Wisenet cameras from Hanwha Techwin are being installed throughout the City of Pardubice to assist police in keeping traffic moving and to detect and track stolen vehicles.

Pardubice is the 10th largest city in the Czech Republic with a population of approximately 90,000 and lies on the river Elb, 96 kilometres east of Prague.

The images captured by the majority of the Wisenet cameras so far installed are linked to an Intelligent Traffic Management solution developed by FF Group, a Hanwha Techwin technology partner. The ANPR server based solution enables the simultaneous monitoring of vehicle traffic by up to 32 cameras. Effective with all European number plate formats, it is able to achieve more than 95% number plate recognition accuracy whatever the environmental conditions, even when vehicles are moving at speeds of up to 150 km/h. The ANPR metadata and associated images captured by the Wisenet cameras are sent to the Ministry of Interior (MVČR) where they are checked against a database of stolen c

Phase 1 of the project has seen 135 Wisenet cameras installed at all main routes into the city, as well as at major intersections, roundabouts and squares. A second phase will see in the region of 200 additional cameras deployed in order to monitor activity at bus and train stations, leisure facilities and government buildings.

The cameras have been installed by Telmo, a Prague based systems integrator which, since it was established in 1992, has specialised in fulfilling large turnkey projects. “We have previously successfully worked with the Hanwha Techwin Europe sales and technical team on other projects in the Czech Republic and I was therefore able to confidently recommend that we should single source all the cameras for this project from them,” said Otomar Exner, Key Account Manager at Telmo.

“After carrying out extensive testing, we were also very happy to recommend that FF Group should provide the ANPR solution. In fact, with the two companies working in partnership with us, we have been able to deliver a solution which meets the client’s immediate vehicle identification and tracking needs, but it also allows anonymous utilisation data to be collected in respect of the habits of everyday drivers who travel into specific areas of this city. This data can be analysed to assist long term traffic management planning.”

95 of the 135 cameras installed are Wisenet SNP-6320HP 2 megapixel 32x PTZ network dome cameras. In addition to being a true day/night camera which is able to capture high quality images in low light, the SNP-6320H’s powerful 32 x zoom capability enables operators to observe the close-up detail of any activity. It is also equipped with intelligent auto-tracking capability to ensure a greater level of detail can be captured when no operator is present.

Milestone Systems have hired Jos Beernink as new EMEA Director Channel Sales. Jos Beernink’s most recent position was as VP EMEA Sales at Genetec and with previous positions at Honeywell Security and Fire/ADI, Samsung Electronics and Tech Data.

Jos Beernink will lead EMEA Channel Sales, which is comprised of four sales regions with regional sales managers as direct reports; North Europe, Middle Europe and South Europe as well as Middle East & Africa.

“I am thrilled to be able to attract a true industry heavyweight as Jos Beernink”, says Malou Toft, VP EMEA for Milestone Systems. “Jos brings a wealth of channel and industry experience to his new team and to Milestone Systems.

The appointment of Jos Beernink is part of the new EMEA organization announced in January, aimed at helping Milestone Systems’ community grow, in and beyond security in verticals like retail, transportation and safe cities. The new EMEA organization has three specialized sales areas and a strong consolidated sales & tech operation.

The U.S. administration is considering Huawei-like sanctions on Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision, media reports show, deepening worries that trade friction between the world’s top two economies could be further inflamed.

The restrictions would limit Hikvision’s ability to buy U.S. technology and American companies may have to obtain government approval to supply components to the Chinese firm, the New York Times reported nyti.ms/2MfgBS3 on Tuesday.

The United States stuck Huawei Technologies on a trade blacklist last week, effectively banning U.S. firms from doing business with the world’s largest telecom network gear maker, in a major escalation in the trade war. The United States has accused Huawei of activities contrary to national security, a charge Huawei denies. Huawei says it can ensure a steady components supply chain without U.S. help.

A Hikvision executive echoed the sentiment.

“Even if the U.S. stops selling them to us we can remedy this through other suppliers,” a Hikvision executive said on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter.

“The chips Hikvision uses are very commercial and most of the suppliers are actually in China,” she said, but added the company had not been informed of any possible U.S. blacklisting.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported the U.S. government was deliberating whether to add Hikvision, security equipment maker Zhejiang Dahua Technology and several other unidentified firms to a blacklist.

A Dahua investment department employee declined to comment.

China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday urged the United States to provide a fair environment for Chinese firms, in the wake of reports Hikvision could be blacklisted.

“Recently we have repeatedly expressed China’s position of opposing the United States’ abuse of national power to wilfully smear and suppress other countries’ companies, including Chinese companies,” ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a briefing.

China requires its companies to abide by international norms when investing abroad, but “at the same time we always demand that other countries give Chinese enterprises fair and non-discriminatory treatment”, he added.

Shares in Hikvision, 42% held by state-owned firms, opened 10% lower on Wednesday. It later pared some losses to trade down 6%. Dahua shares slumped as much as 9.2%.

Jefferies analyst Rex Wu downplayed the impact of a possible ban on Hikvision, saying the United States accounted for roughly 5% of the company’s sales.

“Most AI solutions are sold to the government, public and enterprise sectors in China. Hikvision may be able to acquire GPU (graphics processing unit) via local distributors,” Wu said.