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Barco and High End Systems Announce Strategic Alliance
BarcoProjection, a division of BARCO n.v., Belgium, and High End Systems Inc., of Austin, Texas, announced in late February a strategic alliance that will enable the two companies to cooperate in the marketing of their products to the entertainment and events markets.
Barco Events specializes in providing tailor-made visualization and show-control solutions and manufactures a range of professional large-event projectors, ranging in brightness from 5,000 to 17,000 ANSI lumens. High End Systems, a manufacturer of automated lighting products, has introduced Catalyst, a cross- cultural system that converts video projectors into automated lights. The Catalyst system, which incorporates a Media Server, can also be used in conjunction with Barcos range of ILite and DLite LED displays to create an extensive range of effects and imagery.
The newly formed agreement allows Barco to sell the Catalyst system to its partners, with or without projectors, and provides the basis for future cooperation on various levels between the two companies. Nevertheless, Catalyst will remain an open platform and may still be used on a wide range of other video projectors from other manufacturers in the field.
Barco sees lighting and video technology moving toward a closer interaction, says Kristoff Henry, Marketing Manager of Barco Events. The combined knowledge and driving forces of the two groups will enable the creation of a new generation of products that will span the two markets and thus deliver many new creative possibilities.
We believe video is the future of entertainment lighting, says John Wiseman, Global Sales VP of High End Systems. High End will be in the forefront of this development as the result of this cooperative agreement. Catalyst is a WWG development for High End Systems.
Barco, with headquarters in Kortrijk, Belgium, has three key activities which are all active in Image Processing. BarcoProjection is in various markets of large screen visualization. BarcoView develops and manufactures display systems for life critical applications, while BarcoVision is in systems for visual inspection and quality control. In 2000, the entire Barco group delivered a revenue of Euro 751 million. Barco has a network of subsidiaries, distributors and agents in 97 countries throughout the world. Barco has been quoted on the Brussels Bourse since 1986, and is now quoted on Brussels/Euronext. Barco is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company and is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.
