RMG Networks enlists Justin Peyton as its new European Channel Director to help expand its offering across Europe.

With two decades of experience from across the AV, consumer electronics and telecoms industries around the world, Peyton will help RMG tap into the channel potential for digital signage in Europe.

As Director of European Channel, Peyton will be responsible for extending relationships with partners across Europe and building out RMG’s portfolio of distributors, resellers and system integrators in line with growth goals. With immediate plans to extend RMG’s offering beyond Enterprise solutions, Peyton will help lead the movement into key sectors of the digital signage market, by introducing RMG’s new sophisticated cloud based content management system (CMS) platform into the market.

Peyton joins the team from ONELAN, where he was responsible for EMEA and LATAM sales and played a pivotal role in steering new partnerships in over 30 countries in those regions. 

“I’m really happy to be joining RMG and to get started on expanding and opening new European opportunities for our partners,” comments Peyton. “With our new product launches in the coming weeks, we will be actively signing up new partners to represent us and then continue to support them throughout what we anticipate to be an exciting period of growth for our partners and RMG in 2018.”

RMG is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with additional offices in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

Go RMG Networks Names Peyton to Lead Channel in Europe

Can they do it again?

The founder of projectiondesign, along with a number of his former colleagues, launches a new high-end projector company: norxe.

Pronounced “Norse,” norxe debuted the first of its P Series in America at I/ITSEC. The norxe P1 projector features 4000 ANSI lumens using solid-state LED illumination.

Located in Fredrikstad, Norway, where projectiondesign was started, norxe founder Jørn Eriksen says the new company will aim for high-end projection including simulation, VR (virtual reality), control rooms and medical applications — all above 4000 lumens.

Founded in 2001, projectiondesign grew to 17 international offices, about 200 people, and approximately 60 million euro in sales in 2012.

In December of that year, Herkules Private Equity III (a private equity venture capital company) sold its shares, the majority of projectiondesign to Barco NV. The next year the remaining shares passed to Barco.

“We are very pleased to become part of the Barco family, and this agreement is a significant step forward for our company,” commented Jørn Eriksen at the time. He was CEO of projectiondesign and added, “We share a common philosophy and entrepreneurial culture, driven by a focus on innovation and customer satisfaction. Joining forces with Barco, a market leader in projection technology, enables us to expand our geographic footprint and allows us to tap into Barco’s global sales team and channel portfolio.”

“The acquisition of projectiondesign plays a key role in Barco’s strategy to offer high-class projection technology to both large and mid-sized venues,” said Eric Van Zele, President and CEO of Barco in 2013. “Barco and projectiondesign complement each other on the levels of technology, product portfolios and geographic coverage. Thanks to this acquisition, we can expand our portfolios for the Simulation, Virtual Reality and Corporate AV markets as we continue to leverage our global sales coverage and our channels to grow this business, particularly in Asia and Latin America.”

Now Barco Fredrikstad is part of the Belgian-headquartered Barco and is recognized as a Center of Excellence for single-chip DLP projection technology in the visualization industry. Barco Fredrikstad works on high-resolution and compact single-chip DLP projectors-- designed, developed, and manufactured in-house for a wide variety of applications such as training and simulation, visitor attractions, planetariums, and scientific visualization.

With any post-acquisition non-compete clauses now expired, norxe is located in the same town. And targeting similar high end applications. It hopes to re-create some of the attraction projectiondesign had as it grew— a flat management organization with a faster reaction to market and a company size that brings it closer to the size of many of the channel partners. The product designed by norxe seems to be made at nearby Norautron, a contract manufacturer.

In fact, norxe executives publicly claim they started the company in response to partners’ demand. The clear advantage of a team of experienced executives is that you can start off with a channel that already knows you.

Go norxe

Sony will return to ISE in 2017 and the company says visitors to their ISE stand should expect:

Big Screen CLEDIS Technology. Sony’s ultimate big-screen display solution, CLEDIS, delivers 8K visual experiences by combining a high-contrast image (more than 1,000,000:1) with an 1000 nit brightness, and "no artefacts due to uniform brightness intensity." Unique pixel drive circuitry achieves an ultra-fast video response time with a frame rate of 120fps for fast-moving content across a nearly 180 degree viewing angle.

Visual simulation and entertainment applications. Sony will showcase its range of SXRD projection solutions to enhance industrial design, CAD, flight simulation, scientific research, healthcare, theme parks, planetariums, visitor attractions and beyond. Models on display at ISE 2017 will include the VPL-GT280 with 5000 lumens brightness.

Real-time multimedia sharing and collaboration, designed to inspire active learning in universities, colleges and corporate meeting rooms. Sony’s new collaboration solution will enable users to share multimedia content in real time from their own portable devices within lectures, brainstorming sessions or collaborative workgroups. Participants can join the discussion remotely and share material using traditional video conference systems. Content can be streamed online or archived with Optical Disc Archive, and by connecting to the Ubicast recording system sessions can be recorded for review at any time. The easy-to-use SRG-120DU Full HD remotely operated PTZ camera will be demonstrated at the show, along with a new Sony laser projector.

Corporate and touchscreen solutions. Sony will demonstrate the breadth of its BRAVIA Professional Display range, combining industry-leading image quality with excellent reliability, low running costs and interchangeable professional features. This includes TDM Digital Signage software that makes it quick and easy to create eye-catching multimedia experiences, great for reception areas, school sports halls and cafeterias. Our new touchscreen solution turns BRAVIA into a super-size touch display – great for engaging customers at offices, universities, retail stores, and visitor attractions. The best-ever BRAVIA B2B family now includes the 100” FWD-100ZD9501, delivering 4K HDR picture quality for high-end corporate, signage and post production applications.

Live production solutions for capturing team meetings, presentations and conferences. Sony live production solutions make it easier to capture team meetings, presentations and conferences in Full HD or 4K for streaming and sharing with audiences worldwide. Stream and share content with the Sony HXR-NX5R Full HD handheld camera, MCX-500 4-channel switcher and RM-30BP multi-function remote, and use the latest generation of Optical Disc Archive solutions to deliver safe and long-term storage, with instant access to all of your files in a new workflow.

“We’re looking forward to returning to Amsterdam and to unveiling our latest innovations for revitalising working and learning environments around Europe,” said Damien Weissenburger, Business Head of Corporate & Education Solutions, Sony Professional Solutions Europe.

Go Sony at ISE 2017

Audio over IP pioneer Barix brings back company founder Johannes Rietschel as CTO—just one of several executive-level changes as Barix prepares to introduce new product strategies and innovations to its many markets, including professional AV, broadcast, retail and security.

Rietschel [shown in photo at top left] founded Barix in 2001 upon anticipating the need to move audio and control signals over IP networks. The company has since shipped more than 300,000 Barix and private-labeled OEM hardware devices worldwide, and has more recently evolved into SaaS and managed services with SoundScape, its business music and advertising platform for retail, hospitality and other location-based businesses.