Barco has acquired the CineStore activities of cinema solutions provider XDC. The company says the acquisition fits within Barco's broader strategy to move from digital projection supplier to provider of total cinema visualization solutions. XDC's CineStore team based in Liege Belgium will bring software and market knowledge of the digital cinema business. XDC has more than ten years of experience in graphical user interface design and theater management systems for the digital cinema industry. Last year Barco also acquired the digital signage expertise of dZine. With the addition of CineStore the company says it can now offer its customers an integrated theater management system spanning both the theater and the lobby while at the same time strengthening its software capabilities. Moreover the acquisition will enable Barco to also deliver solutions for content play out. CineStore's activities are a strong value-added complement to our existing digital cinema offering. Adding CineStore's skills and experience to our business will allow us to further strengthen our market position while maintaining our key strong points of interoperability and highest image quality says Wim Buyens vice president Barco Digital Cinema. We stand by our strategy not to be a VPF integrator. Instead we will remain focused on supplying visualization technologies and products for the professional digital cinema community. XDC Group CEO Serge Plasch says Barco and XDC share a long history of collaboration in digital cinema. Our decision to sell the CineStore activities was prompted by our strategy to focus on service to exhibitors while becoming the leading European cinema integrator. XDC will also increase its activities in integrated cinema software solutions network and content delivery services. Within this strategic framework CineStore capabilities are no longer considered core business. The acquisition of CineStore activities is scheduled to be closed by the end of March.
