Kortrijk, 27 February 2014 - Tonight, visualization expert Barco and AED Studios, part of audiovisual specialist AED group, officially inaugurated 'Barco Virtual World', a virtual experience events hall at the site of AED Studios in Lint, Belgium. The 1.000m2 hall is equipped with ten of Barco's high-brightness HDX-W20 projectors and a 90-meter long screen - the largest in the Benelux - to provide an immersive virtual experience in full HD. As a technical partner of Barco Virtual World, Barco is happy to help AED Studios to push the limits of projection and corporate event infrastructure to create a unique experience for AED's customers.

A longstanding customer of Barco, the AED group purchased the renowned Eurocam Mediacenter in 2013, renaming it AED Studios. The 55,000m2 site is home to an extensive range of film studios (45m² < 3000m²), each offering an enormous array of multifunctional possibilities. "The studios perfectly complement our rental, sales, repair, logistics and leasing businesses," says Glen Roggeman, CEO of AED Studios. "When buying the studios, we immediately dreamt of converting one of the halls into a unique 'Virtual experience' space, in order to underscore our commitment to state-of-the-art AV technology. It was only logical to team up with Barco, the world leader in projection technology."

Exceptionally bright and large
As a technical partner to the project, Barco will provide AED Studios with visualization equipment, including HDX-W20 projectors, LCD displays and digital signage media servers. The projectors, which each offer 20,000 lumens of light output, project images onto a 90-meter-long screen with a total of 17,000 pixels. Thierry Heldenbergh, Managing Director of AED Display: "The set-up allows us to offer highly immersive projection at the highest possible resolution. Consequently, Barco Virtual World is the ideal location for organizers of corporate events, congresses, meetings, live television programs, etc. who are looking for ways to provide an out-of-the-ordinary experience. They can use either our standard HD content or shoot their own images and display these - either way, they're sure to leave the audience in awe."

Great exposure
The AED group has been a trusted Barco partner for many years. "AED's impressive product offering includes our high-brightness projectors and top-range image processing capability as well as LED displays and our corporate AV product range," says Wim Buyens, Sr. Vice-President Entertainment and Corporate at Barco, "and we are constantly strengthening our ties to bring more compelling value to our mutual customers. We are proud to have a Barco hall in this exceptional setting that the AED Studios are. This 'Virtual World' project is a fantastic way to highlight Barco's expertise in projection and showcase its endless possibilities to the event market."

About Barco
Barco, a global technology company, designs and develops visualization products for a variety of selected professional markets. Barco has its own facilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Support, R&D and Manufacturing in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Barco (NYSE Euronext Brussels: BAR) is active in more than 90 countries with 4,000 employees worldwide. The company posted sales of 1.158 billion euros in 2013.

About AED group
AED Rent was established in Belgium in 1986 as a dry-hire rental company for sound and lighting. Today, the AED group (AED Rent, AED Display, AED Distribution, AED Store, AED Lease, AED Second Hand and AED Studios) is one of Europe's key market players. It provides the professional AV industry with light, sound and video equipment, including accessories, for rent or for sale (new and second-hand), and also offers related repair, logistics and leasing services. To cater to the diverse needs of its customers, the AED group has an impressive range of high-quality equipment in stock - 35,000+ products -, including Barco projectors and image processing equipment.

© Copyright 2014 by Barco

For more information, please contact

Lynn Ryon
Press & PR contact EMEA & LATAM
Barco NV

Telephone +32 56 36 81 66
lynn.ryon@barco.com

Alison Maxson
Press & PR contact US
Barco NV

Telephone +1 678 475 81 83
alison.maxson@barco.com

Li Shen
Press & PR contact Greater China
Barco NV

Telephone +86 10 5650 2288
li.shen@barco.com

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