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Australia - Melbourne's lighting fraternity flocked to the opening of Show Technology's Melbourne based office last week. Show Technology is Martin Professional's sole distributor in Australia. The new location, which follows a successful Perth office opening in early 2004, will strategically place Show Technology closer to one of Australia's most important growth markets.

Show Technology managing director, Emmanuel Ziino, comments, "The market is as dynamic as ever, and as the market leader we strive to meet its needs. After years of being solely based in Sydney, the opening of our new regional offices give us several benefits - a greater reach, a greater degree of flexibility and speed, and better market feedback for example. But most importantly it gives us an improved level of market contact and allows us to better serve our customers."

The new Melbourne office w

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USA - Intelix, has developed and introduced www.AVoverCat5.com as "a single, definitive online resource for audio, video, VGA, and DVI distribution over structured cabling".

"We realise audio-visual distribution over Cat 5 cabling can be complicated," explains Intelix CEO Steve Cohan, "especially for those integrators who are unfamiliar with IT standards and all the structured cabling distribution options on the market. AVoverCat5.com was created to give integrators the answers they need quickly and easily."

AVoverCat5.com allows users to find solutions based on: application type, audio-visual equipment used, audio-visual connector type, audio and video signal format, and product. Additionally, dynamic technical areas provide "a myriad of information" ranging from terminating structured cables to digital video definitions.

(Jim Evans)

ISE 2026 - Banner - Oct 2025

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France - L-Acoustics has announced a new V-DOSC Partner for Moldavia - Radio Polidisc Ltd, founded in 1993 and based in Kishinev.

Initially, the company's main activity was exclusively based around studio recording, but it rapidly expanded into a radio station and in 2001, the company started to rent sound equipment.

The founder of the company is sound producer, Valerii Galupa, his business partner Andrei Vasilatii was a former contrabass player, and Eddy Van Nuffel from the Belgian company AED was able to offer a high level of assistance towards the emergence and development of their operation. Valerii Galupa states: "We have two completely different directions for our business, first, musical radio stations - we now have two. Secondly, rental support - sound, light, rigging and stage equipment. We supply with the equipment to rock festivals, live concerts, television sh

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UK - Academy Music Group (AMG) has appointed Carl Bathgate as General Manager of Carling Academy Birmingham. He joins AMG from Liverpool University Student Union where he has been promoter and entertainments manager for the last six years. He replaces Richard Maides, who has been promoted internally to the position of Group Operations Manager.

With the recent expansion of AMG's venue estate across the country, the latest being the 2,000 capacity Carling Academy Newcastle, Maides will work with operations director, Steve Forster to continue AMG's consistency of operations across the Group and maximise commercial potential and growth for each venue.

Commenting on the appointment, Steve Forster says, "Richard has successfully managed Birmingham for the last three and a half years and has proved he has the commitment and application necessary to work at an operational level.

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USA - New York City College of Technology has been named the 2005 recipient of the Martin Intelligent Lighting Technology Grant. Runners up schools were the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; and North Carolina School of Arts.

The Grant was presented on November 12 at a special ceremony at the LDI exhibition in Orlando. Martin US vice president of sales and marketing, Eric Loader, commented, "Once again this year there were a large number of applicants with very strong packages which were submitted for consideration. We are very pleased to award this year's Grant to New York City College of Technology. Their Entertainment Technology program which is cutting edge and targeted to the core of our industry will certainly benefit from the award but they will also utilise the grant in a way which will affect a large number of students in a key area of

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UK - Stardraw.com has announced immediate availability of the release version of its award-winning application, Stardraw Control. The company reports that over 2400 systems specialists took part in the beta test phase prior to this launch, and a great deal of their feedback has been used to enhance and improve Stardraw Control's interface and feature set.

Stardraw Control has been developed to create customised user interfaces that can control any product from any manufacturer over any protocol including TCP/IP, Infra-Red, RS232, DMX, UDP, EtherSound and CobraNet The interfaces created are compiled to a single .exe file that can be deployed and run on any windows device, from touchscreen to TabletPC to PC, while support for multiple interface devices (that offer, for example, TCP/IP to IR, RS232 to IR, TCP/IP to RS232 etc) allows users to select from a wide range of components

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USA - ESTA recently awarded the first Frank Stewart Volunteer of the Year Award, created to honor Frank's incomparable service to the Association over the last 18 years. This award recognizes extraordinary effort by a volunteer or group of volunteers during the previous year.

At ESTA's annual dinner on 10 November in Orlando, ESTA's past and current presidents gathered to honour the only Treasurer ESTA has ever had. Glenn Becker, ESTA's first President, told the assembled crowd: "For most of us, life, as we have become accustomed to, is about to end. Our Treasurer for Life is hanging up his Stetson and riding his motorcycle off into the sunset. Frank Stewart will be sorely missed. Frank is the epitome of what this Association stands for, the mutual benefit of its members. No one has volunteered more of his or her time, talents and personal funds than Frank Stewart. No one i

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UK - The Sage Gateshead has successfully delivered The North East's biggest music congress of 2005 - the globe's largest World Music Expo, WOMEX. Over 2,000 delegates from across 90 countries and more than 1,000 members of the public visiting WOMEX Showcases, enjoyed a rousing mix of international music including over 50 Showcase performances, numerous conference sessions, film screenings and a Trade Fair with over 200 exhibitors. WOMEX 2005 is one of the year's two biggest congresses in Gateshead generating an estimated £2.5m for the region's economy; the other was the Labour Party Spring Conference, again hosted at The Sage Gateshead.

Stage Electrics' Ed Gamble worked closely with Dan Adams, production manager for the event to provide a host of showcase equipment to complement the event including Mac 700 fixtures and Atomic strobes from Martin Professional, an ETC AVAB C

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USA - ESTA (North America's Entertainment Services and Technology Association) says its working group meeting in Orlando during the week of the LDI trade show, approved the initiation of six standards projects. ANSI requires that the initiation of projects be announced far and wide to affected parties so that people can be aware of the projects and can participate if they wish or can argue against the projects being undertaken if they are not needed or conflict with existing standards.

People interested in working on a project (besides simply commenting during public review, which is also helpful, say ESTA) need to join the working group for the project. Information about joining working groups and about the need for voting members in under-represented interest categories in the groups is available at he

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UK - Stage Electrics reports a few remaining places on its popular Pyrotechnics Safety Awareness Course which will be held at the New Theatre in Cardiff on 7 December. Presented in partnership with Just FX, the course provides formal instruction on the principles and practices for safe use and handling of pyrotechnics and includes a practical assessment. On successfully completing the course candidates will be eligible for free membership of the ASP (Association of Stage Pyrotechnicians).

The company aim to raise standards in Health & Safety across our industry and have worked closely with many other agencies to establish a recognised series of training courses, suitable for technicians and managers alike held at partner venues across the UK.

On 8 December a Safe and Practical Rigging course is also being held at the New Theatre, places are very limited and more courses are cu

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UK - A new online accountancy service, Accountsnet.co.uk has been launched to provide internet accounting to sole traders, partnerships and small limited companies. The system creates a virtually paperless office and covers all the usual accountancy offerings such as VAT, Tax and National Insurance contributions and payroll.

A team of chartered accountants is on hand to answer business queries; the company says the online service is fast, transparent and easy to use. Any PC with internet access can be used to securely enter transaction detail from the usual source documents such as invoices, receipts and chequebooks. Starting from a little as £20 per month for sole traders and £60 per month for limited companies, users can have a full set of year end accounts, payroll bureau, dividend administration, professional dealing with HMRC and Companies House, calculation of

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UK - Sanctuary Mobiles has been acquired from Sanctuary Studios by a management buyout team consisting of Ian Dyckhoff, Tim Summerhayes and Ian Cooper. The business will trade under its original name of Fleetwood Mobiles, which was acquired by Dyckhoff and Summerhayes in 1993 before being sold to the Sanctuary Group in 1999. The duo remain onboard as managing director and operations director respectively.

"We are thrilled to have this opportunity to once again operate a world class business under the Fleetwood name, and are confident we have the right team in place to provide the best service for our customers' needs," says Dyckhoff. "Our aim is to continue to provide clients with the best location recording in the industry."

In its new incarnation, Fleetwood Mobiles retains all assets of Sanctuary Mobiles as well as the existing mobile recording team - en

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Europe - An EU-wide campaign will start next year to address the safety of young people at work as according to European statistics they run a 50% higher risk of work accidents than other workers.

A 16-year-old worker's legs were broken less than two hours into his first day at work as he fell from the footplate of an 18-ton refuse lorry. He was riding on the outside of the vehicle because there was not enough room in the cab for him and the three other workers. A 17 year-old girl lost part of a finger only one hour of starting her holiday job. Her fingers were crushed in a machine at the bakery where she worked.

Figures from the UK Health and Safety Executive show that Men in the 20-24 age group suffer the second highest total incidence of non-fatal work place accidents. Women in the same age group are the fifth most vulnerable group.

Accidents like these are a daily occurr

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UK - Chris King, the friendly face that's greeted visitors to White Light's base in Wimbledon for the last few years, is to retire in December after being with White Light for over sixteen years. He leaves White Light's Wimbledon base to escape the hustle-and-bustle of London for a calmer life in Devon.

As White Light's 'senior communicator' King is the cheerful voice that greeted telephone callers and, unlike the computerized systems favoured by so many organizations these days, welcomed regulars by name. He's put their call through to the appropriate team while figuring out how stressed they've sounded and greeted new callers as long-established friends, while working out which member of the company could best assist them.

A former car salesman, King first met White Light's co-founder and chairman John Simpson through their local amateur theatre company. He joined White Ligh

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Indonesia - ARX Systems, the Australian based manufacturer of Professional Audio Equipment has announced the appointment of PT Citra Intirama as its new distributor for Indonesia.

ARX's managing director Colin Park says: "PT Citra Intirama is very well known throughout the South Asian Pro Audio and M.I Industry as a well established and very professional Company. PT Citra Intirama's Eric Haslim and I recently finalized a distribution agreement after an initial meeting at the Frankfurt Pro Light and Sound earlier in the year.

The Indonesian Audio Industry is entering another growth phase and the company is looking forward to working with PT Citra Intirama which, with 12 Company owned stores and 300+ dealers spread across the Indonesian Archipelago, is the largest music and audio products distributor and dealer in Indonesia.

Alongside ARX, Jakarta based PT Citra Intirama

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UK - Robe UK has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Robe Show Lighting, following last week's direct management takeover of the company by its Czech Republic based parent company, Robe Show Lighting.

David Srba, well known as Robe's highly proactive head of marketing, becomes the new MD of Robe UK with immediate effect, and will now be based in the UK. Srba also continues in his role of co-ordinating Robe Show Lighting's worldwide marketing.

Ian W Brown, who joined Robe UK in August 2004 continues as head of sales, working closely with his colleague Bill Jones as sales manager and Nathan Wan as Robe UK's head of technical services. All other aspects of the sales, office and support organization in the Northampton UK HQ remain the same.

The move is a key element in Robe Show Lighting's ongoing global expansion strategy. It also completes the restructuring of ROBE UK which be

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USA - Rigging Seminars will conduct four classes in 2006. They are in Las Vegas 20-23 February, Las Vegas 3-6 April, Denver 5-8 June, and Seattle 9-12 October. Each class covers the principles and operation of both stage rigging and arena-style rigging. The most popular part of the course is the hands-on training.

The seminar is suitable for beginning and advanced riggers. It is for riggers, venue staff, stagehands, universities, production companies, consultants, engineers, and contractors. It can be used as preparation for some sections of the ETCP Rigging Certification test.

Rigging Seminars is the longest established entertainment rigging training program. It has trained thousands of riggers and is highly respected in the industry for the extensive knowledge of the teachers. Classes are taught by Harry Donovan and Jay O.Glerum, both working professionals with more than 40

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UK/USA - Solid State Logic, manufacturer of professional digital and analogue consoles, has announced several promotions in its U.S. based sales and service departments. The promotions have been made to strengthen the existing sales and service teams.

George Horton has been promoted to sales manager for the U.S. Western region, Mexico and South America. Horton moves over to sales after 16 years as an SSL service engineer and manager. His SSL career began at the company's UK headquarters; he then traveled the world as service engineer with brief stops in Singapore. Horton took over as SSL Los Angeles service manager in 1998. He will continue to work from the Los Angeles office, reporting to Phil Wagner, president, SSL Inc.

"We are extremely pleased to have George involved in Western U.S., Mexico and South American sales," commented Wagner. "George is an incredibl

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UK - PLASA and the PLASA Show are the joint sponsors of a new Entertainment Lighting Award, designed to give lighting designers across the industry recognition for their creative work. The new Award is the most recent category to be added to the 2006 Lighting Design Awards, organized by Lighting magazine and the Institution of Lighting Engineers, and supported by the Lighting Industry Federation.

The UK has long been acknowledged as a creative hub, leading the world in the design of entertainment and events. The new award will be one of the few that actively champions the work of designers in this field, creating much needed wider recognition for the art and practice of lighting design.

For the last few months, PLASA has been working with the Lighting Design Awards team to develop the new category to ensure it reflects the innovation to be seen across the country. The judging

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USA - The recent ETS-LDI exhibition in Orlando featured its annual Awards ceremony. This year's winners included Richard Pilbrow - Lighting Designer of the Year; Michael Clark - Projection Designer of the Year; Buford Jones - Sound Designer of the Year; and Brad Schiller - Technician of the Year.

In the product awards, Strand Lighting's C21 Dimmer range won Lighting Product of the Year. C21 and EC21 dimmer racks are designed for global operation and provide a number of advances in technology, say Strand. In addition to providing support for conventional SCR dimmers including Quad, Dual and single modules with ratings up to 12kW, sophisticated Sinewave dimmers are also available. Dual Sinewave modules can be mixed and matched with standard dimmers in the same rack for full flexibility.

Altman Lighting collected the Lighting/ Architecture Product of the Year Award for its Smart

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USA - ESTA, the North American Entertainment Services and Technology Association, has anounced that BSR E1.17, Entertainment Technology - Multipurpose Network Control Protocol Suite, the draft standard commonly called 'ACN', is now available for public review until 14 February 2006.

The draft standard is a suite of protocols offering needed services in network management, device management, device description, and device control with reliable multi-cast transport on data networks that use the common Internet Protocols. There are 17 documents that describe various aspects of the suite of protocols, and they are all contained in the approximately three megabyte compressed file ACNDraft3.zip. The public review materials for this draft standard and all the draft ESTA standards currently available for public review are at

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UK - Former OpTex employees Phil Barker, Simon Beer, Edward Catton-Orr andSteve Graham have formed a new UK based company supplying broadcast and professional production equipment. The sales operation is based on the North London / Hertfordshire borders in Potters Bar, with offices less than five minutes from the M25 motorway.

The team who have previously worked together have so far secured distributorships with several major manufacturers. Marketing Director, Simon Beer said: "For a long time we have worked well together, we share the same values and want more than anything else to give our customers hassle-free, old-school customer service whilst still being able to offer the keenest prices. Production Gear is supplying a wide range of products, basically if it goes on or near a camera then we sell it.

"Our team brings a combined total of over 65 years experience o

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UK - Event secutiry specialist Showsec has begun 2006 with the addition of two new offices, expanding both north and south in the UK, in Newcastle and Exeter, increasing their national coverage to nine offices. The new offices are part of the company's plan to achieve full nationwide crowd management coverage by 'rolling out' to serve venues in those areas. This development will service events and venues based in Newcastle and Exeter with the professional service already experienced in existing areas across the country, supported by Showsec offices, say the company.

Showsec's northern development towards the end of 2005 saw them working in partnership with the Academy Music Group for the opening of the Carling Academy in Newcastle, training a new, local crowd management team to work at the venue. Simon Sinclair has been appointed as area manager, where he will use 10 years' expe

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UK - The UK Government's Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) is looking to the professional lighting industry for input into its future plans for the country's lighting technology strategy, and is holding a workshop meeting this month to begin the process. The output of this workshop will help to develop the Government's strategy for solid state lighting and photovoltaics.

The meeting will discuss photonic technologies, which have the potential to be used in both the generation of energy and its efficient use: in particular, photovoltaics have the potential for micro-generation of electricity without the use of carbon and solid state lighting technologies have the potential to make very large reductions in energy consumption.

The DTI says there are major opportunities for UK companies and other stakeholders in Energy Photonics. These opportunities include device development,

  1. ESTA: Draft Fire Standard for review
  2. Obituary: Antony Bridges - 1964-2005 The Technician's Technician
  3. Nicholas F Van Wijk Bursary
  4. Rycote gets a makeover
  5. Top Of The Class For VDC
  6. Beyerdynamic acquires Interkom Electronic
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