November 2013
www.tvbeurope.com
Grass now has about 900 employees, more than a quarter product engineers
technology platforms, such as having moved to CMOS from CCDs for its cameras, it will be able to move to 4K “pretty quickly. We will show some things at NAB,” he says. “Timing is really important. Ultimately everyone will do 4K, but whether it will be a year from now or five years, we can’t say.” Sports production, in particular, is seeing great interest in 4K, and he sees the Tokyo Olympics of 2020 really pushing the technical boundaries. It already does 4K on its Edius nonlinear editor, and cameras will probably be next. “4K super slo-mo will be a really interesting prospect,” although it will mean surmounting “a complex set of problems,” he adds.
Switcher platforms Thorsteinson likes to think of Grass as being “in the business of solving our customer’s challenges. We’re very technology focused. I think we’re really a bridge between traditional technology and the future.” However, one of his key aims
is rebuilding on its past strengths. Grass intends to bring out three new switcher platforms in the next year, mainly aimed at new markets, or, to be more accurate, returning to some markets it used to be in. “We have nothing at the low end — 1M/E switchers and educational institutions — and there is a big market down there. There are a lot of people who want to switch video on the same technology as the big guys. We have a good brand in that space and we want to make the most of it.” There will also be a new
server and transmission platform soon, and new infrastructure products (routing, conversion and distribution applications). “We’d like to be in a position where people can buy pretty much anything they want from us,” he says. “Our biggest growth will come from integrators and distributors around the world. That’s a big part of our business that we think has been neglected.” Now, other than in Australia, the company is out of the integration business, but it has taken a year to convince systems integrators, its ‘natural partners’, that it is no longer in competition with them. “We are now doing 35% of our business indirectly. We hope to get it to 50%.” Grass has already done well since his return in January. The second quarter, to the end of June, was its biggest ever. “We’re
profitable now, and expect to remain so. There was a significant amount of restructuring to be done. We’re now adding people, particularly engineers. Things are never stable, but we’re done cutting,” he states.
Grass now has about 900
employees, more than a quarter of whom are engineers developing products (on which it spends $45 million a year), with a similar number doing support.
TVBEurope 39 The Business Case
Some of its engineers have been with the company for more than 25 years, but it has a lot of new entrants too, although he believes the move to more IT-based infrastructures will take another three to five
years. “I get a good vibe out of the business. I ran a fibre optics company for a couple of years. That is a tough industry. Compared to some other technology companies, this is nice”.
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