Barco Supplies “Miles of Tiles” at 2007 Detroit Auto Show

Sacramento, CA — January 15, 2007 — Barco, a leading manufacturer in display technology, announces that the overwhelming majority of auto manufacturers exhibiting at the 2007 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) have selected Barco LED tiles for their booths.

Within Detroit’s Cobo Conference and Exhibition Center, with over 10,000 square feet of show floor available, rental partners XL Video, Creative Technology, CT Germany, IMAG and Bluewater, have all used Barco LED solutions in highly creative applications ranging from graphic backdrops to large format content playout screens. Continuing with last year’s “immersive video” trend, Barco solutions have been designed architecturally into the walls themselves — often created with complex curves and sweeping arcs of video imagery.

Auto manufacturers including Cadillac, GM, Ford, Saturn, Toyota, Lexus, Nissan, Porsche, KIA, Land Rover, Hummer, Jeep, Infinity and Buick have all selected Barco LED tiles — not simply as video presentation forums, but also for virtual scenery and the ability to create dynamic color transitions with ease.

This year, creative standouts include:

• Ford — using ILite 6 XP tiles in a curved and visually dynamic series of walls that display content one moment and an ever-changing array of Fort “blue” hues the next.
• Nissan — using OLite 510 tiles for a huge, overhead carousel of video — displaying graphics, text, and new vehicle promos.
• Acura — using towering arrays of MiSTRIP modules for graphically rich backdrops behind two auto turntables.
• GM — using MiTRIX (the newest addition to Barco’s creative LED portfolio) to showcase GM’s introduction of its new E-Flex vehicle (the Chevrolet Volt Concept Car) on a rotating stage. GM’s booth also sported an overhead, 300 meter long border of MiSTRIP modules that enclosed the entire booth, with elegant motion graphics that visually traveled the entire length of the strip.

MiTRIX modules add yet another imaginative element to Barco’s creative palette. Each module is semi-transparent, with a self-supporting central backbone — and no special rental structure is required. The modules are designed with a 24mm pixel pitch, an extremely small size (384 x 192mm), and a very light weight design (1kg).

Steve Scorse, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Barco's Media & Entertainment division, North America, commented on the 2007 NAIAS. “Clearly, at this year’s show, rectangles are out and sweeping curves are in,” said Scorse. “Just as in years past, Barco solutions are the preferred method for providing high-definition playback, in standard aspect ratios. But this year, more than ever before, the designers have gone to surprising and highly-creative lengths to turn our products into remarkable canvases of color and imagination.”

The 2007 NAIAS runs through January 21 at Detroit’s Cobo Conference and Exhibition Center. For full details visit www.naias.com.

About Barco

Barco, a global technology company , designs and develops visualization products for a variety of 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 present in more than 90 countries with about 3800 employees worldwide. Barco posted sales of euro 712 million in 2005.

© Copyright 2007 by Barco - May be reproduced by professional press only

For more information, please contact

Christine Morris
Marketing Communications Manager - US
Barco Media & Entertainment

Telephone +1 916 859 2500
christine.morris@barco.com