CHRISTIE ACQUIRES COOLUX

US display giant Christie has acquired Pandoras Box developer coolux, integrating the Cologne-based company into its global market solutions team.

“Christie is committed to deepen its marketplace lead in supplying a total solution for advanced applications such as projection mapping, broadcast delivery and all manner of large-scale digital canvas creation, so the fit between our products and services and those of coolux is a natural one,” said Christie’s executive vice president for global market solutions, Jennifer Smith.

“Pre-visualisation capability when creating stunning, experiential events – including real-time rendering of same – is increasingly important in the creative plans of entertainment designer and creative visionaries. The acquisition is a boon to those who need multiple display technologies to come together to create both continuous and non-continuous digital canvases, but most importantly, to be able to create and manage the content that flows onto these canvases.”

coolux CEO Jan Huewel, who will report to Smith in his new position as senior director of processing solutions, said, “In a world where visual and audio experiences are assuming new importance in inspiring and moving audiences, content orchestration and synchronised content delivery is paramount and with today’s news, Christie, with its already impressive presence in this arena, has gained another leading-edge product line and development team to ensure it keeps its lead.”

Initial reactions to the acquisition have been positive among leaders in augmented reality and experiential-marketing projects, according to Christie. Award-winning projection designer Bart Kresa of Bartkresa Design said, “I’ve used coolux and Christie products in a number of my productions and value both for their feature-rich gamut and reliability, so I’m excited about what Christie will come up with in future, leveraging its expertise and that of the coolux team.”

coolux will maintain its office in Germany, and more detail on the announcement will be provided at the biennial coolux Connect Conference, to be held in Cologne on January 8 to 9.

Source: media release

Christie: www.christiedigital.com