THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 15, 1996 TAG: 9608150391
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 71 lines
The Summer Olympics may be over, but in Hampton Roads the glow lingers.
Leitch Inc., a Chesapeake-based company that makes television broadcasting equipment, recently contributed to the behind-the-scenes success of the Olympics in Atlanta. Its products next travel to Japan to help produce the upcoming Winter Games.
Leitch designed and produced $5 million worth of video and audio equipment used to broadcast the Summer Games. Its products synchronized video frames, routed audio and video signals and monitored overall broadcasting coordination.
A U.S. affiliate of the Canadian parent firm Leitch Technology Corp., Leitch designs, manufactures and markets electronic equipment and software used by television broadcasters and telecommunications companies.
The Chesapeake facility, which opened in 1981, moved into its present office in the Greenbrier Commerce Park in 1992. Leitch employs 140 people and contributes 54 percent of overall company sales.
Last year, the Chesapeake operation alone made $45 million in gross sales, compared to $12 million in 1990, said president Kent Ewing. The parent corporation logged $75.6 million in gross revenues in 1996.
Leitch won an Emmy last October for engineering excellence.
The company has been involved in all the Olympic Games since 1972. The most recent Olympics stood out as Leitch's most noteworthy.
``This year was the first year we were one of the prime vendors to Panasonic,'' Ewing said.
As the primary equipment contractor to NBC, the national network that televised the Atlanta Games, Panasonic started negotiating in 1993 with Leitch to provide technical support. Nine other vendors also provided equipment to Panasonic and NBC.
Under its contract, Leitch leased $5 million worth of its products to NBC and Panasonic for the Summer Games. More than half of that equipment has since been purchased by the two companies. Panasonic will ship the Leitch equipment to Japan for the next segment of the Olympics. NBC will reprogram the its share of the equipment to help upgrade its New York studios from analog technology to digital.
``We see nothing but a bright future for the next eight to 10 years,'' Ewing said. ``Our products will help TV people make the switch to digital.''
Most television-broadcasting companies are upgrading their video technology, Ewing said. Moving from analog to digital technology will enable TV networks to increase the number of pixels - or color bits - displayed. That will make the video picture clearer and better defined - similar to the three-dimensional picture at an IMAX film.
But the interest in Leitch doesn't stop there.
High-tech and telecommunications companies are also turning to video. Computer hardware companies like IBM as well as software companies like Microsoft and Oracle hope to use video on their computer systems,meaning they also must update their technologies to become compatible.
Companies are venturing out of their traditional industry sectors to dabble in television broadcast and related avenues, Ewing said. Microsoft, for example, has moved into new ventures like the cable network MSNBC and an online newspaper, called CityScape.
Those ventures may also need Leitch technology.
``We're right at the convergence,'' Ewing said. ``They're all turning to video as a medium.'' ILLUSTRATION: LEITCH Technology Corporation
JIM WALKER photos
The Virginian-Pilot
RIGHT: Kent Ewing is president of Chesapeale-based Leitch Inc.
ABOVE: Anita Wilcox, front and Shirley Jones work on surface mount
circuit boards.
LEFT: Sharon Menzies inspects surface mount circuit boards. by CNB