Interview with James Walker, Managing Director of Dallmeier UK

A long financial crisis; increasing material costs; more frequent crime; higher electricity charges; new formats and standards; ever more stringent environmental regulations - the manufacturers of security products don‘t have a quiet life and are constantly being faced with new challenges. GIT-SECURITY.com spoke with James Walker, Managing Director of Dallmeier UK about how his company is plotting the course ahead.

GIT-SECURITY.com: Mr. Walker, this year Dallmeier UK is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. Which markets do you cover and what services do you provide?

James Walker: Dallmeier electronic UK Limited was founded in 2001 and has grown into a highly successful subsidiary providing sales and technical support to the hundreds of satisfied Dallmeier customers throughout the UK, Ireland and Iceland. The UK team comprises a nationwide sales team, technical support engineers providing both telephone and on-site support as well as finance and marketing administration staff. The whole of the Dallmeier product portfolio is available from Dallmeier UK. Our customers are always encouraged to visit our offices at Pucklechurch on the outskirts of Bristol where they‘ll find a personal and friendly service. The premises have fully equipped meeting, demonstration, training and workshop facilities.

The current economic situation is certainly not easy. How are you managing to stay successful in spite of this?

James Walker: Over the last 18 months we have seen a dramatic change in all three markets of our UK operation. The economies have all taken a downturn, and this has also affected the CCTV industry. In the main, this has led to project delays. However, over the past 10 years, we managed to capitalize on Dallmeier's reputation for high quality, performance-proven solutions.

We have a loyal band of end users who have taken advantage of our products and our after-sales service over many years. This has helped us to maintain a similar presence in the market that we have established over the last 10 years. The customer is at the heart of all that we do and customer relationships are key to our development. We're not interested in selling a box but a solution, and to that extent we want to get involved in our customer's projects to ensure that the correct products are being used to optimum effect. So we ensure relationships are sustained so that we know when new opportunities are arising. Reference sites are essential too of course, and also a visit to the headquarters in Regensburg can help seal a deal or confirm a relationship.

What are the most important products, user requirements and technical trends?

James Walker: As I mentioned in my previous answer, certainly the most important product shift and technical trend that is on everyone‘s minds is that of HD technology. HD and the HDTV standard are something that can be related to by the majority of people in everyday life. HD is already in their homes in the form of TV entertainment, mobile phones, camcorders and laptops.

This technology has now found its way into ­video ­security technology. Dallmeier already offers high value, full HD components and complete solutions from HD cameras, HD encoders and decoders, streamers and HD recorders for every surveillance system. One of our latest range of cameras eliminates any concern regarding the use of HD cameras in the hours of darkness.

These IR cameras are high-resolution cameras and their unique and novel IR lighting concept provides outstanding images, also at night. Although the cameras have integrated high performance lighting, they only require a PoE supply. This is achieved through the very high efficiency factor of the internal array of IR-LEDs.

Apart from that, another important product or trend would be the interest in video analytics and video sensor technology. These days, video sensor technology, the continuous analysis of the video data stream, outperforms the simple motion detection which has become an integrated feature in numerous products by far. With our new DVS 1600 we have developed a product that is optimized for the professional continuous operation 24/7 and it offers analysis, recording, transmission and research in one system. The DVS 1600 has a very low false alarm rate thanks to comprehensive validation mechanisms. It is equipped with Sedor self-learning event detection and available in both analog and IP variants.

What other crucial topics might be of particular importance for your region at this time?

James Walker: Probably the biggest topic in everyday life, not only in the UK but across the globe, is the big question of the carbon footprint normally associated with the topic of environmental and green energy. Environmental protection - ‚green global security‘ - is a major concern for Dallmeier and in this regard the company‘s efforts far exceed the legal requirements. Waste avoidance and low energy consumption during the manufacturing process as well as the use of recyclable materials are equally part of the corporate philosophy, as is the orientation of product development towards environmentally friendly and ecologically efficient devices.

Sustainability and compatibility are key concepts in this context. Therefore, we always aim, for instance, to keep the energy consumption of our devices as low as possible. This effort not only results in falling energy costs but also saves the environment. Furthermore, the products are characterized by their longevity, which is another aspect of ecological thinking, because what can be used for a long time and does not need to be replaced avoids environmental stress. Dallmeier regards it as part of its corporate responsibility to holistically integrate the protection of the environment into its thinking and acting and to continuously work on further improvements.

Our aim is for our products to contain only components which conform with the requirements of the directive. Dallmeier has reached early agreements with its partners on a logistically practical and cost-neutral system for returning old equipment at the end of their use and on a cost incurring system on the basis of an exchange scheme.

What is the latest product to emerge from the Dallmeier development team?

James Walker: Our newest hybrid product, the Smatrix appliance, is truly small, smart and green. It is a Video IP device with an integrated storage system, perfectly tailored to the needs of video security technology. In the camera field, our latest innovation is Panomera, a completely new HD camera technology that eclipses all previously known approaches.

Panomera was specifically developed for the comprehensive surveillance of spacious areas, offering a unique panoramic overview with simultaneous real-time recording at up to 30fps. Panomera delivers highly detailed images even at large distances, which significantly reduces infrastructure requirements. Projects which previously would have required multiple HD cameras can now be realized with a single Panomera system. This cutting-edge technology will be on show at this year‘s Ifsec on stand D80 in hall 4.

And finally, what are your hopes for the ­future?

James Walker: Continued success! We currently have a fantastic team of people in the UK. With great people, offering tremendous enthusiasm and commitment, we are confident of a bright and successful future.