same time and that total cost of ownership is a very important factor today. “We wanted to be the game changer in the security business.” Internet of Things Idis believes that many companies are just at the beginning of the process of understanding the potential of Internet of Things, but claims that the Internet of Things is something that Idis has been doing for a long time. “The Internet of Things is not a shiny new toy and it is not just a way in which devices will discover devices, it is where devices will auto configure themselves and save the user from carrying out a lot of steps. For us this is business as usual.” The Idis flagship is a solution called Direct IP, which is a nonserver HD solution that includes IP cameras, NVRs, monitors, software and more. “Direct IP is probably the best example of how Idis is a pioneer of the Internet of Things. It is not just plug and play where devices can discover each other, it is plug and play where devices can think automatically and make life easier for the end user and the installer,” says Young Dal Kim. The idea behind the concept is that not just large enterprises and organisations with big IT divisions should be able to use a more sophisticated HD solution, but also small businesses. Security News Every Day – www. securityworldhotel.com