Avid Unveils New Brand Identity

Avid® (NASDAQ: AVID) today unveiled a new brand identity as part of the company's business transformation to better serve the interests and needs of its audio and video customers - who range from home enthusiasts to complex media enterprises, and create the most listened to, most watched and most loved media in the world.

At the center of Avid's brand identity is a new logo composed of simple geometric shapes derived from the buttons, icons and markers that consumers and professionals recognize as fundamental to the digital audio and video solutions they use every day to enable their creativity. The new logo forms a visual connection to iconic shapes that represent "volume up, volume down, play, pause, record and forward," signaling a unification of the company's core audio and video offerings.  The distinctive mark also spells out the company's name in abstract letterforms.

"Avid is coming together as one company with new offerings, a new strategy, and a new operating model. We are stronger as one company than we are as separate parts, and we have a unique opportunity to help our customers achieve greater success in a digital world," said Gary Greenfield, Chairman and CEO of Avid. "Our new identity is one of the powerful ways we are communicating the evolution of our business as well as our commitment to partner with customers by understanding exactly what they want to do. 

Whether it's the flawless execution of a global television broadcast, a chart-topping hit song, a lean-forward moment on the big screen or in a sold out concert venue, or a home movie that family members will cherish for a lifetime, our customers want integrated, interoperable, and open audio and video offerings.  By pulling together all of our category-creating technologies under one roof, we are beginning to serve our customers with digital media solutions unlike any other company in the world."

Historically, Avid has been a family of separate, industry-leading businesses - Avid, Digidesign®, M-Audio®, Pinnacle Systems® and Sibelius® - that served audio and video customers independently of one another.  As part of a strategic transformation that began last year, Avid's new brand identity communicates the fusing of these businesses and further positions the company to capitalize on the convergence of digital audio and video technology while addressing customer requirements for integrated systems that enhance creativity and deliver significant ROI.

Dave Lebolt, Avid's Chief Technology Officer, said, "We are refining the way we define and develop our solutions, leveraging technology across all of our audio and video capabilities in ways that no other company can. Having unification across the breadth and depth of Avid's portfolio allows us to accelerate interoperability between Avid systems - like Pro Tools® and Media Composer®.  These two systems now sync smoothly via Video Satellite, allowing users to connect a Pro Tools|HD® system to an Avid Media Composer system for synchronized playback and connect up to four Pro Tools|HD systems plus one Media Composer when adding the Satellite Link option - and all without requiring any rendering of complex video sequences.  We're also in a better position to further explore integrated bundled offerings - and how these offerings work openly with third-party applications - in a way that meets new and emerging demands of today's content creators. We look forward to working closely with our customers to define these next-generation solutions."

At NAB this week, the results of the changes at Avid and its commitment to customer success will be on full display. For the first time, the company will be showcasing audio and video products side-by-side - and in integrated workflows - throughout its booth.  Customers will experience Avid solutions working openly with products from more than 40 third-party companies - including Final Cut Pro running on Avid Unity? ISIS® shared storage, and Avid NewsCutter® systems sending Sony XDCAM footage for playout on Omneon servers. Avid will also host a range of high-profile customers who will deliver main stage presentations about key audio and video innovations, such as RED workflows, 3D stereoscopic editing, surround sound mixing and file-based workflows. For more information about Avid at NAB, visit www.avid.com/events.