Uniview (; abbreviated as UNV), also known as Uniview Technologies, short for Zhejiang Uniview Technologies Co., Ltd., is a Chinese

video surveillance Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly tr ...

manufacturer founded in 2005, with headquarters in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, wh ...

. It was founded by

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smart ...

and

3Com 3Com Corporation was an American digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney and others. Bill Krause joined as President in 1981. Metcalfe e ...

and was once invested in and owned by American

private investment Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

firm Bain Capital. Uniview specializes in surveillance equipment, including

IP camera An Internet Protocol camera, or IP camera, is a type of digital video camera that receives control data and sends image data via an IP network. They are commonly used for surveillance, but, unlike analog closed-circuit television (CCTV) camer ...

s and

network video recorder A network video recorder (NVR) is a specialized computer system that includes a software program that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other mass storage device. An NVR contains no dedicate ...

s. In December 2011, its video surveillance unit was bought from Hewlett-Packard by a fund affiliated with

Bain Capital Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry sec ...

History

Uniview became involved in the video surveillance field in 2005. After being spun off from Hewlett-Packard, it began operating independently in 2011. On November 30, 2011, Hermit Zhang became the CEO of Uniview. Uniview made its way into overseas markets in 2014. In 2016, its revenue reached ¥2.4 billion. In 2017, it became a

reseller A reseller is a company or individual (merchant) that purchases goods or services with the intention of selling them rather than consuming or using them. This is usually done for profit (but can be done at a loss). One example can be found in th ...

and alliance partner of Quantum. In 2018, China TransInfo acquired Uniview from Bain Capital.

Controversies

In 2020, Uniview signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the

public security bureau A Public Security Bureau (PSB) () of a city or county, or Public Security Department (PSD) () of a province or autonomous region, in the People's Republic of China refers to a government office essentially acting as a police station or a local ...

Fuyun County Fuyun County () as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Koktokay County (; ; kk, كوكتوعاي اۋدانى‎), is a county situated in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administration of the ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

to launch an "innovation lab". In November 2020, IPVM alleged that Uniview had developed software designed to track

Uyghurs The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...

. Uniview responded citing its ethics code and panel and stating that it believes in "Tech for Social Good."

References

{{reflist Technology companies of China Video surveillance companies Companies based in Hangzhou Companies established in 2005