Press Releases: Latest News

Snell & Wilcox and Barco Collaborate To Deliver Next-Generation "Intelligent" Content Monitoring Solution

--

HAMPSHIRE, U.K. and KUURNE, Belgium -- June 29, 2006 -- Snell & Wilcox and Barco announced today that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on an integrated system that offers multichannel broadcasters the industry's most advanced television quality monitoring solution.

As part of the agreement, Snell & Wilcox and Barco will cooperate during the sales process through lead sharing, combined bids, and joint project proposals. The two companies have already completed the integration of the Barco Hydra display processor with the Snell & Wilcox RollCall control & monitoring software suite and the award-winning Hyperion content monitoring system. The joint system received a strong positive customer reaction when demonstrated at the recent NAB, Broadcast Live, and Broadcast Asia trade shows.

"The integration of our RollCall software suite and Hyperion content monitoring system with Barco's versatile display technology brings our shared clients the industry's most advanced monitoring solution for complex broadcast operations," said Joe Zaller, VP of Marketing at Snell & Wilcox. "By bringing together these best-of-breed technologies, we are enabling our joint customers to achieve enormous efficiency gains while at the same time ensuring more trouble-free operations."

The integration of the complementary Snell & Wilcox and Barco systems enables quality control alarm data from the Snell & Wilcox RollCall and Hyperion systems to be displayed on the Barco Hydra monitoring interface. This means that quality control staff can now simultaneously monitor the audio, video, and metadata of a far greater range of channels than was previously possible with conventional systems. In addition, with integration, further automation of alarm handling and visualization will allow the operators to respond faster to minimize any disruptions. As a result, multiple channel platform operators should now be able to deliver a higher quality service offering while still benefiting from tremendous efficiency gains.

"The integration of our Hydra display processors and large screen display technology with the Snell & Wilcox control & monitoring suite provides a natural fit. Barco and Snell & Wilcox already have a number of joint customers, and the two companies enjoy a relationship that gives each company the advantage of working with an established partner in the integration, installation, and support of their products within a single broadcast facility," said Alain Solomon, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Barco Control Rooms. Mr. Solomon continued, "Therefore, with this relationship, we will deliver more value to our joint customers and ensure interoperability of the systems we deliver to our clients."

Barco, a global technology company headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium, 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. For fiscal year 2005, Barco posted net sales of euro 712.0 million. Barco's ordinary shares are listed on the Brussels/Euronext stock exchange. Barco is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company. Share information may be accessed on Bloomberg under the symbol BAR BB and on Reuters under BARBt.BR.

Snell & Wilcox designs and builds the world's most advanced systems for video playout, mastering, repurposing, infrastructure, and live production switching. Providing solutions that deliver immediate value while enabling a controlled and cost-effective transition to HD and file-based systems, the company serves a worldwide base of customers in the broadcast, post production, cable, satellite, and IPTV markets. In business since 1973, Snell & Wilcox maintains its U.S. headquarters in Burbank, Calif., and European headquarters in Hampshire, U.K. Additional offices are located in New York, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, and Russia. Visit www.snellwilcox.com for more information.

Americas Press Contact: Susan Warren, Wall Street Communications, Phone: +1 631 261 1013. Email: susan@wallstreetcom.tv.

EMEA Press Contact: Becky Smith, on behalf of Wall Street Communications, Phone: +44 1622 684 592. Email: becky@ella-beck.co.uk.

Snell & Wilcox, Putting Pictures to Work, RollCall and Hyperion are all trademarks of the Snell & Wilcox Group. All other trademarks mentioned herein are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.