Barco Simulation pioneers Richard Holmes and Joe Mays honored with 2011 Edwin A. Link Award

The Edwin A. Link Award has become world-renowned as the simulation industry's highest award for individual achievement. The honor recognizes recipients for their outstanding contributions of ideas, leadership and innovation benefitting the simulation industry. Mr. Holmes and Mr. Mays are best known for creating the technological foundation upon which EIS became the established leader in the development and manufacture of raster calligraphic projectors for aircraft simulation.

“Our simulation industry was greatly impacted by these two outstanding gentlemen with their contribution to the raster calligraphic projector market,” commented Lars Gran, FSEMC Vice Chairman. “Visual systems for simulation would not be where they are today if not for the support, conviction and generosity of Joe and Dick.”

During the past 11 years, the award has been presented annually at the FSEMC in honor of Edwin A. Link to an outstanding member of the simulation community. This is the first time that two recipients will receive the award in a year which attracted more nominations than any other in the organization's history. While most nominations are seconded by a single person, Mr. Holmes' and Mr. Mays' nominations were seconded by a record-breaking eight individuals, attesting to the overwhelming support for their honor.

Barco Simulation was founded by engineers Richard Holmes and Joe Mays in August 1983, under the name of Electronic Image Systems (EIS), in Xenia, Ohio. EIS began as a display consulting and development lab, innovating specialized high-resolution and stereo displays for simulation and photo-interpretation. EIS developed the world's first full color 2048 x 2048 displays for air traffic control, 5 megapixel monochrome displays, and dual mode stereo/mono displays for photo interpretation tasks. Barco Simulation has continued to deliver core technological innovations behind some of the industry's most significant advances, including the first “universal” raster/calligraphic projector to integrate with any simulator image generator; the first 64 kHz, 80kHz, and 120kHz simulator projectors; and, 25” monitor replacement projectors. During the period 1983-1996, EIS produced more projectors for commercial and military flight simulators than all other manufacturers combined.

“We are forever indebted to Joe and Dick for realizing their aspirations to develop market-leading simulator solutions while leading the Barco Simulation team. Their contributions continue to fuel innovation in our industry, serving as the cornerstone of numerous technologies that are advancing the field of simulation and training,” commented Steve Leyland, Senior VP, General Manager Control Rooms & Simulation for Barco.

The yearly meeting of the FSEMC brings together airline and military users of flight simulators with industry suppliers, to exchange ideas and solutions and collaborate on industry standards. Attendees work their way through dozens of pertinent issues and topics, resulting in cost-saving guidance for simulator design and maintenance.

About Flight Simulation Engineering and Maintenance Conference (FSEMC)
The FSEMC and its sister organizations, the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee (AEEC) and Avionics Maintenance Conference (AMC), are aviation industry activities organized by ARINC to establish the consensus technical standards known as ARINC Standards and develop shared technical solutions. These standards and solutions improve cost effectiveness, increase productivity, and reduce life-cycle costs, for savings to the aviation industry estimated in the tens of millions of dollars annually.

About ARINC, Inc.
ARINC Incorporated, a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, provides communications, engineering and integration solutions for commercial, defense and government customers worldwide. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland with regional headquarters in London and Singapore, ARINC is ISO 9001:2008 certified.

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 (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with about 3,500 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of 897 million euro in 2010.

© Copyright 2011 by Barco

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