Analog Way has acquired Finland based media server manufacturer Picturall, adding high performance server products to its portfolio of video processors.
Adrien Corso, Analog Way’s CEO, said: "We are pleased to welcome Picturall‘s team in the Analog Way group. They are young veterans of the media server industry and genuine experts of media management technologies. We are proud to expand our product portfolio with Picturall’s media server solutions.
"Their reputation for reliability and high performance perfectly aligns with our product development philosophy."
Jay Gonzalez, Analog Way president of the Americas, added: "Picturall’s acquisition will ultimately enable us to deliver unparalleled AV experiences across multiple AV sectors."
Speaking to InAVate after the announcement was made, we asked Adrien Corso, Analog Way’s CEO which specific sectors does Analog Way hope to become stronger in as a result of this acquisition?
"With Picturall’s media servers in its portfolio, Analog Way will be able to offer a larger range of products to its traditional customers in staging and fix installations. In these markets, Analog Way will now be in a position to deliver turn-key solutions, combining media servers, live switchers and show controllers. Picturall’s solutions will also enable Analog Way to cover new markets and applications not requiring its current technologies."
What are the company’s intentions regarding the Picturall brand, its staff and its offices/manufacturing facilities? "Analog Way acquired Picturall with the intention to use their R&D expertise in GPU and media management technologies. Further to the acquisition, Picturall and its staff will remain in Finland and will become Analog Way’s main Competence Centre for media servers," said Corso. "Picturall’s team will benefit from Analog Way’s larger investment capacity and will receive additional resources to fulfill its missions. Picturall’s hardware design and assembly operations will be progressively relocated to France, where Analog Way’s AV processors are design and produced. Analog Way will capitalise on Picturall’s brand name in the future to underline that, with Picturall, Analog Way has acquired a priceless 10-year experience in the field of media server technologies. Thus, all future media server designed by the group will inherit the best of the two companies’ know-hows, and will keep a “Picturall” brand tag on them to claim it."
What change is this likely to have on the Analog Way and Picturall distribution networks? "Picturall’s distribution network should smoothly blend with Analog Way’s through 2018," said said Corso. "Picturall’s sales efforts were so far concentrated on a limited number of territories, which will ease the process. The situation is being assessed case by case, but in general terms, this acquisition will be an opportunity for some of Analog Way’s distributors to step into the media server business and for some of Picturall’s existing partners the occasion to forge deeper ties with Analog Way."
Are there any intentions for integration of Analog Way and Picturall products and IP into packaged systems or perhaps even new products? "As of today, Analog Way will start promoting Picturall media servers and will market them together with its current range of products: Analog Way’s Vertige and RCU show controllers can already control Picturall’s media servers together with groups of its Livecore and Midra switchers," said said Corso. "Analog Way and Picturall’s R&D teams have been already cooperating for months, before the acquisition was even finalized. They are sharing their complementary expertise and are supporting each other today as one team. Analog Way’s future media server offering will definitely benefit from this synergy."
Does either company have specific regional strengths that will be used to improve the exposure of either brand in a target country or region? "Picturall media servers business will benefit from Analog Way’s international presence and ability to provide optimal customer service, training, presales and commissioning worldwide," said said Corso. "Picturall has been focusing its sales efforts on the Asian market for a long time and is now well established in some Asia countries: this is a strength that Analog Way may be able to leverage in the future."
The spokesperson confirmed both companies will exhibit together at ISE 2018.