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Hot off Christi e's acquisiti on of coolux GmbH, a world-renowned developer best known for the Pandoras Box product

family, Jennifer Smith, Exec VP of Christi e's Global Market Soluti ons, spoke to E-Tech Asia exclusively about the

strategy behind the purchase and what this means for future soluti ons. Excerpts..

What’s the thinking behind the

purchase?

Jennifer: Direct end-users and our partners,

dealers and systems integrators in the rental

staging, architectural mapping, and arti sti c

event/entertainment markets are looking

for leadership from Christi e and the coolux

acquisiti on shows that we understand the

value chain for their markets. Plus we are

committ ed to serving them more fully and

to increase our total value-added off ering. Simplifying projecti on-

mapping workfl ows specifi cally and the creati on of compelling large-

scale, multi -media experiences in general will be improved by this

deal. In all this we’ll see the task list of our customers becoming easier

to achieve; we want to make it easier for them to make their visions

a reality. Pandoras Box is a powerful, server-based content playback

tool, which helps create a compelling story.

By the way, I can report that at the biennial coolux Connect

Conference held in January in Cologne, Germany, coolux customers

were delighted and excited by the news. There was a noti ceable buzz

on the fl oor and positi ve comments galore. They anti cipate myriad

technological advances resulti ng from the acquisiti on, and integrati on

with Christi e products and our tools on the display side, such as

alignment tools, which will benefi t their enti re producti on workfl ow.

The merger is already bearing fruit, since it has a sound strategic

basis. For example, a leading Christi e partner in Asia immediately saw

the value in tying the two product lines together and has selected

coolux servers and Christi e’s new Christi e® Boxer 4K30 projectors for

upcoming bids on mega-events in southeast Asia. We were told that

our combo serves his need for a sophisti cated content-control suite

with seamless connecti vity to the projectors, high reliability and any

easy-to-use interface, facilitati ng management of same.

Where and how will coolux soluti ons fi t in at Christi e?

Jennifer: To answer this simply, one must realize what is available.

Serving up content via media servers and then manipulati ng it within

the server (“processing” it) before delivering it onto the digital canvas,

is no easy task. The primary use and what makes the Pandoras Box

product from coolux so popular today is its server strengths. It can do

amazing content editi ng and video-eff ect processing, complete with

show scripti ng, ti meline creati on and powerful 3D pre-visualizati on.

The Christi e Spyder X20, our very powerful pixel processor, is adept

at handling multi ple live video feeds on mega-pixel canvases in live

producti on environments, all with near-zero image latency. Christi e

Spyder can control multi ple displays and easily manipulate and

shift images onto the oft en-giant canvases that show producers are

working with; it’s a ‘live,’ real-ti me producti on tool. Imagine the

possibiliti es inherent in improving the integrati on between the two

products, Pandoras Box and Christi e Spyder, which will be so much

easier under one roof.

The 3D environment of Pandoras Box is a very powerful environment

where one can create sets, map and render them, and change points

of views before you have to actually ‘go live’ for a show. Naturally, this

pre-visualizati on capability is highly sought aft er. When the Pandoras

Box ‘playback output’ from that environment is combined as an

input on our high-performance Christi e Spyder, converti ng from a

pre-visualized set to a fully live producti on event becomes incredibly

natural and easy to adjust and alter in real-ti me.

So with Christi e’s advanced pixel-processing strengths and full

producti on-workfl ow capability, and by adding Pandoras Box, Christi e

is now able to complement a greater number and range of customer

‘use case’ requirements. Christi e is broadening the number of

applicati ons that we can help our customers achieve, which maps

well with Christi e’s intenti ons to evolve our total portf olio of soluti ons

off erings.

That’s at the primary, basic level of functi onality. As the broader market

conti nues to evolve with delivering more and more complex 3D,

visualized mapping environments in the creati on of events and shows,

they’ll fi nd Christi e has powerful off erings across the enti re gamut of

content creati on, serving, processing and delivery phases.

What are Christi e's expectati ons for the near term and

long term, as a result of this purchase?

Jennifer: The market segmentati on we are witnessing consists of low-

end applicati ons using workaday servers – with inexpensive per-channel

costs – along with a middle segment with its playback environment

with pre-produced content. Then there’s the higher-end, multi -media

and mega event space that encompasses ‘live’ producti ons and pre-

scripted content. Christi e is now bett er equipped to make a customer’s

life easier by off ering products for all of these segments.

Both our server and processing platf orms will have conti nuing product

roadmaps, yet diff erent as they serve diff erent customer needs. We

will opti mize both lines to maximize their individual and collecti ve

strengths going forward. The technology blocks that form the

Pandoras Box base platf orm defi nitely complement Christi e’s image

processing line-up.

For example, there are Christi e customers currently using Spyder that

are intrigued by the pre-visualizati on capabiliti es of Pandoras Box and

have already indicated to us that they intend to use both in common

projects.

On the service side, Christi e brings a scalability factor that will be

welcomed by coolux customers. Strategic distributors have done

a great job to date of supporti ng coolux products throughout Asia

and the Americas and this will conti nue, but with the additi on of

a broader, worldwide service and support network for sales and

technical support.

coolux GmbH has become a welcome feature at various industry

shows, including ISE, NAB, LDI and InfoComm, and this presence will

conti nue in the Christi e experienti al marketi ng booths at said shows,

beginning with the NAB 2015 show in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 13-16,

2015.

http://www.christi edigital.com

http://www.coolux.de

Christie On Coolux Acquisition

54

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March - April 2015