Barco enters agreement with Ushio enabling exhibitors to purchase digital cinema lamps through existing Ushio distribution network
Kuurne, Belgium, 14 March 2007 – Digital Cinema pioneer Barco is delighted to announce that it has entered into a cooperation agreement with Xenon lamp manufacturer, Ushio, enabling exhibitors to use Ushio’s worldwide distribution network for their lamp supply for both analog as well as digital cinema projectors.
Barco and Ushio recognize that a joint lamp supply chain is one of the key aspects for the exhibitor as they transition from analog to digital cinema. In line with Barco’s commitment to provide its customers highly reliable, easily serviceable and cost effective products, Ushio will provide a cost efficient purchasing process for Barco certified, high brightness, Xenon digital cinema lamps.
“Digital cinema is clearly beyond the phase of just try-out and starts becoming the standard for cinema projection.” states Nils Büker, Sales Director for Europe. “Exhibitors are not demanding new technologies, but best solutions for their cinemas. Barco and Ushio have now established such a solution by offering easy and cost effective lamp-shopping through the well-establish Ushio sales-network. From now on exhibitors can buy Barco certified digital cinema lamps for their digital cinema projectors from the same source they are used to buy their 35mm lamps from.” Nils Büker explains the company’s outstanding position in the cinema industry by saying “As an innovative lamp manufacturer, Ushio started very early to develop Xenon-lamps meeting the special requirements of digital projection. As a result, Ushio’s share in the digital cinema market clearly surpasses its market share for 35mm projection, where Ushio is the market leader.”
“Availability of lamp supply is important to digital cinema exhibitors world wide and this cooperation provides this”, says Nico Vernieuwe, Vice President of Barco's Events and Digital Cinema activities. He continues, “It reflects both Barco's and Ushio’s strategic goal to provide a cost effective service for our customers and to further enhance our world wide leadership position within digital cinema”.
About Ushio
Ushio is a foremost manufacture of high-quality light sources, units, and systems in Japan. The Tokyo-based company operates not only in Japan, but also in North America, Asia and Europe with over 4,300 employees for both sales/marketing and productions. The application of the products varies from semiconductors field to electronics, biotechnologies, medicine and image information processing, including cinema projectors. The consolidate sales in the fiscal year 2005 ended March 2006, reached to 129 billion yen (US$1,100,576,000).
About Barco
Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops visualization products for a variety of selected professional markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
Barco (Euronext Brussels: BAR) is headquartered in Belgium and is active in more than 90 countries with about 3800 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of euro 751 million in 2006.
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For more information, please contact
Inge
Govaerts
Public Relations Manager
Barco - Media & Entertainment
Telephone
+32 56 36 8052
inge.govaerts@barco.com
