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ETC Continues Avab Product Development
ETC has announced that new additions and new expectations for the Avab console range can be expected in the near future.
“When we acquired transtechnik Lichtsysteme we were pleased to gain the Avab product line as a part of the transaction,” says Fred Foster, ETC chief executive officer. “We have now dedicated additional product development resources to the Avab console effort in Europe. We will continue to support the development of Avab systems while also providing ETC’s worldwide technical service and quality control.”
Desiring to build on the strong heritage of the Avab control product line, ETC has retained most of the original Avab product development team members and added new members as well. A couple of names will sound familiar - Ulf Sandstrom and Anders Ekvall who have been working together on Avab control products for over 20 years. According to Sandstrom: “We are steadily improving our approaches to product development and look forward to a lot of exciting collaborations with ETC.” Ekvall adds: “We are happy to have the entire ETC company behind our new projects and it’s been great working with the ETC R&D staff.”
Newer members of the Avab development team include Bullen Lagerbielke, well known lighting designer and programmer. Lagerbielke provides excellent guidance and direct feedback as he works with Avab control products in the field on live productions. His input in developing the moving light feature set of the Avab Pronto! console has allowed it to run prestigious events such as the Eurovision Song Contest, powering hundreds of moving lights and multiple Catalyst systems. Lagerbielke says: “We have focused on making the Pronto not only a great theatre console but a world class moving light interface.”
Also new to the ETC Avab team is Ingo Bernert. Previously a field project manager for ETC Europe, Bernert has been appointed product manager for the Avab console range as well as the newly acquired IES dimming range. Bernert works closely with the development team helping to direct the commercial focus of the various projects. He says: “The Avab development team is tight, with an emphasis on constant dialogue with the user. My role is to expand that user base. We are looking for an exciting future with the Avab line of products from ETC.”
At PLASA, the Pronto! Team, which will remain intact for future upgrade work, released Congo (see separate story), an exciting new generation of lighting controls that merge a classical theatre control system with a state of the art moving light system. Congo combines the full experience and innovation of earlier Avab systems with the quality control, service and support of the worldwide ETC sales organisation.
ETC has retained other respected Avab names to work as consultants on current projects. In cooperation with ETC and transtechnik Lichtsysteme, Yngve Sandboe, well known for his work at Avab and his SandNet networking system, has just completed work on a new version of Safari software, Version 3.5. This is the first of several releases of Safari within the next year. A great deal of effort has been put into improving the handling of moving lights to allow for simple editing of sequence attribute links and attribute times. Also, many popular Pronto! features have been integrated, such as the Channel Layout tool and the storage of Palettes by moving device or device type, allowing you to save and reuse colour palettes in many time saving ways. The new 3.5 version of Safari operates in the Jaguar console and all other existing VLC systems, such as Viking, Panther, Lynx and Tiger.
As a Safari user, for a limited time only, you can take advantage of this free Safari v3.5 upgrade offer by simply registering your name and system details at a special new Avab web site administered by ETC: http://www.avabcontrol.com. Simply by indicating which Avab system you have, you will be sent this Safari upgrade, free of charge, until the end of the year. Avab will then also notify you directly whenever a new version is finished and available for purchase (more are currently in the works!), keeping you and other Safari devotees in the loop on all future developments and advances. The free download runs in systems with a minimum processing power of 800MHz and 64 MB RAM. If you have a system running Safari v2.0 or older, contact your dealer for a hardware upgrade.
22nd September 2004
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