COVID-19 Solutions: '5 Minutes With' Video Interview with Thomas Cook from Hanwha Techwin America

SourceSecurity.com (SSC): First tell us how Hanwha’s new COVID solutions applications are working.

Tom Cook (TC): Thank you, Larry. Yeah, so we have had to change our roadmap due to the COVID applications and demands, and I’m happy to say that we've released many apps to support what customers across every vertical are looking for, such as social distancing apps and mask or no mask or occupancy capabilities of counting.

We released new AI cameras during COVID and they all have these capabilities built into the cameras which are in high demand for people to help their businesses open up safely, and our existing X-Series cameras that we've had out since '17 all have the ability to add these apps with our open platform. So very exciting for us to help the industry out.

SSc: Aside from health and safety surveillance solutions, how else has Hanwha as a company reacted to the pandemic?

TC: Well as you know most companies are still under a stay at home order. We do our best using these remote capabilities. We've been exceptionally lucky to keep our business running and very successfully, and from a standpoint of support, globally, Hanwha is very involved in helping society out.

We've changed our training facility in South Korea into an emergency hospital when required; we've donated 150,000 mass to medical staff and low-income families; we've sent out 82,000 hygiene kits out there. So, we continue to not only try and keep our business running successfully, but helping out society is key for our company overall.

SSc: Do you think AI-based technology solutions are the best way forward in terms of social distancing, mass detection and other COVID-related issues?

TC: The AI technology that we're really on the precipice on will help us get into these new applications that COVID is demanding from us. In the analytical world it would have been more challenging to meet these goals, so AI allows us, and we're seeing that demand even before social distancing and mass detection.

We were asked from many customers to look at operations like read my label on you know food or exploration or ID of people and trucks and all that. So, AI will really help us in the future as you see these demands come up and we can quickly respond as an industry to use cameras to really support you know alarming or identifying these COVID-related or any type of society related issues.

SSc: Do you think health and safety intelligent solutions will shape the security industry moving forward?

TC: It will definitely increase our awareness in that area. I think, you know, as the world as a nation, we basically will respond to what is important from our our end-users and our customers. Just like cybersecurity was a very hot topic, and still should be, we have built our products with secure boot.

Our Wisenet 7 product line which was just announced in Korea last week is coming out in September in North America. It will have a full support product of really tightened cybersecurity that was really key when we were developing this chip. It will also have a lot of AI such capabilities in apps built in for health and safety, which again, it is the demand what we're seeing now.

It's not going to go away without a vaccine - not at least till 2021, you know, crossing our fingers to even get it that.

• CCTV surveillance
• Security cameras
• Security camera systems
• Network cameras
• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• COVID-19