Technology-driven industrial transformation, Dahua Technology empowers the digitization of various industries.

With the continuous development of big data, artificial intelligence, and other technologies, the smart IoT industry is like being given a booster, continuously expanding industry boundaries, and various intelligent technological products are emerging one after another like bamboo shoots after rain.

Video is an important entry point for the smart IoT industry. Dahua Technology, which started with cameras, is firmly committed to the path of technological innovation in the industry’s major transformation, with two major technological strategies of AIoT and intelligent IoT platform as support, serving the digital transformation and upgrade of thousands of industries.

Digitalization and intelligence have become important trends in social development, opening up new opportunities for the smart IoT industry. Recently, a reporter from Securities Times visited Dahua Technology to explore the transformation the company is undergoing and how it will seize the opportunities brought by technological changes such as artificial intelligence and large models.

From security to smart IoT

How does digitalization affect our work and life? In the exhibition hall of Dahua Technology, a reporter from Securities Times had a close encounter with digitalization.

From factories to industrial parks, from streets to cities, there are countless rich application scenarios. Taking smart transportation as an example, Dahua Technology has customized various intelligent applications for a certain city, such as green parking in the city, large vehicle right turns, intelligent control of electric bicycles, and one-click escort for 120 emergency vehicles, gradually solving various practical difficulties in urban traffic management.

"Today, the capabilities of security equipment are no longer limited to the field of security. In recent years, both the technical level and the business level have undergone very big changes. In an interview with reporters, Zhou Wenkai, vice president of Dahua R&D Center and general manager of the software business department, said.

Starting from 1993, Dahua independently developed the first dispatch communication machine; in 2002, it developed the first 8-channel audio and video synchronous embedded DVR; in 2004, the operating income exceeded 100 million yuan; in 2008, Dahua Technology went public; in 2015, the operating income exceeded 10 billion yuan; in 2023, the revenue exceeded 32.2 billion yuan…

Behind the rapid development is Dahua Technology’s magnificent transformation: from starting with self-developed communication equipment, to becoming a global leading security company, and now a global leading provider and operator of video-centric smart IoT solutions.

In the past, videos were dominant, and for customers, as long as the images were clear and could be stored long-term, their needs were satisfied. However, with the development of AI video analysis technology, we gradually discovered that massive amounts of data such as videos, images, texts, and voices can not only be seen by humans but also by machines. These have become important components of urban and corporate management, opening up new development opportunities for the smart IoT industry.

It is understood that as early as 2018, when enterprise digitalization had not yet become an industry trend, Dahua Technology keenly realized the need to expand from intelligent security to the direction of urban and enterprise digitalization. For example, in the application scenarios of cities, in addition to maintaining city safety, it also undertakes a large amount of urban governance; on the enterprise side, in addition to ensuring security, it can also enter production management and other links, to achieve the integration and convergence of business systems and management systems.

Seeing these changes, Dahua Technology began to take the initiative to step out of its comfort zone, and based on its capabilities in video, AI, and perception devices, it designs digital solutions for cities and enterprises.

The Securities Times reporter learned that after exploration and precipitation in recent years, Dahua shares have successively launched fluorescent, Zhiqiang, Luban 2.0, Honghu, Tian series, Night Vision King 2.0, Hongdun, Menshen and other product series, with diversified application of technical capabilities, to meet the opportunities and challenges brought by the industry’s “broad and small” characteristics.

While improving the competitiveness of the industry by polishing the products, the company is orderly promoting the layout of marketing and service systems at home and abroad under the trend of globalization, to provide customers with full-lifecycle services such as product and solution consultation, design, sales, delivery, and after-sales.

As of now, Dahua Technology has established 69 overseas subsidiaries in major countries on all continents and more than 200 offices in China. Its products and solutions serve over 180 countries and regions worldwide. The company has been awarded honors such as National Industrial Design Center, Zhejiang Provincial Government Quality Award, and Leading Enterprise in High-Quality Development. According to the report released by Omdia in 2023, Dahua ranks second in the global video surveillance market share.

Empowering thousands of industries

Digitalization Upgrade

In recent years, Dahua Technology’s reserve of smart IoT technology capabilities is very important for partners, as it provides important support for their transformation and upgrading. In this case, we can find a large number of partners. Regarding the company’s equipment and solutions, Zhou Wenkai said whether they can build stronger competitiveness for customers. In recent years, Dahua Technology has achieved innovative development on its own, and together with customers and partners, it has promoted the digitalization of various industries.

During the visit to Dahua’s exhibition hall, one can feel that intelligent sensing devices have been widely used in daily life. Some are used in the streets and alleys to improve urban governance, some are used in factories for intelligent manufacturing management, and some are used for forest and grassland fire prevention, monitoring of endangered animals, hydrological and water quality recording, and preventive protection of cultural relics and historic sites, etc.

Taking the smart energy scenario as an example, Dahua Technology has achieved ubiquitous IoT by leveraging its long-standing technological accumulation and years of deep cultivation in the energy industry. Through Dahua Honghu Intelligent IoT Host, it integrates video and IoT data links. It adopts Dahua Tianyi Intelligent Analysis All-in-One Machine for intelligent analysis and early warning of security risks, and combines Dahua Luban 2.0 to recreate a three-dimensional twin world for building an enterprise’s “Smart Brain”. This helps enterprises operate efficiently and ensures production safety.

In order to better understand the value of these solutions, Zhou Wenkai cited the example of Dahua Technology and JinkoSolar jointly creating new products, which are tailored to their needs. Their production line has always had a demand for regular inspections, including whether the production line is running safely, whether the products meet the quality standards, and whether the workers are operating the production line in a standardized manner, and so on. During the inspection process, it may involve five or six related departments to conduct the inspection. The inspection of each production line generally takes about two hours, and there are 26 such production lines in one factory.

If all these production lines are inspected manually, the cost is high and the effect is difficult to guarantee. If the intelligent IoT solution tailored by Dahua Technology is used, it will greatly improve enterprise efficiency. Zhou Wenkai said that improving quality and efficiency has always been an unchanged theme for enterprises. For Dahua Technology, the key is to match customer needs with the right technology.

DHUA Technologies focuses on urban and enterprise business scenarios with video technology as its core, based on the “five full” capabilities of “full perception, full intelligence, full connectivity, full computation, and full ecology”. Currently, DHUA Technologies has accumulated 8000 highly fragmented scenarios participating in the refinement and training of products and solutions, serving the digital transformation and upgrade of various industries.

Nowadays, Dahua Technology, which has entered the track of intelligent IoT, has built a wide and deep moat. It has participated in major engineering projects such as the Beijing Winter Olympics, China International Import Expo, and G20 Hangzhou Summit. Its products and solutions are exported to more than 180 countries and regions worldwide, and are widely used in smart cities, transportation, people’s livelihood, manufacturing, education, energy, finance, environmental protection, and other fields, providing customers with fast and high-quality services.

Breaking boundaries to create the future

In the past decade, Dahua has changed too fast and too much. When talking about what Dahua Technology will become in the future, Zhou Wenkai said, ‘Over the years, the company has gradually extended from simple hardware equipment to providing overall solutions. In this process, we actively explore and integrate AI technology, software development and other fields, and strive to create a distinctive technological label for ourselves. It is worth mentioning that we have not only taken these steps, but also made significant progress in each field.’

In recent years, Dahua shares have been deeply cultivating the field of smart IoT, continuously deepening exploration and breakthroughs at the boundaries, actively playing the role of data resource provider, data asset practitioner, and data commodity enabler, joining hands with partners, crossing the gap, leveraging the multiplier effect of data elements, and empowering efficient urban governance and enterprise digitalization upgrade.

In recent years, Dahua has always emphasized the ecosystem, but the understanding of the ecosystem has also changed in different periods. In the past, the emphasis on the ecosystem was more about finding suitable partners to expand the cake. Now when we talk about the ecosystem, it is more about whether we can achieve mutual success and co-create products.

Taking Lu Ban 2.0 as an example, it is essentially an innovative exploration of the company in the field of video data IoT. This technology projects videos onto specific models, which Dahua Technology has mastered three to four years ago. And over time, the company has observed a significant rise in market demand this year. For example, enterprise production safety, remote visualization of management processes, and urban management, public emergency response, and so on.

To position itself as a pioneer in the industry’s digitization, it is first necessary to have the ability to innovate and develop continuously. For many years, Dahua Technology has adhered to the concept of perfection, pursuing cutting-edge technology and refining its products to the utmost. To achieve this, Dahua Technology invests over 10% of its annual revenue into research and development.

Currently, Dahua Technology has more than 23,000 employees, with over 50% of them being research and development technicians. It has established advanced technology research institutes, big data research institutes, central research institutes, network security research institutes, and product engineering institutes. With its headquarters in Hangzhou as the center, it has set up research and development centers in Xi’an, Chengdu, Europe, and Latin America.

“The company attaches great importance to technological innovation and also attaches great importance to the connection with customers, how to make technology meet the needs of customers. Helping thousands of industries improve quality and efficiency, upgrade and transform, we can also realize the realization of technological value.” Zhou Wenkai said.

It can be expected that Dahua Technology will explore different fields around the concept of smart IoT. Zhou Wenkai said that it has always been Dahua Technology’s goal to apply industry paradigms based on its understanding of the industry and customer demands. It is believed that people’s vision for future work and life may come true faster than imagined.

（Article Source: China Securities Journal·CZECNET）

Source: Eastmoney.com

Author: China Securities Journal · Securities Times Online