by Craig Johnston~ April 26, 2006
TV TECHNOLOGY
Vinten Radamec threw a party at its booth Monday to celebrate a "consummating," so-to-speak, of Vinten's marriage with Radamec. Vinten acquired its former competitor several years ago, and continued to deliver both company's product lines, though they remained incompatible.
At the NAB2006 convention, the company introduced its Fusion line of products, designed to control both Vinten's Autocam and Radamec products. "It's a continuation," said Martin Philp, Vinten Radamec product marketing manager. "We brought the two companies together; we're now bringing the technology together as well."
This brings a sigh of relief from prior customers, especially those who own Radamec equipment, who are now assured they haven't been abandoned.
"This is very much along the lines of taking the virtues of the Radamec and the Autocam systems, and making it truly a best of both worlds approach for the products that we have," Philp said.
NEW FUSION
He said the new Fusion system uses technology developed while producing both the Autocam and Radamec brands. "We really have genuinely come up with something that is both looking to the past as well as taking everybody forward. We are trying to get more and more automated in the way that we take things forward."
Philp noted that there is a lot of robotic capability available between the prior Autocam and Radamec lines, and the company is being careful not to announce new equipment just for the sake of doing so. Instead, it is looking for new customer needs.
One example where it made sense to move ahead with a new product is the Fusion range, which includes the FH100 head and FP145 pedestal. It offers all the functionality of its predecessors, but with a reduced payload.
"With reduced payload, it has allowed us to drop the price quite significantly from the current offering," Philp said. "This has allowed us again to start looking at other markets, to actually grow the number of people using robotics, because it's truly manual, allows flexibility, and allows for true integration and lower risk for the new user of robotics, and that's an area that we see a lot of growth coming from."
The FH100 head has been designed for use as a standalone device or for seamless integration with the new FP145 pedestal. The robust mechanical design and leading-edge electronics provide for a high-performance head, flexible and accurate.
"It's a very key area for us going forward," Philp said, "so we're keying to make sure we're taking care of our current customers as well as taking new customers on-board at the same time."
© 2006 NAB
