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Standard definition
"Primarily our business is in the
standard definition product range.
We currently don't have a time-
scale announced for launching a
megapixel chip family. The sector
demand for less resolution is still
much larger," says John Monti.
Pixim sells chips to manu-
facturers primarily in Asia, who
integrate the chips into cameras.
"We also cooperate with OEM
brands that are embedding our
chips into their products. Some
of the most famous brands are
American Dynamic, Interlogix and,
Siqura, a part of TKH Security.
There are several million cameras
that use Pixim chips and there are
Pixim was founded in 2000 and
builds image sensors and image
processors designed to fit into
CCTV and IP cameras. The
company has developed four
generations of products and
the current generation is called
Seawolf. At the beginning of
the year, Pixim also launched its
Nightwolf imaging solution spe-
cifically designed for IR-assisted
CCTV and IP cameras.
Acquired by Sony
Pixim Inc., a private company
with less than a hundred employ-
ees, has recently been acquired
by Sony Electronics Inc., a U.S.
subsidiary of Sony Corporation.
Pixim has development centres
in Silicon Valley, New York
and Israel. There are also sales
and support offices in Japan,
England, Hong Kong, Seoul,
and Taipei.
business
development
Piximmanufactureschipsetsforsecuritycameras
Pixim is a Silicon Valley based manufacturer of chipsets
for security cameras. Pixim's chipsets are incorporated into
millions of security cameras that ship to more than 100
countries worldwide. Detektor recently met up with John
Monti, Vice President of worldwide sales and marketing,
and a co-founding executive of the company.
connection, eliminating the need
for power outlets close to an IP
camera, for example.
Maggie Chao says: "We do
not only design and manufacture
Ethernet products, we also help
people build the IP network topol-
ogy effectively and efficiently. The
company is built with a complete
focus on Ethernet which is exactly
what the security industry needs
when migrating from analogue
to IP."
US market
showing fast growth
She stresses that many of Ether-
wan's competitors come from the
IT industry: "They manufacture
switches but I personally doubt
that they offer products specifically
for IP security, instead they just
bring the products from the IT
industry into security."
The US is the fastest growing
market for Etherwan.
"It follows the technology trend.
The US is very often ahead in many
respects, and it is the same when
it comes to IP. They are adopting
things fast," she concludes.
equipment made especially for
harsh environments. The company
designs and manufactures a full
line of Ethernet switches, media
converters, Ethernet extenders
(phone wire & coaxial cable) and
serial servers, for example Power
over Ethernet for security and
access control.
Power over Ethernet techno-
logy describes a system which
passes electrical power over
Ethernet cabling, along with data.
This means that a network device
can be powered and operated us-
ing the same cable as the network
The Taiwanese-American
company Etherwan has 150
employees (130 in Taiwan) and
25 million dollars in revenue.
The company started designing
Ethernet solutions for transpor-
tation projects but nowadays
Etherwan has four focus areas:
transportation, energy, critical
infrastructure (i.e. gas and oil)
and IP security.
Increased IP knowledge
Maggie Chao, Vice President
of marketing at Etherwan says:
"Why did we want go into
the IP security industry? Back
in 2007 was the first time we
attended Ifsec. People did not
know very much about IP. It was
considered as something that
would happen in the future. In
2009, we started to see that peo-
ple were very serious about IP. "
She continues: "We provide
IP infrastructure, we don't get
involved with any IP devices, we
don't do cameras, we don't do
video servers and we don't even do
analogue converters."
Security is growing fast
"Transportation and security are
coming together more and more",
says Maggie Chao. "IP security
accounts for 20-25 percent of our
revenue, transportation for one
third, energy less than ten percent
and critical infrastructure for
40-50 percent. IP security is our
fastest growing segment," she says.
IP networks are being used and
deployed to connect the elements
of security and surveillance and
access control systems. Ethernet is
the underlying network techno-
logy for IP networks.
Etherwan specialises in design-
ing and manufacturing fibre optic
Ethernet products and Ethernet
SecurityisonlyonefocusareaforEtherwan
Niche products in the spotlight
Technologically the world is changing at an ever increasing
pace and the physical security industry is no exception with
rapid technical developments over recent years. Along with
this development some companies have grasped the op-
portunity to diversify into new markets and as a result the
more than a hundred OEM brands
that sell them," says John Monti.
Asia is the largest market
He stresses that almost all manu-
facturers of CCTV hardware have
moved to Asia in the last five years
and in the last two years predomi-
nantly to China.
"Now, I believe that more than
50 percent of our direct sales are
into China and another 25 percent
are into Korea and there are small-
er proportions going to Taiwan,
Japan, Europe and the US. So, at
least 80 percent of our business are
exports from the US."
He believes exports to China
will continue to grow.
Etherwan Systems was founded 1996, but did not enter the
physical security market until 2007. The company design
Ethernet connectivity for applications in various markets
including IP security, intelligent transportation systems
(ITS), electric utility and critical infrastructure such as oil
and mining, and factory automation.
Maggie Chao, Vice President
of marketing at Etherwan.
security arena is being enhanced with niche specialist prod-
ucts not traditionally associated with the industry. detektor
recently spoke with senior management from a few of these
companies to find their views on this interesting situation.
By Henrik Söderlund