New DI company to launch at IBC

IBC 2004 will be the launch pad for Assimilate, Inc., a new company with a highly experienced management team and a “spirit for revolution” in Digital Intermediate (DI) technology and pipeline solutions.
The new company is spearheaded by industry veterans Jim Meadlock, Chairman, and Jeff Edson, CEO, both formerly of Intergraph, the company that introduced the first Intel/Windows NT workstation platform for digital media.
Assimilate has acquired DIP R-evolution, the company founded by Gerk Huisma and Nacho Mazzini, both pioneers of the Digital Intermediate process. At Assimilate, Huisma is the CTO and Mazzini is the Vice President of Sales.
Assimilate will offer demo previews, plus further details about its business plans and first products in private sessions at IBC. The company’s initial product line will focus on modular, open-platform software running on commodity hardware, which enable studios within the film and video postproduction industry to build cost-effective and comprehensive DI pipelines, including a complete workflow solution and project management system.
“The need for a revolution in the DI market is clearly there,” said Jeff Edson, CEO of Assimilate. “We have a fundamental mission to empower creators with solutions that add value to their current tools and processes. We’re talking to customers about what they really need from technology, and it’s obvious there’s a call for fresh innovation and greater cost-effectiveness. We’re aiming to reach as many companies as possible at IBC with our message. Assimilate is all about delivering winning solutions for post-houses and studios by combining the gains in productivity offered by complete digitized content with the cost effectiveness of powerful open-platform technology.”
DI has become one of the hottest topics in the postproduction community in the last 18 months, with many companies in post centres worldwide entering the market.
(GB)