May 3, 2021 - Over the last year, our rental and staging sector has been confronted with hard decisions. And with very little control over when the events switch is turned back on, the events industry was challenged to pivot and embrace new innovative shifts in the industry. This resilience is admirable. It's great to see our partners creatively re-inventing themselves. Even more so if the Barco technology can enable them in doing so.
AED Group, one of Barco's long-standing R&S partners, is a great example of this. In August 2020, they reached out to rental companies and virtual event producers with a new high-tech XR studio. In 2021, the AED Group started facilitating 2 COVID vaccination centers: At their headquarters, they transformed their newly finished empty warehouses and one large television studio at the AED Studios site. And now the company is announcing the launch of a new concept for corporate customers relying on Barco's weConnect virtual classroom solution.
Today, teleworking is the norm in most European regions, and it will continue to remain important in future hybrid regimes. As a result, AED noticed a need for qualitative professional solutions to enable virtual corporate events and big remote meetings. And that's where the Barco weConnect platform comes in. "When I saw the weConnect system for the first time at ISE 2020, I immediately thought of other applications than just for education," says Thierry Heldenbergh, Managing Director at AED Display. "We started exploring the system, getting a lot of webinars during corona time, and we are convinced that it will work very well for corporate settings or other live environments in the future."
As from May 2021, the digital studio will be available in different setups: a green key set of 22mx5m, a hybrid setup combining the green key with LED columns, a digital studio with LED background and floor, or a full XR stage.
The main advantage is that AED can offer the WeConnect system in any of these setups as a walk-in on-demand studio ('The Boardroom') that customers can rent to deliver business presentations with regional offices, conduct meetings with the board of directors, etc. It's a great way to get the R&S industry and their clients, the business leaders, in touch with the possibilities and advantages of the weConnect platform.
Peter Pauwels, VP Sales at Barco, is excited to hear and see the many stories of resilience with our R&S partners. "I believe what happens next, is up to us. How are we going to use the situation to grow? Partners, like AED, are discovering new Barco solutions which could enable them in the road to recovery. It's the combination of their field expertise and the Barco technology portfolio. Resilience is teamwork!"