NAB 2012: AXON & intoPIX Announce JPEG 2000 Collaboration

AXON, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary at this year’s show, and intoPIX have announced a collaboration in creating a range of new JPEG 2000 enabled broadcast products. AXON has also been highlighting what it’s happy to refer to as ‘its stellar sales growth’.

AXON is positioned at the leading edge of technical development within the markets it serves. The majority of AXON’s product portfolio has been developed with a significant customer input, helping to ensure that AXON’s product portfolio remains appropriate to their needs in a dynamic business environment.

“The cooperation with IntoPIX fits perfectly with our strategy to be in this leading edge”, says Rafael Peset Llopis, AXON’s Vice President of Research & Development. “intoPIX’ JPEG 2000 solutions enable us to further develop our long time delay products which are used for time zone compensation, profanity checks and +1/+2 hour channels”.

“We feel honored for being selected as an AXON technology partner”, says Katty Van Mele, intoPIX’ Director of Business Development. “Their leading edge products and advanced modular systems mark a new step for the intoPIX JPEG 2000 technology meanwhile, AXON”s sales figures are certainly looking impressive. Compared with the same period in 2011, the first quarter of 2012 sees Axon posting 44 % higher order intake and a 27% increase in sales. These strong figures mark a continuing upward trend for the company – last six months witnessed a 15% growth in sales compared to the preceding six months”.

“Recent times have been hard for all in the international broadcast industry but we are definitely seeing an increased willingness from our customers in many regions to invest in growing business models,” commented Jan Eveleens, Chief Executive Officer at Axon. “All regions are contributing to this boost in sales. Europe is traditionally a strong market for Axon and we are also seeing a very promising growth in orders from Eastern Europe, South East Asia and North America.”

This strong upwards trend in Axon’s sales revenue is no fluke – it is the early dividend of a strategy that has seen the company investing over the long-term in its global sales and customer support network.

Since the company last visited NAB, it has opened a regional office in Moscow, Russia with one of its most experienced staff members – Cor Pennings – relocating from the Netherlands to head up the Moscow operation. This investment rapidly led to a major project with ANO Sports Broadcasting (Panorama) to provide Synapse modular processing equipment for a new 12-vehicle fleet of Outside Broadcast (OB) trucks.

The fleet will be used as part of a massive new broadcast infrastructure project being built to enable millions of viewers in Russia to watch the XXII Winter Games and the XI Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi in 2014, as well as the XXVII World Summer University Games in Kazan in 2013.

Similarly, Axon has established a regional office in Singapore and the company is registering strongly growing sales from key Asian markets, including China, Vietnam, Thailand, Brunei and Philippines.

“We have recently made new appointments to our European sales team and we’re currently recruiting in Latin America,” stated Eveleens. “Axon is a company that is well known for its ability to listen to our customers and respond to their changing needs. Only through this continued investment can we continue this significant growth and it is something that we are determined to do.”