Barco opens state-of-the-art “Light Street” demonstration area

Renowned for its commitment to the research and development of innovative visualization solutions that answer the needs of its chosen niche markets, Barco today opens its new Light Street demonstration area, which pays homage to the dedication with which the company pursues its goal of driving the technological advances in the Media & Entertainment industries.

With over sixty percent of new products introduced every two years, Barco prides itself on the technologies on display in its brand new demonstration area. Many emissive display technologies seen here today were hailed as revolutionary and groundbreaking when introduced into the various target markets during the past 12 months. From the minute MiPIX LED Pixel Block, which was enthusiastically embraced by architects and designers everywhere and today graces Kabaret’s Prophecy in London to the ultra-high resolution ILite 6 XP which has been used by amongst others Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Saab to grace their booths at international motor shows from Detroit to Frankfurt, to the ILite 3, which adorns the head-quarters of some of the world’s foremost retail and corporate brands including Deutsche Borse, or the SLite displays, which represent Quiksilver and Clear Channel on Times Square, Barco shares the spotlight with many of the world’s foremost brands in the Media & Entertainment industries.

Barco has also designed and built its new Light Street demonstration area to reflect the growing trend in architectural integration of displays. The various display technologies on show are arranged in clusters of market specific application areas, which represent the various niche markets within the Media & Entertainment industries in which Barco is active today.

From the “retail and branding” cluster, which showcases a networked solution of Solaris LC40 and Solaris LD 120-8 displays specifically designed for use in upmarket retail environments, to the impressive “entertainment event” cluster, which combines a Dlite 7 display with a custom-made MiPIX cylinder (design by Espeel – www.espeel.be) of almost 5 meters high, to the “sports” cluster, which features SLite fascia boards in combination with an Ilite 10 MD scoreboard, both specifically designed for use at indoor and outdoor sport stadia; Barco illustrates its display solutions as they would be used in real-life applications.

“Over the past few years we have seen a marked evolution in the visualization needs within the Media & Entertainment markets,” states Barco Media & Entertainment President, Stephan Paridaen. “A mere few years ago, having an LED display on an exhibition booth or at one’s company head-quarters was considered cutting-edge. Today, however, we notice that the clients’ demands, both in terms of image quality as well as the flexibility and creative uses offered by the display technologies, have risen greatly. For a manufacturer to supply an excellent quality display product no longer offers adequate competitive advantage, nor does it satisfy the market’s demands. The lines between display, lighting and architecture have become increasing blurred, to form an entity in which the display element is no longer viewed a stand-alone but always as part of an entire market-specific concept. At this year’s Paris Car Show, the culmination of this trend was beautifully illustrated in some of the most creative booth designs seen to date. Displays no longer feature as ‘stand alone’ imaging devices, but were artfully integrated to become part of the booth structures,” adds Paridaen.

“Barco has completed the vital shift from product manufacturer to solution provider and strategic partner to many of its clients, a fact which provides us with a distinct competitive advantage and continues to drive the success of our business and those of our customers,” concludes Paridaen.

For more information about Barco’s products, please visit www.media.barco.com

About Barco
Barco, an international company headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium, provides visualization and display solutions for professional markets. Barco designs and develops solutions for large screen visualization, display solutions for life-critical applications, and systems for visual inspection. Barco is active worldwide and has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Barco is quoted on Euronext Brussels and is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company.

For more information, please contact

Inge Govaerts
Public Relations Manager
Barco - Media & Entertainment

Telephone +32 56 36 8052
inge.govaerts@barco.com