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

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,

USA - BSR E1.22, Entertainment Technology - Fire Safety Curtain Systems, is available for public review on the ESTA website until 28 March, 2006. The draft standard describes the materials, fabrication, installation, operation, testing, and maintenance of fire safety curtains and fire safety curtain systems used for theatre proscenium opening protection.

It is a serious attempt to avoid offering a cook-book description of a fire safety curtain system and, instead, to specify how a fire curtain shall perform. That is, it doesn't tell you what kind of fabric to use for a fire safety curtain, for example, but instead tells you how strong whatever fabric you use must be and what abrasion and fire tests it must pass. The document may be accessed by visiting http://www.esta.org/tsp/documents/public_review_do

Following a long battle with cancer, Antony Bridges passed away at Trinity Hospice in Clapham on Tuesday 20 December 2005.

Born and bred in Ipswich, Antony moved to London in 1982 to study Physics at Imperial College in South Kensington. He rapidly immersed himself in the Drama Society there and within a year was one of the main "techies". His involvement with Dramsoc resulted in an 'unplanned' gap year during his course which he spent working for Theatre Projects Lighting, then at Blundell Street. He ultimately returned to Imperial to finish off his degree before re-joining TP for a further 18 months.

From there he joined Strand Lighting's service department in 1990, spending the next five years travelling the world, commissioning new installations or servicing existing installations of Galaxy, Gemini, EC90 and LP90. His expertise in LP90s resulted in a two-year stint at S

UK - The ABTT Training and Education Committee has announced two Technical Training Bursaries for 2006. These are made possible through the gift of Heather van Wijk, in memory of her late husband Nick, who was Master Carpenter at London's Aldwych Theatre from 1994 until his death in October 2003.

Well known throughout West End theatreland where he spent most of his working life, Nick van Wijk placed great emphasis on passing on his stage technical knowledge to the next generation of theatre technicians and these bursaries pay tribute to that enthusiasm.

The bursaries are available to sponsor two participants in the ABTT Bronze Award. To support the professional development of practitioners in technical theatre, each bursary of £550 covers the tuition fee for the certificated ABTT Bronze Award. This course includes: electrical fundamentals, portable appliance testing, kno

UK - Rycote, the long-established manufacturer of microphone windshields, shock mounts and all related microphone accessories has been given a striking new identity.

Over the last few months Rycote has been creating a more dynamic and bold image for the company and its products. Barneys Strategic Communication has been working with Vivienne Dyer, Rycote MD, to create a new look which marks a new phase in the company's plans for the future.

"We have new and exciting plans for the future, both through continued innovative product development and in the way we will be raising our profile in the year ahead," says Dyer. "Endorsed by the new strapline Sound Sense, we are actively planning new initiatives that will raise our Rycote brand image and which will directly benefit our distributors. Similarly, we will be supporting our valued customers with more new pr

UK - Educational institutions have long been an important market sector for cabling specialists VDC Trading. In recent months the company has notched up significant sales to the University of Edinburgh, the University of Surrey and the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guilford.

"Many educational institutions now offer courses in music and video technology, which means they have an ongoing requirement for cable for their recording studios and edit suites," says VDC Trading's commercial director Nigel May. "However, there is also significant demand for cable to support AV installations in lecture theatres and seminar rooms - and that's an area where we have seen a marked increase in business."

Among the many customers VDC Trading supplies is the Media and Learning Technology Service (MALTS) of the University of Edinburgh, which has over 40 lecture theatres an

Germany - beyerdynamic has acquired Interkom electronic Kock & Mreches, a Wedemark, Germany-based company specialising in wired conference and simultaneous interpretation systems. The acquisition is effective immediately.

For 25 years, Interkom electronic Kock & Mreches has manufactured innovative products for the conference installations market. That tradition has continued with its recent focus on customisation and tailor-made solutions of analogue and digital wired conference systems. The company will remain at its Wedemark location through March 31, 2006, at which time it will relocate to beyerdynamic's production facility in Heilbronn Germany.

"beyerdynamic and Interkom are a perfect fit, given our respective product portfolios," commented Wolfgang Luckhardt, beyerdynamic's worldwide managing director. "We will capitalise on this synergy, improving our rese

UK - 3M Optical Systems has selected the Albion( Group as UK distributor for its family of advanced rear projection display screens. Vikuiti eXtended Resolution Video Screens (XRVS) from 3M will be marketed under Albion's System-AV(R) brand, which also embraces AV support equipment, such as mounts, trolleys and furniture.

Commented Richard Osborn, managing director, Albion Group, "We are proud to have been chosen by 3M as UK distributor for XRVS screens and are pleased to be associated with such a well-established, international brand. XRVS screens are highly complimentary to our existing System-AV range, enabling us to leverage and sustain our strengths in the AV trade and displaysectors. It also offers the potential for expansion into new markets as the product develops."

XRVS display screens sizes range from 60-inch up to 95-inch in both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios

Spain/Denmark - Vieta Pro has appointed Moto Audio Sales ApS (MAS) as its representative in Denmark, joining a distribution portfolio that includes Yamaha and Sony, L'Acoustics and Renkus-Heinz.

MAS has derived its successful installation business from its corporate origins as a rental company. The company's Erik Bjerre explains that, despite handling distribution for some distinguished sound reinforcement brands, MAS was seeking a line of installation loudspeakers which would be suitable for restaurants and other such venues which didn't require high SPLs but wanted real speech intelligibility and accurate reproduction.

"We first saw Vieta's Do-Line at the PLASA show in London, where the design of the cabinets stopped us in our tracks," says Bjerre. "This range is a perfect fit for designer restaurant and bar interiors, and its availability in black and white f

UK - AV News magazine and Pacific Media Associates (PMA) will be jointly conducting a survey of UK resellers specialising in audio-visual products during 2006. The survey will focus on large displays, interactive and related products.

"The dramatic improvements in price/performance in all AV products, and specially in large displays, is leading to expanded market opportunities," suggests Bryan Denyer, editor of AV News. "As the vital link between manufacturers, distributors and end users, resellers are in the best position to know what is going on in the industry ... who is buying, what the applications are, what sort of products are most in demand, which manufacturers and distributors are doing the best job working with them, and a host of other key issues.

"We are hearing repeatedly from our manufacturer and distributor contacts that they need a better un

The PLASA Show has today launched its 2006 website. The new site carries extensive information on PLASA06, which will bring the industry live to Earls Court 1 in central London between 10-13 September 2006.The striking new website has been designed to help exhibitors and visitors quickly access everything they need to know about the show. It features an easy-to-use menu system, quick links to essential information such as the exhibitor list and floorplan and a straightforward online registration area where visitors can pre-book their tickets at the reduced rate of £9.00 - a saving of 50% on the on-the-door price of £18.00.Further essential information will be added in the coming months, including details of the seminar programme and Innovation Awards, exhibitor and visitor events, the latest technologies to be previewed and any further new initiatives being introduced at PLAS

UK - Presented by TV personality, Jayne Middlemiss, and introduced by TPi magazine editor, Mark Cunningham, this year's Total Production InternationalAwards on Monday 30 January was hailed the biggest andbest yet by a record audience of around 950 industry professionals and guests.

Held at the Novotel London West in Hammersmith, the fifth edition of the show was production managed by Steve Allen, and featured the input of PSL Music (video), ML soundadvice and Meyer Sound (audio), HSL Group (lighting), A.C. Lighting (additional lighting equipment), Star Events Group (rigging & truss), Kroos (crewing), Blackout (draping), Ice Lighting (bar LED lighting) and Edwin Shirley Trucking (transport).

A highlight of the production was the work of video graphics director Richard Shipman, along with Richard Bagshaw and Kate Perring of Digital Insanity, who designed a video projection wall

USA - More news from ESTA's Technical Standards Program: At its meeting on January 20, the Electrical Power Working Group approved the start of a project to write a standard to offer guidance on the inspection of stage and studio luminaires.

The new project, BSR E1.32-200x, Recommended Practice for the Inspection of Entertainment Industry Luminaires, is designed to help electricians conduct regular inspections of lighting instruments. In working on the BSR E1.19 GFCI project, it has become clear to the working group that one of the causes of ground-fault circuit interrupters tripping on stages, in studios, and on location shoots is faulty lighting equipment. Regular inspection would allow faults to be identified and corrected so they aren't risks to personnel or causes of production delays.

Interested parties - who would be anybody who owns, rents, uses, inspects

UK - Leading crowd management specialist Showsec has commissioned a new Health and Safety course for its supervisory staff after discovering a need for training at this level. In 2005, Showsec completed Health and Safety training for its 28-strong management team, but in trying to implement the next tranche of the development programme, was unable to source a suitable training course for it's supervisory staff. They found the solution to the deficiency by commissioning a brand new course set to run across the company's nine UK offices from March this year.

Showsec has continued with the investment and expansion of it's training and research department in 2006. The staff development programme will set new standards within the industry, say the company.

The IOSH-accredited Supervising Safety in the Events Industry course has been devised by Showsec's training manager Roy Wise, H

UK - The Training Initiative, the long-established training and education programme run by leading entertainment lighting supplier White Light, has announced a line-up of one-day classes for the first half of 2006 in addition to its normal round of training initiatives. The classes offer visitors the chance to learn about some of the latest lighting technology, ranging from MA Lighting's grandMA lighting console to CAD software such as AutoCAD and WYSIWYG.

Held at White Light's base in London, south-west London, classes are generally held on Wednesdays and run from 10am until 4pm. The season started on Tuesday January 24th with a free Advanced course on the grandMA console; this was complemented the next day with a Basic grandMA course.

February started with a session on the Avolites consoles and will concluded with a session on the Whole Hog 2 console on the 22nd. March's cou

UK - As journalists we encounter varying degrees of reticence over the sharing of information. Some things will be shared openly, others will be strictly 'off the record' and some will never be revealed on, off, or anywhere near the record, for fear the Universe will implode upon itself. And it can be tough to second guess where a given company's management will draw the lines between these options.

So on the rare occasion that someone is prepared to open up and reveal what are, let's face it, the really interesting facets of their operation, it's always a treat. In this industry, the extreme case of such openness has to be Le Mark, the Cambridgeshire-based manufacturer of sticky tapes and labels so indispensable to the entertainment industry, which decided last year to expose its soul to BBC 3's fly-on-the-wall business documentary, The Ferocious Mr Fixit.

Le Mark has

UK - This year the Global Infusion Group (incorporating Eat to the Beat, Chevalier Event Design and e2B Logistics) has committed its support to the 'One Water' charity, which aims to provide access to free, clean water in third world areas by generating profits from the sale of 'One' branded bottled water.

By supporting this charity, Global Infusion has pledged to buy 80,000 500ml bottles in 2006. This in turn will raise £5,000 to buy a village a well, a pumping system and a 'magic roundabout'. The children of the village play on the roundabout, and each revolution pumps a litre of water into storage tanks, so water can be freely available.

The concept was launched to the team at Global Infusion Group at their AGM in January this year by managing director Duncan Goose. The team wholeheartedly bought into the concept without exception.

Currently, one billion people in t

UK - The Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) has launched the first in a new suite of financial services designed to help member companies protect themselves against the risk of bad debts and to assist them in trading competitively in the growing global market.

The three new services - free credit checks, credit insurance facilities and a debt collection service - have been launched to minimise the risks involved in trading with particular customers and enable members to make more informed decisions.

PLASA Members can now request free credit checks on all UK companies. The service, provided by CreditSafe, allows members to request Reports on clients or business contacts. Updated on a daily basis, the Reports include financial information, key ratios, trend analysis, directors' details, payment record and a rating system classifying companies on a scale from 0 t

UK - Cambridgeshire based flightcase manufacturer 5 Star launches its new look website for 2006, including a host of additional and updated features. The re-design has been undertaken in-house by 5 Star's technical and marketing departments, underlining the company's commitment to keeping key functions and services internal.

The Home page features colourful, easy to navigate links, which are regularly updated and have been designed to guide browsers quickly to the relevant sections of the site.5 Star's continued investment and innovative qualities are highlighted, including a new 'Technology' section, added to detail 5 Star's recently installed Solid Edge software, a world renowned 3D design, assembly and visualisation tool of which 5 Star has three 'seats'. Solid Edge is now used in production as well as providing clients with accurate virtual models of the proposed case.

The

Canada - The newest release of Vivien virtual event designer is now easier to use, ensuring planners can create stunning 3D images of events without complex CAD training. With its streamlined user interface, more intuitive and user-friendly tools, Vivien 1.2 has already received rave reviews, says manufacturer Cast Software.

"I've been showing it to people and they were more than excited-they were positively giddy!" says John Mordal, a Vivien user who recently demonstrated the latest in Vivien at The Event for Planners and Suppliers Expo in Minnesota. "I believe that the success of this product depends on how easy it is for the lay person to get up and running quickly, and Vivien 1.2 does it," he says.

The Vivien team gave tools like the Missing Coordinate and Shaded View more user-friendly names like Height and Virtual View. "We've listened to feedbac

UK - The Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) has launched the first in a new suite of financial services designed to help member companies protect themselves against the risk of bad debts and to assist them in trading competitively in the growing global market.The three new services - free credit checks, credit insurance facilities and a debt collection service - have been launched to minimise the risks involved in trading with particular customers and enable members to make more informed decisions.

PLASA Members can now request free credit checks on all UK companies. The service, provided by CreditSafe, allows members to request Reports on clients or business contacts. Updated on a daily basis, the Reports include financial information, key ratios, trend analysis, directors' details, payment record and a rating system classifying companies on a scale from 0 to 1

Italy - Fifty-six years after it first appeared on the European entertainment landscape, the famous San Remo Festival continues to go from strength to strength. Promoted by Italian television giants, Rai, the song contest has always enjoyed high production values and this year's event on the Italian Riviera saw the installation of a complete digital solution in the 1900-capacity Ariston Theatre.

Harman's HiQnet connectivity and control protocol was used within a CobraNet environment so that all audio and control data could be routed over a common Ethernet pipe. Making its debut alongside other HiQnet-compatible devices in the Harman product portfolio were five of the new dbx DriveRack 4800's - the first to be used outside the United States - optimizing the performance of the two powered 10 x JBL VT 4888 DP-CN Vertec line array hangs.

With its 96kHz DSP engine and standard anal

UK - The entertainment, architectural and installation industries are changing. Advances in lighting, sound, AV and safety technologies are driving new ideas: creative projects are becoming more innovative and less derivative, whilst commercial installations are benefiting from sophisticated life safety systems.

Harnessing all these advances together in one place at one time is PLASA06 - the main international exhibition for the theatre, architectural, touring, DJ, club, leisure and TV sectors, which takes place from 10-13 September at Earls Court in London.

Six months from opening, the show is 80% sold, guaranteeing that the industry's top 500 brands will be at PLASA06 showing the latest innovations in the lighting, audio, AV, stage engineering and control fields. Not only will PLASA06 have a strong showing of core products and services to meet the demands of projects and ins

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