Case Studies

LILIN achieves record sales with a little help from the Seagate® SV35.3 Series™ hard drive

The Brief

LILIN is one of the world’s largest CCTV manufacturers. With expertise in digital recording, high speed domes, infra red and cameras, LILIN is committed to providing customers with the latest technology and highest standards of customer service. With headquarters based in Milton Keynes, UK and offices in over 13 countries – LILIN products are sold and supported worldwide.

Leading up to the introduction of the Seagate® SV35 Series hard drive, LILIN was experiencing unacceptable failure rates in its DVRs. The problem? The hard drives. “A DVR needs to operate 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week – without fail,” says LILIN’s Product Manager, Ian Leroux, “The problem with the drives we were using was that they were designed for PCs – they weren’t built to be running at high temperatures for long periods of time. Unfortunately, with a DVR, you often don’t realise the drive has failed until you try to playback a piece of critical information – by then it’s too late.” Leroux continued, “If a drive failed in one of our DVRs, customers wouldn’t see it as a drive problem – the problem was whoever they bought it from, so it was an issue we really needed to address.”

The Solution

The crucial challenge for LILIN was to find a drive capable of withstanding very high duty cycles and heat, as Leroux recalls, “We wanted to find a drive that could be as reliable as the DVR we’d built.”

LILIN was recommended to trial the Seagate SV35 Series hard drive. Leroux explains, “We were told that there was a new range of surveillance-grade drives rom Seagate and also sent a few samples of the SV35 Series drive; we tested them at a range of temperatures and they were the most reliable – making our decision easy.”

The Result

In terms of implementation, the process has been seamless, as Leroux cites, “Stock has always been available and the units recognised the SV35 Series drives straight away, so implementation has never been a challenge for us.” The Seagate SV35 Series hard drives help to ensure LILIN’s PDR 6000 Series DVRs are among some of the most stable on the market, as well as the most versatile – boasting more features than any other DVR. Plus,with Seagate’s 250GB, 500GB or 1 Terabyte drives, LILIN can offer every single recording solution required, delivering in excess of 60+ days recording.

The difference to LILIN’s business since implementing the Seagate SV35 Series hard drive is significant. “Hard drive failures are down to record lows. The fact that the drives aren’t failing improves customers’ perception of LILIN and we’re getting more repeat business which is fantastic. Having a quality product means customers are more likely to buy from our other product ranges too – it’s about an increase in loyalty, which you can’t put a figure on.” Talking about figures, Leroux continues to enthuse about the effect on business, “Last month, we had our biggest month ever in DVR sales – which is great news – they just keep getting more popular!”

The positive impact on LILIN’s business since incorporating the SV35 Series drive cannot be disputed. But what about the future for the global manufacturer? “We’re constantly developing new, state-of-the-art products,” explains Leroux, “We want to be at the forefront, keeping up to date with the latest technology. I can’t go into what we’re developing but so long as Seagate continues to produce quality, surveillance-grade drives, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t remain an integral component in our products.”