Business News


DCC Technology acquires Jam Industries


DCC Technology has an- nounced the aquisition of Jam Industries, North America’s largest value-added distributor of musical instruments, pro- fessional audio and consumer electronics products. Tim Griffin, DCC Technology Managing Director said, “Our acquisition of Jam represents the next step in DCC Technol- ogy’s strategy to extend its geo- graphic footprint and product range, strengthening our rela- tionship with new and existing suppliers while also broadening our base of customers. Impor- tantly, the very strong service capability of Jam represents a significant step in DCC Tech- nology's continued execution of its plans to provide specialist value added services to all its vendors, resellers and retail- ers - bringing extensive brand reach and market access whilst simplifying the complex supply chain in our sectors.”


Following the acquisition of Stampede in July 2018, our in- vestment in Jam adds an excit- ing new brand to our portfolio


and means that we now have a $600m+ revenue business in North America with a strong, service-led specialist focus on pro audio and visual technolo- gies, musical instruments and consumer electronics.” Jam Industries is headquar- tered in Montreal, Canada with sales and logistics operations across the US and Canada, em- ploying around 600 people. As the leading distributor and sup- ply chain service provider in its sector, it also offers a compre- hensive range of value-added services to its vendor partners and customers. Jam’s expe- rienced and highly respected management team including Martin Szpiro, CEO, who re- mains a shareholder, and Stu- art Frenkel, CFO, will continue to manage the business post acquisition and are committed to leading the business through the next phase of its develop- ment. In addition, Jam founder Martin Golden and his son Mat- thew Golden will also remain in- volved with the business adding to the continuity.


Affectiva and Nuance to bring


Affectiva developers Artificial Emotional Intelligence (Emotion AI), and Nuance Communica- tions, are to work together to further humanise automotive as- sistants and in-car experiences. Affectiva Automotive AI, the first multi-modal in-cabin AI sensing solution, will be integrated with Nuance’s conversational AI-pow- ered Dragon Drive automotive assistant platform. The integrated solution will deliver the industry’s first interactive automotive assis- tant that understands drivers’ and passengers’ complex cognitive and emotional states from face and voice and adapts behaviour accordingly.


The integration of Affectiva’s technology with Dragon Drive will expand the breadth and depth of contextual, emotional and cogni- tive data that automotive assis- tants can detect and account for. Affectiva Automotive AI measures facial expressions and emotions such as joy, anger and surprise, as well as vocal expressions of anger, engagement and laughter, in real-time. Affectiva Automotive AI also provides key indicators of drowsiness such as yawning, eye closure and blink rates, as well


Emotional Intelligence to AI as physical distraction or mental distraction from cognitive load or anger.


Nuance’s Dragon Drive powers more than 200 million cars on the road today across more than 40 languages, creating highly customised, fully branded expe- riences for Audi, BMW, Daimler, Fiat, Ford, GM, Hyundai, SAIC, Toyota, and more. Powered by conversational AI, Dragon Drive enables the in-car assistant to in- teract with passengers based on verbal and non-verbal modalities, including gesture, touch, gaze de- tection, voice recognition powered by natural language understand- ing (NLU), and now, through its work with Affectiva, emotion and cognitive state detection. In the near-term, Affectiva and Nuance’s integrated solution will enable the automotive assistant to further learn and understand driv- er and passenger emotion and be- haviour, as shown through speech incidents or facial expressions of emotion. For example, if an au- tomotive assistant detects that a driver is happy based on their tone of voice, it can mirror that emotional state in its responses and recommendations.


CDS Managing Director, Christopher Bartram: “We will supply panels up to the huge 98 and including the 75” hibrite sunlight readable 2500cd display but also the ultra-wide stretched displays that have not been cut with native resolution (making them easier to drive).”


to optimise for the specific mar- ket and application. The raw PID Display can also be housed in a metal open frame housing to aid companies to mount and install the solution with great ease. This partnership will mean customers no longer have to purchase fully


We feel in the UK Samsung has been the sleeping giant in the Public Information Displays and large format display arena. CDS will help to bring the giant to life with our interface solutions, touchscreens, marketing and support.”


Midwich to distribute Tripleplay in the UK and Ireland


Midwich has announced a part- nership with Tripleplay. Mid- wich will be the sole distributor of the full range of Tripleplay products in the UK and Ire- land. Tripleplay is a digital sig- nage, IPTV and video stream- ing solutions manufacturer, providing a single platform AV/ IT solution for clients.The part- nership with Tripleplay will further strengthen Midwich’s expertise in the market and broaden the al- ready diverse base of customers. Midwich can now provide a one- stop shop for integrators to supply


all of their signage, IPTV and video streaming requirements. Jon Dew-Stanley, Director of Midwich Technical Division, com- mented: “We believe that Midwich is a true value-added distributor, synonymous with


bringing out-


standing video signal distribution products to market. Our new part- nership with Tripleplay and their advanced industry leading IPTV and streaming technology


rein-


forces our expertise in the market. The Tripleplay range is a natural fit for our portfolio to meet the needs of our clients and their projects.”


CDS partners with Samsung Semiconductor


Crystal Display Systems (CDS) has joined forces with Samsung semi-conductor, in the UK, to create a displays partnership in Large Format TFTF LCD Displays. Samsung is a leading manufac- turer of large format TFT Displays including Public Information Dis- plays (PIDs).


Combining these advantages with CDS’s knowledge, expertise and distribution network, this partner- ship “is going to open up many new opportunities for designers and developers for many new products and applications”.


To


supplement Samsung’s PID dis- plays, CDS offers interface cards for easy interfacing and ‘plug and go’ solutions to easily plug into a PC to drive the LCDS panels. In addition to interface board solutions. CDS offers interactive touch screens for the Samsung range with varying touch technol- ogies including PCAP Projective capacitive and Infra-Red touch


enclosed monitors and put them into their own housing, but rath- er can now purchase the display and / or interface kit and build them into a custom-built hous- ing.


CDS Managing Director, Christo- pher Bartram, highlighted “We will be supporting all Samsung’s PID products in the UK and Eire including stockholding to better support distribution custom- ers, designers and developers to give them the latest techno- logical innovations including the above peripheral products. We will supply panels up to the huge 98 and including the 75” hibrite sunlight readable 2500cd display but also the ultra-wide stretched displays that have not been cut but are rather are native resolution (making them easier to drive). These will be used in many more applications includ- ing retail, transportation and any application with limited space.


Midwich acquires Sound Directions France


Midwich has announced it has acquired Sound Directions France, which trades as Perfect Sound, a value-added distribu- tor of professional audio prod- ucts based in France, serving predominantly the French and French speaking Swiss market. Headquartered in St Etienne, Perfect Sound is a specialist distributor of professional au- dio products with a particular focus on the audio integration market. After the successful acquisitions of professional audio distributors Earpro SA


(Spain), and Sound Technolo- gy Ltd (UK) in 2017, the trans- action strengthens the Group’s expertise in this technology. The business will report into Mathieu Payet, Managing Di- rector of the Midwich Group’s French organisation Sidev SAS. Previous shareholders Christophe Palluat de Besset (Managing Director) and Anto- nio Fernandes (Head of Sales) will remain with the Company and will lead the growth of the Group’s professional audio business in France.


TCL opens AI facility in Poland


TCL has opened the TCL Research Europe R&D cen- tre - the largest R&D facility outside of China belonging to the group. More than 100 specialists will be employed there. In cooperation with re- searchers from University of Warsaw they will work, on the development of Artificial Intel- ligence (AI). The Centre will be led by Dr Bartosz Biskups- ki, a Polish scientist and the previous head of the Artificial Intelligence


department at


Samsung. The Warsaw research and development centre is anoth- er investment of an electronic giant in Poland - since 2007, TCL runs a factory in Żyrardów. The work of TCL Research Eu- rope will technologically im- prove the most important glob- al products of the group: TVs, smartphones and Smart Home applications. TCL will cooperate with the Faculty of Mathematics, Infor- matics and Mechanics of the


University of Warsaw based on the letter of intent signed by Bartosz Biskupski and the Dean of the Faculty Prof. Paweł Strzelecki. Both institutions will exchange of experience in the activities related to AI. Specialists employed in the capital of Poland will work on how the AI algorithms can be used to ensure the best image quality and to deliver inno- vative functionalities of elec- tronic devices - said Bartosz Biskupski. Using AI, the R&D Centre will also focus on im- provement of TCL products by teaching them to understand and to use human languages and making them more us- er-friendly. Experts will also work on optimizing AI algo- rithms so that they can be used directly in devices, not in the cloud. This will improve the privacy of users.


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