BARCO STRENGTHENS ITS POSITION IN THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL MARKET BY ACQUIRING GERMANY-BASED ORTHOGON
Kortrijk, 1 October, 2002. BARCO has signed an agreement to acquire Germany-based Orthogon AG to further strengthen its market position in Air Traffic Control (ATC). Today BARCO already has a leading position in the graphic boards market for ATC and is fast taking the market of ATC displays since the introduction of ISIS, the first flat LCD screen for ATC. By acquiring Orthogon, a renowned software components player in the European ATC market, BARCO extends its product offering to software components and associated services in ATC and widens its product offering for Command & Control applications.
Orthogon AG, headquartered in Bremen, Germany and with other offices in Germany and the US, is a privately owned company, founded in 1987. All Orthogon European and US associates, including the current management team, will remain in place. Orthogon will be integrated into the Command & Control division of BARCO, of which ATC is also a part. In 2001, Orthogon AG realised a turnover of € 9.2 Million in 2001 and employed 82 people. The company is profitable.
This acquisition extends BARCO’s existing product offering from a hardware based product portfolio to software components and associated services. Hence, this strategic acquisition will further strengthen the leading position BARCO already has in the ATC market today.
About BARCO
BARCO, with headquarters in Kortrijk, Belgium, has three key activities which are all active in Image Processing. BarcoProjection is in various markets of large screen visualization. BarcoView develops and manufactures display systems for life critical applications, while BarcoVision is in systems for visual inspection and quality control. In 2001, the entire BARCO group delivered a turnover of 792 million EUR. BARCO has a network of subsidiaries, distributors and agents in 97 countries throughout the world. BARCO has been quoted on the Brussels Stock Exchange since 1986, and is now quoted on Brussels/Euronext. BARCO is a BEL 20 and a Next 150 company and is a component of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes.
You can find more information about BARCO on the web: www.barco.com
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