According to Steve Terry, ETC's vice-president of R&D: "IES has developed unique products that complement our current product offerings and provide silent dimming for concert halls and theatres. IES has been a pioneer in sine wave dimming technologies. IES dimming will be an integral component in ETC's total lighting systems."
ETC plans to dramatically increase sales of IES products through ETC's comprehensive sales network in Europe as well as to introduce the technologies to the North American and other global markets. Terry adds: "We will give IES products market access that they deserve and give the market the innovation it deserves and needs."
As part of the purchase, ETC also adds IES sister company Penko Engineering BV, which specializes in the development and manufacture of high accuracy electronic weighing and dosing systems designed for use in process industries. Both companies share manufacturing, engineering and technical resources, which are located in Veenendaal, Netherlands. According to Jan de Jonge, principal of IES: "Penko is a critical part of IES' success. We are pleased that we will be able to continue to offer our products and services through ETC." ETC sees strong synergies with the division in its future product development.
Fred Foster, ETC's CEO, said: "IES and Penko have earned strong reputations in their respective markets. We welcome the opportunity to bring together the best people and ideas in our development efforts and leverage our combined technologies to meet the increasing demands of the worldwide market."
Well-known throughout Europe, de Jonge will continue to head up ETC's new acquisition and will assist the ETC team in further developments with silent dimming systems. IES not only will continue to service its customers and support its product range as normal, but also will benefit from the greatly expanded global distribution, marketing facilities, and investment in research and development - particularly for its advanced ranges of sine wave dimming - that ETC can offer.
(Lee Baldock)
