INTERVIEW 027
Wireless Solution’s annual Swedish Vodka and Meatball Party at LDI
introduced the nascent technology to the international marketplace. But Arvidsson could see that by adapting off-the-shelf modules and then converting it to do DMX via a dedicated interface made the end product prohibitively expensive in the volume market. It had to be an easy to use plug ‘n’ play system with fast transmission. Sensing that the technology needed to be driven from the lighting end, it wasn’t until the year 2000, when he started to think what might be possible with wireless lighting control, that he sought the right partners, and teamed up with former employees from Swedish mobile phone giants Ericsson. By 2003 he was ready to launch. There were several key parameters in his design mission, and these were ease of use, good quality and good price (he immediately succeeded in reducing price by 50% in the first generation products). In addition, wireless DMX had to overcome market scepticism about signal security when removing cable, and also address the price issue. “People were only prepared to use wireless DMX when cable was not possible and even today rental companies are thinking more about using wireless to save on installation cost.” The piece of good fortune Arvidsson had was being able to take the name of a company called Wireless Solution, which had gone out of business the year before, and simply re-register it as Wireless Solution Sweden, adding ‘W-DMX’ as the catchy brand name - short for wireless DMX. “With that name no-one was in any doubt what we produced,” he reasoned. Following its SIB launch, by the Autumn of 2004 Wireless Solution was already into its second generation, launching the improved G2 W-DMX BlackBox, with a newly extruded chassis, XLR / USB connectors and one button operation in London, where it scooped the PLASA Innovation Award. It was the first of several prestigious industry awards that the company would collect, including the LDI Most Promising Debut Award the following year. “We had overcome problems such as having to set an IP address for each DMX universe - it was now done automatically and synced, with one button operation. We also adopted a universal power supply while others were using external transformers.” However, the major step forward was the G3 box. “It was higher quality, using a die cast, heavy duty chassis, and it provided a lot more functionality for the user. We could see how rental companies would be able to make greater use of this product.” Yet again SGM was quick to respond to W-DMX, becoming Arvidsson’s first OEM partner, and integrating the wireless technology into the Palco and Synthesis products. SGM also put the wireless DMX box in its price list so clients could buy the transmitters. “They were the first to use high power LEDs - and the wireless feature was a real selling point,” remembered Niclas. By PLASA 2005 early wireless receivers and transmitters had evolved into all-in-
“There is no wireless box on the
market that offers all of the above, and Wireless Solution comes at a price that is 40% less than
the competition, and all made in Sweden.”
one transceivers; the company unveiled its W-DMX IP65 Transceiver, alongside the W-DMX IP65 repeater, enabling customers to overcome long transmission distances and building height differentials. By 2007 more output power, greater reliability and further distance coverage was made possible and Wireless Solution launched the W-DMX G3 BlackBox S-2 and T-1 - the first plug ‘n’ play transceiver as well the first dual universe system on the market. This eventually led to the new G4 BlackBox F-1 and F-2 - launched last year - incorporating Adaptive Technology, Invisi-Wire, Data-Safe and other technologies, streamlined further with this year’s W-DMX BlackBox Mk2. Of this product, Niclas explained: “Ever since we designed the G1 it was about how we could hang the box. So we produced a Quick Lock system for the Mk2, with two L brackets for standard 19-inch rackmount, a DIN-rail system, with Powercon and Ethercon (instead of RJ45) all in one box. “There is no wireless box on the market that offers all of the above, and Wireless Solution comes at a price that is 40% less than the competition, and all made in Sweden.” The company has also made huge reductions in OEM PCB prices, compared with lower-featured Chinese equivalents, because it is geared up for volume production. “We only have one component that needs to be mounted outside the SMT assembly line,” he said. Today the company has around 35 OEM customers, the bulk of them preferring to incorporate the transceiver option. As the demand increases it is starting to build stocks of the cards, to enable it to supply smaller companies that cannot forecast one-off events so easily. Out of every ten boxes the company makes, six will be transceivers. One major company that has installed W-DMX as standard in its new Glow-Up
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