Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408250041
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
ITT Night Vision, the commercial unit of ITT's Electro-Optical Products Division on Plantation Road in northeast Roanoke County, and Bausch & Lomb's Sports Optics Division of Overland Park, Kan., will market a new line of night-vision products called "Night Ranger" for use by outdoor sports enthusiasts, the company confirmed Tuesday.
The products will include both a binocular expected to sell for about $2,400 and a monocular that will be about half that price. Bausch & Lomb will set prices for the products.
Although the new products will be sold under the Bausch & Lomb name, the accompanying literature identifies ITT as the manufacturer.
Several companies have approached ITT about jointly marketing night-vision products commercially, said ITT Night Vision Vice President Elaine Tuttle. ITT picked Bausch & Lomb because of what she called that company's leadership role in the sports-optics mass market.
Bausch & Lomb is the North American marketing leader for sports optics such as binoculars, telescopes and rifle scopes, and is renowned for the quality of its products, Tuttle said. ITT is the world leader in night-vision technology, design and manufacture, she said.
The decision to enter into the marketing alliance happened "quite rapidly," Tuttle said. Bausch & Lomb approached ITT with the proposal.
The business generated by the new product line should help maintain steady employment at the Roanoke County plant, Tuttle said. About 650 workers make night-vision equipment for military and commercial uses at the plant.
With the downsizing of the U.S. military, ITT has turned in recent years to commercial and law-enforcement markets for its night-vision products. ITT Night Vision, whose formation was announced in April, will continue to make and market directly its Night Mariner night-vision product for boaters under the ITT name.
The product for the Bausch & Lomb partnership will be made entirely in Roanoke, Tuttle said.
The Night Ranger binocular is similar to ITT's Night Mariner binocular, but the Night Ranger monocular is something new - both in terms of its lower, more affordable price and its one-hand, lightweight design. The monocular weighs about one pound.
ITT began making the Night Ranger product line for the Bausch & Lomb partnership last week.
The Night Rangers will be sold with a selection of accessories, including magnifying lenses for use in such activities as bird watching. The products will be waterproof like their Night Mariner cousin.
The sports-optics market of which Bausch & Lomb has a significant share is much larger than the boating market in which ITT has been selling its Night Mariner product, Tuttle said. Bausch & Lomb has the distribution, marketing and sales experience in that larger market that ITT lacks, she said.
by CNB