High points in 2005 included the installation of a Lighthouse LED screen at Samsung's flagship advertising site in London's Piccadilly Circus. The 12m x 12m P16 16mm pixel pitch, 5,000 Nits brightness screen, had already proven its worth in this location on the Coca Cola site. With Samsung's position being adjacent, they wanted to have something that was equal in quality.
"This screen has a very high resolution," explains Lighthouse's Northern European sales manger, Simon Taylor, who coordinated the project. "The colour rendition is accurate - something that is an extremely important consideration for companies needing to ensure that their corporate identity is precisely rendered. The downward angled LEDs ensure that there is a perfect viewing angle from street level."
Samsung were keen that the screen should not look like a 'big television', so the lower portion of the screen was rendered to replicate neon lighting - a form of lighting traditionally associated with Piccadilly Circus - which creates an artistic sculptural feel to the display.
Lighthouse screens can be seen around the globe, consistently dominant in both the systems integration and AV markets. Lighthouse became even more prominent in the worldwide rental market when Creative Technology chose Lighthouse screens for Live 8's Hyde Park event.
XL Video joined the Lighthouse fold with a substantial purchase of R16 LED screen, 126 panels of which were immediately seen on Michael Flatley's Celtic Tiger tour in the US. Mainland Europe saw significant sales, including Swiss company Winkler's purchase of additional panels of R16 screen to add to their substantial rental stock, and investment by French video rental company Alabama, who now has an impressive 169 panels of Lighthouse R6 screen.
Meanwhile in Southern Europe, under the aegis of director of sales Roberto Segato, a number of new rental partners have been secured. These include Pietra Union in Serbia, Astel/Intersection in Turkey, AV Set in Italy and Miguel Diaz in Spain, as well as existing partner VideoRental in Italy increasing its rental stock to over 400 panels of R6.
In the US, Lighthouse and Sony Electronics Inc formed a strategic partnership, reaching an agreement for Lighthouse to utilise Sony's extensive resources to provide national on-site service programs to Lighthouse's LED large screen video customers in North America. Lighthouse's partnership with Christie Digital Systems allows them to focus on both the rental, and fixed installation markets. These alliances came hot on the heels of several new product launches, including PopVision, the industry's first portable, self-contained high brightness LED video screen.
"Through our key partnerships and diligent work, this year our North / South America team implemented its strategic plan to revitalize infrastructure to better support our growing sales and service operation," said Tony Turiello, vice president sales, marketing and operations in the Americas for Lighthouse. "Because of all this work, Lighthouse is stronger than ever in meeting the growing demand of LEDs."
"It's been an incredible year," says Lighthouse's managing director Mark Chan. "Lighthouse continues to increase its presence in the European market year-on-year, through a combination of technical excellence and a fantastic team. Our penetration into the global market is steady and we expect to see even better results next year."
(Chris Henry)
