Every institution who needs a highly available video security solution is our potential customer. Public authorities, educational institutions, energy supply, financial institutions, airports, correctional facilities, forensic clinics, financial institutions, commerce, hotels, industry, hospitals, cultural heritage, media, food processing, production, shipping, sports, city surveillance, multi-story car parks and insurance. They all have their individual challenges. And it is our strength to find a suitable solution.
Talks: Damir Muharemović
E-mail: redakcija@asadria.com

a&s Adria: Mrs. Geutebrück, thank you for addressing to our readers. For a start, could you present yourself, your educational and professional background, your work in Geutebrück, duties you are performing, what are you in charge with, etc.?
K. Geutebrück: I have graduated from the Technical University of Darmstadt with a degree in industrial engineering, majoring in marketing. In my diploma thesis at the textile service company MEWA, I focused on the topic of quality control and then headed a project for tour optimization in the company’s subsidiary in North Italy. From 1994 – 1996 I worked as International Product Manager for technical fixtures for SLI AG in Saint Etienne, France. Then I joined my parents’ company in 1997, initially as Marketing Manager and in 1999 as Co-Director alongside my father. Since 2012 I am at the head of the company together with my husband Christoph Hoffmann.
I am a a member of the International Professional Association of the Security Industry ASIS International and of the Club of Logistics, and also a member of the board of the ASW-West Alliance for Security in Industry and Commerce, temporarily chaired the CCTV working group at BHE Bundesverband Sicherheitstechnik e.V. and a member of the board of trustees of the TrappenStiftung Bad Honnef.

a&s Adria: For almost 50 years, Geutebrück has served customers in over 70 countries. What were the most important milestones, what helped you the most on this way, how many people do you now employ, revenue, offices, etc.?
K. Geutebrück: Starting off form a garage 50 years ago we operate now in more than 20 countries. Since the first camera and the first interface that we brought to the market, our goal has always been to think ahead for our customers. Geutebrück is an international video-security expert. The high-performance software and hardware can be versatilely used to guarantee security, maintain transparency and optimize processes – always in accordance with the stringent rules of the European Directive on the Protection of Personal Data (DS-GVO).

a&s Adria: It is interesting that Geutebrück is a family business, which is managed in the second generation, independent of authorities, institutions, shareholders or banks. What are the benefits of that, why did you choose to stay on that road throughout these years?
K. Geutebrück: This year, we will celebrate our 50th jubilee. This makes us unique in this market. We always keep an eye on the rapidly changing market conditions and thus offer a maximum of investment security. And this form of enterprise enables us to work extremely flexible.

a&s Adria: In April, you have went through some organizational reorganisation, creating the Business and Development division. What does that division include and how it will help your company to compete with your biggest competitors?
K. Geutebrück: We have expanded our portfolio within a short time from being a pure CCTV supplier of products for distributors and installers to a provider of software-based all-round solutions for safety and process optimization, including for end customers. Part of this were not only comprehensive technical developments or a significantly higher range of services, but also organizational reorganisation, such as the Business and Development division that was newly created in April. It includes the Key Account, Key Market Development, Pre-Sales and Marketing departments. The new management team will ensure that we continue to be experts in a field that only a few providers worldwide are able to master

a&s Adria: Can you present your products and solutions portfolio?
K. Geutebrück: Geutebrück solutions protect all forms of properties against unauthorized access, vandalism, burglary and theft. Our software guarantees security personnel and managers, optimum and instant visualization of any situation. Automated alarm action sequences can be programmed to activate automatic barrier controls, door locks or to notify of responsible persons effectively and efficiently. With this solution, you always have control over the situation and the necessary ability to maintain concentration and composure, even during critical moments.
There are more benefits: Especially where goods are moved, Geutebrück solutions are the logical extension of a video security system, to achieve measurable profit opportunities in the entire value chain. Our systems link camera images with process data, for example, data from an ERP system. Information such as scanner data, temperature, weight, volume or time data are linked to real-time video images, therefore ensuring maximum transparency.

a&s Adria: At the heart the Geutebrück system is a powerful, open software platform, which guarantees security personnel and managers, optimum and instant visualization of any situation. Tell us more about it?
K. Geutebrück: What our software is capable of? Not only does it think, it thinks ahead
Video solutions protect property against unauthorized access, vandalism, robbery, theft or damage. Our software ensures that those responsible for security have an optimal overview of the overall situation.
Automated alarm action sequences provide effective and efficient support, e.g. with image switching, automatic gate control, locking of doors or alerting of persons responsible. This ensures that those in charge in the control room always keep a cool head.

a&s Adria: Last year, you organized European roadshow in Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Birmingham and Paris with the topics Predictive Maintenance, Face Recognition and Cloud. Recently you also introduced AI-based detection of objects using the example of “protective clothing”. What do you have to offer when it comes to these technologies?
K. Geutebrück: Each of our AI solutions is unique, because each customer has different requirements as to what should be ” identified “, e.g. the wearing of correct protective clothing. Geutebrück recognizes if persons are entering a safety area with the mandatory safety vest and helmet. Otherwise, admission will be automatically blocked.

a&s Adria: The second part of your business is Value Imaging, process visualization solution that identify profit potentials along the entire value chain. What does it consists of, how can your solutions maximize profits, and how can one achieve ROI in the shortest possible time?
K. Geutebrück: Video solutions also provide transparency throughout the value chain, particularly wherever goods are being moved. Our systems link images from cameras with data from processes, such as the ERP system. Our interfaces allow us to connect with virtually anything. Information like scanner data, temperatures, weights, volumes or time are linked to live images and guarantee for more insight. Delays, defects or inaccuracies in the supply chain are displayed as an image on the monitor and provide the necessary metadata simultaneously. Downtimes are reduced significantly, goods or components that are missing are located more promptly, risk transfers are conclusively documented, and theft and questions of liability are clarified immediately. We can identify where unnecessary costs arise. The user is saving significantly.

a&s Adria: What vertical markets do you have a strong focus on, and could you present some installations which were hardest to carry out or have some sort of cultural, historical or national significance?
K. Geutebrück: Every institution who needs a highly available video security solution is our potential customer. Public authorities, educational institutions, casinos, energy supply, financial institutions, airports, correctional facilities, forensic clinics, financial institutions, commerce, hotels, industry, hospitals, cultural heritage, media, food processing, production, shipping, sports, city surveillance, multi-story car parks and insurance. They all have their individual challenges. And it is our strength to find a suitable solution.

a&s Adria: For years now, the industry is concerned about cybersecurity issues. What do you do to prevent data breaches and loses?
K. Geutebrück: What everyone should do – we have to be faster than the hackers and keep the software up to date. We recommend this to our customers as well. Other than that our proprietary image format “gbf” sets standards. A “gbf” is unique and is accepted as evidence in court, even in the USA. Video export is encoded, and password protected if required. Any attempted fraud or manipulation is immediately visible.

a&s Adria: You state that Geutebrück users take a relaxed view of the General Data Protection Regulation and the Federal Data Protection Act. In what way do you find your products compliant with these regulations?
K. Geutebrück: Long before the introduction of the DS-GVO, our systems already had reliable protection mechanisms in place that made unauthorized access to images impossible – fraud is immediately detectable. Our proprietary software will mask or pixelate any protected image area or movement. Every situation is kept in sight – at the same time the privacy of employees, customers, suppliers or passers-by is guaranteed.
If necessary, it is possible to make certain image areas visible again with the correct user authorization and, if required, also exclusively in pairs with a 4-eye password.

a&s Adria: Your opinion on Adriatic Region security market (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Kosovo), its pros and cons? What are you plans for this area, are you looking for a regional partner, do you plan to expand market share?
K. Geutebrück: The security market in the Adriatic region is a challenging and ever-changing market. We are an image-based supplier of video surveillance technology for security and process optimization purposes. We have a long-standing history of excellence in this area and are proud to celebrate this year our 50th anniversary, in the Adriatic region we are already 25 years present.
The Adriatic region was one of the first markets adopting new technologies with a strong focus on quality and pricing, which can be at times contradicting. In recent years we have seen the globalization trend effecting our markets as local companies get sold to global players, security companies as well as end users. These developments might at times delay projects but in the long run we expect very positive effects for the region.
As a global solution provider, we work with strong local partners. With new vertical markets emerging and new technologies entering the markets we are very interested to partner up with companies that want to co-create projects with us. Integration has been and will be for the future a key factor for projects to be successful. We are one of the strongest players in the market and are convinced that we will grow our presence in the future in all relevant markets.

a&s Adria: What can we expect from Geutebrück in the years ahead, in terms of expansion of portfolio, new business strategies and technologies, new offices and markets?
K. Geutebrück: Geutebrück is versatile and tailor-made at the same time. Our team has the expertise to offer our customers exactly the solution they need: from consulting to the system to supporting services such as patch management, maintenance, performance tests and certifications. Geutebrück provides one-stop software and the matching hardware components – perfectly aligned and tested together.

Jacek Węglarz is Dahua Technology’s Training Manager and Evangelist – spreading the word about latest and greatest technologies over almost 30 countries during The Starlight Show and other upcoming technology-oriented shows. Living by his motto “Do it with passion or not at all” he uses his experience in the CCTV field combined with his love for modern technologies to share the knowledge in a simple and entertaining way. The education he received in Poland, the USA and Taiwan in both technology and management fields allowed Jacek to have a better understanding of the industry itself, whilst being able to communicate the message effectively regardless of the cultural background of his audience. The mission is to raise awareness about the challenges of the CCTV industry, reminding the audience how to pick the best camera and explaining how Dahua has been answering those challenges with its latest inventions. During the time between the shows, Jacek devotes himself to testing new cameras and solutions, as well as recording real scenario videos that prove the highest quality of the products, often in difficult or unorthodox scenarios.

a&s Adria: Dahua is a world-known security company. Can you present its current position, stats about its status in video surveillance industry, sales revenue, number of employees, etc.?
Węglarz: Dahua Technology is a world-leading video-centric smart IoT solution and service provider. Based on technological innovations, Dahua offers end-to-end security solutions, systems, and services to create values for city operations, corporate management, and consumers.

With more than 16,000 employees and over 50% engaged in R&D, Dahua solutions, products, and services are applied in over 180 countries and regions. Since the launch of the industry’s first self-developed 8-channel embedded DVR in 2002, Dahua has devoted itself to technological innovation and been continually increasing its investment in R&D, putting around 10% of its annual sales revenue into it. The company continues to explore emerging opportunities based on video IoT technologies and has already established business in machine vision, video conferencing systems, professional drones, electronic license plates, RFID, and robotics etc.

We have established more than 200 provincial offices in China as well as 54 overseas subsidiaries and representative offices covering the whole world to provide customers with fast and high-quality services. Our products are widely applied in key vertical markets such as public security, traffic, retail, banking & finance, and energy etc. Numerous major projects have been installed with Dahua solutions and products – China International Import Expo, the Rio Olympics, G20 Hangzhou Summit, the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summit, Recife Subway in Brazil as well as many others.

The company has applied for over 2100 patents, including more than 100 international patents. Dahua Technology has been ranked 2nd in the global CCTV & video surveillance equipment market according to an IHS report since 2014, and was ranked 2nd in “2018 a&s Security 50”.

a&s Adria: What are the latest technology trends which have the biggest impact on the security industry?
Węglarz: The hottest topics in our industry are usually technologies that make the security systems smarter, more effective and can take a big load off the human resources. Artificial Intelligent plays the fundamental role in shaping the future of security – already making it incomparably smarter and more effective than ever.
It also plays an important role in Dahua Technology’s products and solutions. Dahua has been engaged in the research and development in AI for a long time and has established advanced technology institute with experts and engineers dedicated in this area. We hope that AI can make up for some shortcomings of human beings rather than replace human beings. For example, we cannot find a suspect from massive videos whereas AI can identify the person by comparing his/her characteristics with a tens-of-millions static library within one second. At the intersection, it is impossible for the traffic police to focus on illegal vehicles all day, but our system can deal with various violations in real time, thus leading to optimized deployment of manpower and resources.

Taking AI as its core strategy, Dahua has developed deep insights into different industries with focus on face algorithm and video structuring algorithm. At present, AI is mainly used for incident post-tracking but in the future, AI will gradually develop to help people with danger pre-prevention. In the industry, video data extraction and big data analysis technology will become the mainstream, and video prevention will be carried out to deal with illegal behaviors. Based on this trend, Dahua has been exploring the actual scenarios to apply AI in various vertical markets, such as smart city, smart traffic, smart retail, etc. and combines it with industry operation to benefit our customers with true business values from integrated intelligent solution offerings.

As a leading video centric smart IoT solution and service provider, we will pragmatically drive the implementation of new technologies to help customers to take advantage of the market transition, enabling a safer society and smarter living.

a&s Adria: Can you tell us some of the latest Dahua technology developments for the year 2018-2019? What should we expect from Dahua Technology the next year?
Węglarz: In 2018, Dahua Technology launched “Dahua Heart of City (Dahua HOC)” strategy, a smart city development engine supported by Full Sensing, Full Intelligence, Full Computing, and Full Ecosystem capabilities, to realize the construction of a “1 platform, 2 centers, N applications” (1+2+N) new smart city framework for application at the city, industry, and commercial level. The strategy gathers together the company’s strong technological innovations, top-level security network architecture, and operation services capabilities, while forming end-to-end solutions with supporting technologies such as artificial intelligence, deep learning, IoT, within all areas of smart city operations, to promote development of smart city thus enabling city operations to become smarter, and satisfying a city life that calls for high quality.

To fully promote the implementation of AI technology for full range of smart products, Dahua aimed at customers’ demands in front-end, storage and center service to seek innovation and launched intelligent products. By combining with cloud computing and big data and relying on intelligent algorithms and chip technology, the Company has optimized products and solutions, enhanced customer value and innovative business modes. In 2019 and the following year, Dahua Technology will continuously increase investment in R&D and facilitate technological innovation in AI, cloud computing, big data, chip and other future core technologies and improve the capability of coming up with comprehensive end-to-end solutions to solve business pain points for customers based on “Dahua HOC” structure.

a&s Adria: What’s the biggest advantage that your company has over your competitors?
Węglarz: I like to divide my concept of our advantages into 3 “T”- Transparency, Technology, Targeting.

During the Starlight Show I always put a strong emphasis on transparency. As a technology company and even more importantly as a security provider, we need to play open cards about what we do. Not only does it build strong trust between our customers and us, but also gives them confidence to offer our cameras, knowing what components we use and how to pick the best camera. We need to speak on the same technology level to be able to compare hardware in a fair, professional way. As you can see during my show, I spend a fair amount of time talking about most important camera specifications to remind our partners how to find the best product before they get to hold it in their hands. I have spent hundreds of hours testing our products and preparing real, relatable videos for our customers to see the true technology advantage with their own eyes.

On the other hand, our competitors do not share our vision about being transparent. Some like to use tricky ways to market certain technologies, some like to purposely not include important variables in their datasheets, and some like to hide behind “trade secret” excuse when asked more in-depth questions about their hardware.

The second “T” is for technology – something that I am passionate about and can talk about for hours. Due to the fact that Dahua invests 10% of its revenue into R&D, we have been able to bring many breakthrough technologies to the market. We were the ones to bring Sony Starvis sensors to our budget Lite series, as we want best technologies to be available to everyone, because better image quality means more effective surveillance, which in the end means a safer environment. Dahua continuously brings newer and better sensors to the CCTV market – with our FullColor cameras as an example, you can see a colorful image at night when most competitors’ products switch to black & white mode. We are also the first to introduce a 4 Megapixel Starlight + camera series, yet again making Dahua the trendsetter. We patented a revolutionary ePOE technology that breaks records of transmission for power and data over UTP cable and even coaxial cable! You can power cameras and transmit the data using one cable for even 1 kilometer! This changes everything.

For analog systems, our proprietary technology brings the possibility to not only power the cameras and transmit video over coaxial cable, but also transmit high quality sound. The next chapter of Dahua’s breakthroughs starts with the world’s first Artificial Intelligence NVR – one compact device that can replace a farm of servers! Never before has it been possible to perform so many algorithms in one device that is affordable and easy to use – out of the box. Besides the already mentioned face recognition, the AI NVR can also recognize each person’s appearance by clothes color and type, making it a matter of seconds rather than hours to find the person of interest. Similarly, the device can perform car color and type recognition to optimize searching for specific vehicles. Because the human/car classification, the AI NVR also eliminated false alarms for intrusion detection –raising alert only when an actual person or a car appears in the camera’s view. I am looking forward to the future breakthroughs Dahua will bring to the market.

The third big advantage of Dahua over our competitors is the local targeting. We have been dynamically growing in local markets, expanding the teams and country offices to be able to offer a real local support and be closer to our partners. Those offices often provide professional hands-on trainings that result in certification for the attendees, local support teams, and of course project and sales teams that help the customers in each stage of their projects. To be able to fulfill the great demand for Dahua products, we currently have two sizeable logistics centers- in Poland and Hungary that on average hold 600.000 products! On top of that, we have launched a hi-tech assembly line in Hungary capable of producing over a thousand devices per day at the initial stage, and even more with time. The headquarter for Central and Eastern Europe and the Nordics is located in Warsaw, Poland – which hosts not only the management team but also Dahua Academy training room and a local RMA center that provides fast and efficient assistance to our European customers if needed.

I believe that with those 3 major advantages, we are quite ahead of our competitors. Of course, we work very hard to continuously grow and become even more competitive.

a&s Adria: There’s been lots of concerns about cyber security. What is Dahua Technology doing to safeguard its IP cameras from hacks?
Węglarz: I am very happy this question was raised, especially since there is a lot of rumors on this matter all over the internet and not so many facts. In order to provide the highest security level to our customers, Dahua has established Dahua Cybersecurity Center. DHCC was established to solve cybersecurity issues and aims to provide more robust and secure products/solutions for our customers. It consists of security vulnerability reporting, announcements and cybersecurity knowledge sharing with our global customer base. We understand how challenging it is in our industry to keep all the products secure and we put security at the highest level of priority. Dahua actually even hires professionals (some people just call them “hackers”) that search for any vulnerabilities in our products so we can fix them immediately. In other words, if they manage to find security bugs, we reward them for that.

Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT hereafter) is an integral part of DHCC. Dahua PSIRT is responsible for receiving, processing and disclosing Dahua product and solution related security vulnerability. It is the designated window to release information about Dahua product vulnerability.

From the user point of view, we implement special security requirements into our products to ensure the higher level of security. We do not allow default passwords- the user needs to set a more complicated one, and we indicate the level of strength to help pick the suitable password. In case of an attack, we have also developed password blast-proof technology which is a kind of password protection based on the idea of improving the attack time cost.

Our products also support end to end encryption, providing a secure data exchange between our products, at the same time helping our customers to be GDPR compliant. There are many more initiatives we take to ensure our products are protected from attacks. For more detailed information about how we do it and how you can make the systems more secure, go to our website www.dahuasecurity.com and visit the cybersecurity page. We provide hardening guides, white papers and many useful information on how to keep your systems safe and how we help you to do it.