Orlando, FL--Alcorn McBride is celebrating its 25th anniversary by launching an improved website with easier navigation and more offerings, including the latest free software downloads and firmware upgrades for customers.
- Steve Alcorn
- Founded in 1986 by CEO Steve Alcorn, Alcorn McBride designs equipment in four areas: audio players, including the flagship Digital Binloop multi-channel audio reproducer, video players, lighting control, and show control.
- “Owning a technology company for 25 years keeps you on your toes,” Alcorn said. “Every year we get better at designing products, documenting them, packaging them and supporting them. The products we design today are infinitely more powerful and complex than the products of 25 years ago. We’re building equipment that helps to entertain and inform millions of people — they may not know us, but it’s gratifying to be part of their experience at theme parks and museums worldwide.”
- Before founding Alcorn McBride, Alcorn worked stints for Epcot Disney and Linn Electronics, inventor of the digital drum machine. After Linn folded, Alcorn decided to combine his penchant for product design and his knowledge of theme parks to launch Alcorn McBride. By providing off-the-shelf audio and video players, lighting controllers and show controllers, Alcorn felt he would be responding to the needs he identified at Epcot.
Alcorn's company headquarters.
“We concentrated on equipment in four areas: audio, video, lighting and show control. Each was designed to replace what, at Epcot, had been individually engineered from scratch or borrowed from another industry,” he said. “What was different about our equipment was that it had no moving parts. It was designed to be installed and ignored for 20 years. We still have equipment out there that’s been running for two decades without a power cycle or a reset, something you’d never achieve with a PC.”
“The latest software downloads and firmware updates are available free on our website — they will turn a 15-year-old product into a new one,” Alcorn added. “Our new designs are driven by improvements in technology. Our first HD video player was out 10 years ago, long before the Blu-ray player. We have now migrated all our HD players to flash memory and are developing higher and higher resolution products to accommodate theme parks’ 4K — and above — projection.”
